In a move that had become seemingly inevitable, Dan Le Batard is done at ESPN.
Le Batard and ESPN announced Thursday that they have mutually decided to part ways effective January 4. Le Batard gave all indications that his current radio show will continue in some form on another platform. It will be replaced on the ESPN Radio line-up by Mike Greenberg’s Greeny.
Le Batard’s daily TV show Highly Questionable will also continue, remaining on ESPN with a rotation of hosts.
Thursday’s announcement was not surprising. More than a year ago, Le Batard clashed with ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro over the company’s much-publicized prohibition on topics deemed political. While Pitaro has plainly backed off of that edict — with ESPN talent seemingly free to discuss social issues on-air since May — Le Batard’s role at ESPN has been diminishing ever since.
Earlier this year, ESPN announced that it would shrink the length of his radio show from three to two hours per day. Then, it moved up Highly Questionable by two hours from 4:30 PM ET to 2:30 and moved the radio show’s TV simulcast from ESPNEWS to ESPN+. Finally, ESPN laid off one of his producers, Chris Cote, in its recent round of job cuts last month.
Le Batard did not hide his displeasure with those decisions, particularly the lack of advance notice ESPN provided about Cote’s dismissal. On-air, he said he had been “blindsided” by the move and called the lack of notice “the greatest disrespect” of his professional career. He hired back Cote as his personal assistant to keep him on the show.
While ESPN never singled out Le Batard — Jalen & Jacoby was also moved up two hours, other radio show simulcasts were moved to ESPN+, and hundreds total were laid off — those moves gave an impression that the writing was on the wall.
Le Batard joined ESPN as an ESPN the Magazine contributor in 1998 and appeared on a number of ESPN shows for more than a decade before Highly Questionable debuted in 2011. His radio show began airing nationally on ESPN Radio in 2015.
[News from ESPN PR 12.3, Miami Herald 12.3, Sporting News 11.11]
