Bob Ley, who joined ESPN on day three of its existence in 1979 and became the face of its journalistic ambitions, announced Wednesday that he is retiring from the network at the end of this month.
Ley took a six-month sabbatical last October and earlier this year extended it indefinitely. He will make a final appearance on Outside the Lines Wednesday afternoon.
As host of Outside the Lines since its 1990 launch, Ley has been at the vanguard of ESPN’s at-times grudging efforts at journalism. OTL, and later E:60, were evidence of the network’s independence, even as its relationships with the major leagues grew more lucrative and — in the case of the NFL — more one-sided.
His departure comes nearly 16 months after ESPN hired Jimmy Pitaro as president. Since taking over, the Pitaro administration has publicly been consumed with two tasks — moving away from what he and Disney CEO Bob Iger have termed “politics,” and rebuilding ESPN’s relationship with the NFL.
Ley is just the latest journalist to leave ESPN since Pitaro took over in March of last year. He joins Jemele Hill and Kate Fagan, both of whom cited ESPN’s discomfort with off-field issues as a reason for their departure. Hill, who was viewed by critics as the personification of ESPN straying into politics, went from anchoring SportsCenter to accepting a buyout within a year after criticizing the U.S. president on her Twitter account.
Ley, who cited his good health and his friends and family in announcing his decision, may not share those concerns. He likely does not share the same politics either; he is a noted Republican. Even so, at an ESPN with the mandate of focusing on sports and satisfying business partners, he lasted six months before ending a 40-year run.
In addition to Outside the Lines, Ley was a longtime SportsCenter anchor, most recently hosting Sunday morning editions during NFL season. Like a network news anchor, he would be summoned to SportsCenter in the event of major breaking news — from anchoring with Trey Wingo on September 11, 2001 to anchoring with Jeremy Schaap on the day of the Boston Marathon bombing.
He also provided extensive coverage from the site of the Loma Prieta earthquake during the 1989 World Series.
As for on-the-field programming, Ley hosted ESPN’s FIFA World Cup coverage when the network still held the rights and, for many years, anchored its NFL Draft coverage.
[News from Bob Ley/Twitter 6.26]
