As employees of ESPN brace themselves for another round of layoffs, details are emerging that the next wave of affected personnel will not be on-air talent as previously believed.
Michael McCarthy of Sporting News reports that the latest round of layoffs, scheduled to take place before the end of the year, is forecasted to save the network roughly $80 million dollars in salaries and other costs.
The third round of layoffs in two years at the Disney-owned sports network is expected to come down after Thanksgiving and before Christmas. Sporting News broke the news that ESPN planned to lay off up to 60 people in late November and early December.
Sports Illustrated columnist Richard Deitsch tweeted on Tuesday that the layoffs will mostly effect behind-the-scenes personnel.
One update on ESPN layoffs: Hearing the job losses for this round will be concentrated on behind-the-scenes people/positions in multiple depts. Not many front-facing (on-air) names expected, if any. Having been through too many at Time Inc, it all sucks.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) November 28, 2017
Further cuts to on-air personalities are expeceted to take place in April 2018.