A bizarre, perhaps well-meaning scheme to secure honors for the cast of ESPN’s College Gameday may finally provide some insight as to why Lee Fitting was abruptly fired last year.
Executives in charge of ESPN’s “College Gameday” — including Fitting, who was fired in August — engaged in a long-running scheme to secure Sports Emmys for talent who were ineligible to receive them, according to a report Thursday in The Athletic. Until last year, the Sports Emmys prohibited on-air talent from receiving awards given to programs (such as Outstanding Studio Show) as they were eligible for individual honors and could thus end up winning two awards for the same work.
Per the report, the since-voided rule was viewed as “stupid” by some within ESPN.
The “Gameday” executives got around the rule by including on-air talent on the credit list for the show under fake names and with the role of “associate producer.” Each of the fake names used the initials of the talent in question — “Kirk Henry” for Kirk Herbstreit and “Chris Fulton” for Chris Fowler — and the executives would simply have any awards re-engraved upon receipt. The talent, including several like Shelley Smith, Gene Wojciechowski and Erin Andrews who are no longer with ESPN, are not believed to have been in on the scheme.
Fitting and two executives who remain with ESPN — Craig Lazarus and Drew Gallagher — were banned from future participation in the Sports Emmys. The report also indicates that the effort may have gone beyond Gameday and included programs such as SportsCenter.
It is not clear whether this is the reason Fitting was fired, as ESPN never gave any explanation for the surprising move. Fitting just this week was hired by the WWE. In the event of a more serious transgression, it is unlikely he would have found another role so quickly.
