ESPN has fired baseball reporter Marly Rivera over an derogatory term directed at a competing reporter. Also: Dallas Morning-News writer Chuck Carlton has died; Nate Silver and Five Thirty Eight have been caught up in Disney’s layoffs; and more.
ESPN fires Rivera over expletive
ESPN has parted ways with Major League Baseball reporter Marly Rivera after she uttered an expletive toward a competitor, according to the New York Post. Rivera is said to have used a derogatory, female-specific term that is widely regarded as particularly coarse during a disagreement with a fellow reporter last week. ESPN investigated the incident and in a terse statement to the Post on Wednesday said Rivera “no longer works here.”
The Post identified the other reporter in the conflict as Ivón Gaete, a freelancer for a Japanese outlet and wife of Major League Baseball VP/communications John Blundell. According to Rivera, she and Blundell have a long history of professional disagreement. Rivera and Gaete were covering an Angels-Yankees game last week when the disagreement broke out over access to Yankees star Aaron Judge, with whom Rivera claimed to have a pre-scheduled interview.
Rivera had been with ESPN since 2010 and was a prominent member of the company’s Major League Baseball roster. Her firing comes amidst a wave of Disney-mandated ESPN layoffs. (NYP 4.26)
Dallas Morning-News writer Carlton dies
Dallas Morning News writer Chuck Carlton died Tuesday at age 64. Carlton, who had been covering the Stars-Wild Stanley Cup playoff series for the Morning News, is said to have fallen ill during Friday’s game. He had been suffering from cancer and congestive heart failure.
Though the NHL was his final assignment — and would have been no matter what, as he planned to retire after the playoffs per his wife — Carlton was primarily known for his coverage of college sports and the Big 12 conference. (Dallas Morning News 4.26)
Silver and 538 caught up in Disney layoffs
Five Thirty Eight founder and editor-in-chief Nate Silver said this week that he will be leaving Disney when his contract expires this summer as part of the company’s layoffs. The site he founded, which he sold to Disney when he joined the company in 2013, has been “substantially impacted” by said layoffs.
Also caught up in the layoffs is Russell Wolff, the ESPN executive in charge of the ESPN+ streaming service. (Silver/Twitter 4.25)
Plus: U.S. Women’s Open, Women’s World Cup, NBA CBA
- NBC announced Wednesday that it will carry live third and final round coverage of the U.S. Women’s Open from Pebble Beach in primetime July 8 and 9, a first for the event on broadcast television. Specific telecast windows were not announced. (NBC Sports PR)
- The FOX broadcast network will carry 29 games in this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, a new record for the event. Five windows are set for primetime, including the first two United States group play matches. Due to the location of this year’s tournament, many matches are scheduled for the overnight hours and the August 20 final is set for 6 AM ET. (Fox Sports PR)
- The NBA and National Basketball Players Association on Wednesday ratified a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement that begins July 1 and runs through the 2029-30 season. There is a mutual opt-out after the sixth year, per multiple earlier reports. The new CBA, which was initially agreed to earlier this month, is said to include the in-season tournament coveted by NBA commissioner Adam Silver. (NBA PR)
