Needham’s Karl Ravech expected to be among those laid off at ESPN
Karl Ravech, a Needham native who has been one of the most prominent faces of ESPN’s baseball coverage during his more than three decades at the network, is expected to be among the on-air and behind-the-scenes personnel laid off Tuesday.
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Ravech has not responded to a text message seeking confirmation. An ESPN spokesperson said the network will not be confirming any of the reported names being laid off.
Word of his expected layoff was first reported by The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.
Among others reportedly laid off Tuesday were former Patriots quarterback Cam Newton, a regular panelist on “First Take” and the network’s debate shows who had signed a contract extension last August; NFL reporter Tom Pelissero; NFL analysts Charles Davis and Bart Scott; injury analyst Stephania Bell; and longtime “SportsCenter” anchor David Lloyd.
The layoffs are expected to largely affect personnel such as Pelissero and Davis who came over from the NFL Network when ESPN purchased the network — with the NFL taking a 10 percent stake — in January.
In a 124-word memo sent to ESPN employees Tuesday morning that was obtained by the Globe, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro confirmed that cuts were underway, citing the NFL Network deal as part of the impetus.
“Team,” he wrote, “over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN. Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources, and organizational structure to best position us for the future. As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today.
“While most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition, we will also notify colleagues in other parts of the company today that their positions have been impacted. We are committed to treating employees with compassion and respect and to providing support as they navigate this transition.
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“Even in moments like these, the strength of ESPN comes from our people, our teamwork, and our shared mission to serve sports fans.”
The 61-year-old Ravech is the most established name among the reported cuts. He has been at ESPN since 1993, when he arrived at the network as a “SportsCenter” anchor during that program’s heyday. He also called college basketball for the network, but he was a mainstay in various high-profile assignments over the years as part of ESPN’s baseball coverage.
From 2022-25, he was the play-by-play voice for “Sunday Night Baseball,” which moved to NBC in the new broadcasting rights deal. He anchored “Baseball Tonight” for years when it was a nightly part of the network’s programming, and hosted its onsite World Series coverage each October. He has been prominently involved in ESPN and ABC’s Little League World Series coverage going back to 2006.
Ravech, who spent part of his early career as an intern and sports freelancer at Ch. 5 in 1986-87, called Monday night’s Dodgers-Phillies broadcast for ESPN.
On Monday, NFL analyst Ryan Clark was the first to be let go. ESPN had intended to lay him off Tuesday, but when the network began getting media inquiries about his status, it pulled him from the “NFL Live” program that he was part of and informed him. He did not return to the program.
Newton, who played for the Patriots in 2020, is a surprising departure, and not just because of the contract extension he signed less than a year ago. He has been prominent on the network’s opinion shows, often coming up with takes — such as season-long criticism of Patriots quarterback Drake Maye last year — that feed the social media content machine and get aggregated on other websites, an apparent priority of ESPN nowadays.
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