ESPN did in fact lay off Ron Jaworski and reportedly has been prevented from bringing him back. In other news, ESPN posted declines for weeknight college football late last week, and College Gameday is headed to Times Square.
ESPN Prevented From Bringing Back Laid Off Jaworski
ESPN NFL analyst Ron Jaworski was included in the network’s massive talent layoffs earlier this year, and the network was rebuffed by parent company Disney when it sought to undo that decision, The Big Lead reported Sunday. Jaworski had been with ESPN since 1990, serving as a Monday Night Football game analyst from 2007-11. [The Big Lead 9.17]
Weeknight CFB Down on ESPN
Friday’s Illinois-USF college football game delivered a 0.9 rating and 1.37 million viewers on ESPN, flat in ratings and down 6% in viewership from Baylor-Rice last year (0.9, 1.46M), but down 57% in both measures from Florida State-Boston College in 2015 (2.1, 3.1M). The previous night, Boise State-New Mexico had a 0.7 (-36%) and 1.1 million (-42%). [Programming Insider 9.18a, 9.18b]
College Gameday Headed to NYC
ESPN’s College Gameday will take place from Times Square in New York City this weekend, the first time ever the traveling studio show has visited that location. It will be the first time since 2012 that Gameday has not taken place from the site of an actual game. That year, the show visited the USS San Diego aircraft carrier. Navy-Troy was nominally the “host” game, but took place in Alabama. [ESPN PR 9.14]
