ESPN: Last News

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Jerrell Jimerson, Disney Streaming’s chief product officer and one of the architects of Disney+, has been let go as part of the media conglomerate’s latest round of layoffs, Variety has learned. Jimerson on Wednesday sent a note to his team at Disney Streaming telling them that “after five incredible years at Disney, I will be leaving the company at the end of June.” Disney is laying off some 4,000 employees across the company this week, part of its previously announced target of cutting 7,000 jobs to reduce costs. As chief product officer and EVP of product and design for Disney Streaming, Jimerson has overseen all aspects of product, user experience and design for Disney’s direct-to-consumer video streaming businesses, including Disney+, Hulu and Star+.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube, as part of promoting subscriptions to the newly secured NFL Sunday Ticket games package, is flying more than a dozen top creators to Kansas City, Mo., for the 2023 NFL Draft – including popular trick-shot specialists Dude Perfect. Dude Perfect, the five-member comedy and sports group with more than 59 million YouTube subscribers, and Ryan Trahan (12.3 million subscribers) are slated to appear on stage at the NFL Draft to announce some of the picks in this year’s draft. The 2023 NFL Draft, to be held April 27-29 at Union Station Kansas City, will be broadcast on ESPN, ABC and NFL Network. All told, the YouTube creators tapped to attend the NFL Draft have a combined reach of more 145 million subscribers, according to the video platform. In addition to the Dude Perfect crew and Trahan, YouTube creators scheduled to be on-site in KC this week at the 2023 NFL Draft include: NichLmao (23.6 million subscribers), Topper Guild (17 million), Jesser (12.8 million), Adam W (12 million), Deestroying (5.1 million), Lisa Nguyen (4.35 million), Pierson (3.7 million), Katie Feeney (3.2 million), Haley Kalil (1.8 million), Ashley Yi (1.1 million) and The Pivot (686,000).

Disney’s widespread layoffs are not going quite as deep at ESPN as in other parts of the empire, but the roster of those departing does include at least one high-ranking exec: Russell Wolff, GM of ESPN+.

Manchester United are reportedly 'monitoring' Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar ahead of a potential summer move.

Nate Silver is departing ABC News as the news division continues a round of layoffs that began last month.

Ethan Shanfeld FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver is exiting ABC News as The Walt Disney Company ramps up layoffs, Variety has confirmed. ABC News will hold onto the FiveThirtyEight brand with plans to streamline the statistics-driven news and analysis site. The network plans to create a more efficient structure for FiveThirtyEight leading into the 2024 presidential election and beyond. Silver sent a message to his team in a company Slack channel warning that the Disney layoffs would impact FiveThirtyEight, and that Silver is not planning to return after his contract ends. Silver said in a tweet, “Disney layoffs have substantially impacted FiveThirtyEight. I am sad and disappointed to a degree that’s kind of hard to express right now. We’ve been at Disney almost 10 years. My contract is up soon and I expect that I’ll be leaving at the end of it.”

Heading back to the court. Nia Long’s ex-fiancé, Ime Udoka, has scored a new basketball coaching job following his suspension from the Boston Celtics.

NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been officially traded from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer In a months-long goal to reach 7,000 job cuts total, Disney will begin its second round of layoffs of the year today. The notifications will be handed out to staff through Thursday, concluding with approximately 4,000 job eliminations completed overall by week’s end, according to company officials. While the Disney workforce will be reduced by thousands across divisions Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products (hourly frontline operations roles at Parks and Resorts will not be affected), and locations from Burbank to New York and Connecticut, there are still more layoffs to come. According to Disney, a third and final wave of cuts is expected to begin ahead of the summer, which will bring the Mouse House to its 7,000 layoffs target. (The figure represents 3.2% of Disney’s total headcount of about 220,000 worldwide as of Oct. 1, 2022.)

Michael Schumacher‘s family is moving ahead and shared their plans to sue a German magazine over a recently published article with the former F1 star.

It was originally described as the “big one,” or even more pointedly, a straight-up “bloodbath.”

Former NFL player Chris Smith has sadly passed away at the young age of 31.

EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Nichols is looking to provide some “quiet time” for both basketball stars and viewers with her new Showtime series, Headliners.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s unclear how many people were hungrily anticipating this, but here it is: Peacock subscribers can now watch the streaming service while strapped in to one of Meta’s virtual-reality headsets. Peacock as of Wednesday (April 12) is available on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro devices, the first time the NBCUniversal streamer is available on a VR headset. Consumers in the U.S. can sign up to watch Peacock content on what Meta calls “a giant personal screen.” The launch of Peacock on Meta Quest 2 (currently $400 and up) and Quest Pro (which starts at $1,000) is part of a broader three-year partnership between NBCU and Meta to adapt a range of the media company’s intellectual property — including “Universal Monsters,” “Halloween Horror Nights” and “The Office” — for virtual environments including Meta Horizon Worlds and the Meta Avatars Store.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Paramount+ signed a promotional partnership for Formula 1’s 2023-24 season, making the streamer an official partner of Formula 1. The full-season partnership comes on the heels of a short-term deal between Paramount+ and Formula 1 in 2022, which saw the streamer gain exposure at key Formula 1 races including Silverstone in the U.K. and Monza in Italy. Under the sponsorship pact, Paramount+’s original series, movies and characters will take “center stage” inside Formula 1 Fan Zone areas “with the biggest stars coming together on and off the grid,” the companies said. Additionally, the partnership includes Paramount+ branding on track and physical trackside signage, digital sponsorships and promotional opportunities, which started in Melbourne, and will be followed by activity in Miami, Montréal, Austria, Silverstone, Monza, Suzuka, Austin, Mexico City, São Paulo and Las Vegas.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) today announced the nominees for the 44th Annual Sports Emmy Awards. Leading the list are NFL Network’s NFL: 360 and NBC’s coverage of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games with ten nominations each. The ceremony will take place live and in-person at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall on Monday, May 22.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large NFL Network’s “NFL 360” and NBC’s coverage of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games led the nomination pack, at ten each, for this year’s 44th annual Sports Emmy Awards. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the ceremony, which takes place at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall on Monday, May 22. Previously announced: Bryant Gumbel will receive the lifetime achievement award for his role in sports journalism.  “Today we honor these esteemed nominees and celebrate those who bring the thrill of competitive sports into our lives on a daily basis,” said Adam Sharp, president & CEO, NATAS. “We are excited by the extraordinary quality of this year’s submissions and equally excited by the opportunity to honor this year’s Lifetime Achievement honoree, Bryant Gumbel, celebrating his more than five decades of sports broadcasting excellence.” 

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran sports and news broadcaster Keith Olbermann has signed with Buchwald.

Making moves! Shortly after Tristan Thompson purchased a new residence nearby ex-girlfriend Khloé Kardashian’s pad, he inked a deal to swap basketball teams too.

J. Kim Murphy Before “Air” could get the greenlight, director Ben Affleck needed one last seal of approval. With months of development already complete, the director flew out to meet with Michael Jordan, seeking his blessing for the film, which explores the NBA star’s landmark 1984 sponsorship deal with Nike and the origin of the Air Jordan line. For screenwriter Alex Convery, this was the most stressful 24 hours of his career. “Either this was going to get made and it would be my first produced movie, or it’s all going to fall apart. Back to square one,” Convery recalls in a conversation with Variety. “To really do this responsibly, you need Michael to say yes. Ben said it in the first meeting, ‘We will not do the movie if Michael doesn’t want to do it.’”

Tiger Woods, the five-time Masters' Champion, make a legendary comeback after his previous golfing hiatus? Scottie Scheffler will be defending his title as the 2022 Masters' Champion, but fans are also rooting for hopefuls John Rahm and Rory McIlroy. Experts have also put some sleepers on the radar: Jason Day, Corey Conners, Cameron Young and Min Woo Lee are a few who have the potential to take the title.Fans are eager to tune in, so read on to learn how to stream the 2023 Masters Tournament, even without cable. For those who haven't cut the cord, you can watch the 87th Edition of the prestigious golf tournament on ESPN and CBS.