ESPN has fired Ryan Clark as part of a round of layoffs, per The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.
Clark, who was on “NFL Live” on Monday, was informed about the layoff in the middle of the broadcast, and did not finish the show, per Marchand. Initially, ESPN reportedly planned to tell Clark that he was let go on Tuesday morning, in line with other layoffs, but media inquiries had led the network to fear that Clark would find out he was fired online before it had a chance to tell him.
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Clark, a Pro Bowl and Super Bowl-winning safety, joined ESPN as an NFL analyst in 2015.
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ESPN and NFL Network will reportedly have additional layoffs Tuesday as part of a larger cluster at Disney, its parent company. Per The Athletic’s reporting, Clark will likely not be the only on-air talent let go in the round of layoffs.
Front Office Sports had reported in June that the network was bracing for a larger round of cuts associated with the ESPN-NFL Network merger; the cuts were expected to affect both on- and off-camera personnel.
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Clark was earning more than $2 million per year under his current contract, which was signed in February 2024. Rumors that Clark could be in danger of losing his job have been rumbling since the Super Bowl in February, per Marchand.
Clark was reportedly expected to be part of ESPN’s Super Bowl coverage next year, as the network airs the event for the first time. ABC, ESPN’s partner channel, has not held the Super Bowl broadcast rights since 2006.
In more than a decade at ESPN, Clark has been a contributor to the network’s top shows like “NFL Live,” “SportsCenter” and “First Take.” But he has run into some issues with his coworkers: Last September, Clark called out Peter Schrager as a “non-player” on “Get Up,” prompting an ugly on-air argument that later went off-air. Clark later apologized.
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