News Nation anchor Dan Abrams says conservative commentators’ theories that ESPN is “going down” because of its left-leaning politics ignore some “expensive facts,” suggesting that the network fired 20 high-profile hosts after it overspent on things like Big 12 football games and celebrity sports analyst Pat McAfee.
The “Dan Abrams Live” host on Wednesday highlighted the analysis of Charlie Kirk and other right-leaning commentators who repeated the theory that ESPN’s “woke” politics somehow led to the firing of longtime lead NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy, Jalen Rose, Steve Young, Suzy Kolber, Max Kellerman, Keyshawn Johnson and others.
“So what is driving this at ESPN?,” Kirk said in a clip played by Abrams. “The answer is, ESPN has gone woke, and they’re not as boundary-pushing or as funny or as interesting… This is happening because ESPN has decided to go a political route.”
Abrams acknowledged that the network had, in fact, taken a political stand:
“Let’s be clear: ESPN certainly has shown a leftward leaning in recent years. Earlier this year the network honored transgender swimmer Lia Thomas during a celebration of women’s history month, they’ve been criticized by many over on the right about their coverage of Colin Kaepernick, their commentators frequently express left-leaning political opinions on air, on social media and elsewhere.”
As a result, he said, and “because everything these days has to be seen through a political lens,” ESPN has “become a lightning rod for some conservatives.” But, he continued, anyone trying to say the layoffs are a sign of ESPN “going down” because of its politics are “probably overlooking some big, expenive facts.”
“ESPN has recently made some major acquisitions in the past few days,” Abrams said. “The network finalized a six-year deal with the Big 12 Conference to broadcast some of its football and basketball games, forking over a billion to the conference. Despite the fact that, by the way, the Big 12 Football conference has no powerhouse teams after Texas and Oklahoma defected. Think about that, a billion dollars to broadcast second-tier football games!”
He also highlighted the high-profile singing of wrestler, punter and commentator Pat McAfee.
“And on top of that, ESPN recently signed sports broadcasting superstar Pat McAfee to a blockbuster five-year, $85 million dollar contract, making him the highest-paid personality on ESPN, even ahead of ratings machine Stephen A. Smith.”
Abrams suggested the moves to clear out expensive salaries and infuse some fresh talent “hardly seem like investments a dying media company would make.”
“Instead it seems more like ESPN’s bean-counters have made a decision to slash well-known vets with high salaries who may not have necessarily moved the ratings needle.”
Watch the entire clip above.
