We are implementing changes across the company to enhance our continued growth while smartly managing costs. While difficult, we are confident that it will make us more competitive, innovative and productive.

Though the layoffs have been confirmed, the announcement still hasn’t made it clear how major the cuts will be. It is also not yet known where the cuts will be made within the company.

According to a Deadspin report, the number of layoffs is rumored to be “in the hundreds,” with 400 employees seeming to be the over/under. The report cites unnamed sources as stating a majority of the layoffs so far have come from “technology” positions. Disney has reportedly put pressure on ESPN to meet its profit margin, encouraging all divisons at the station to cut back on costs. ESPN’s profit margins have reportedly lowered recently due to the station buying the rights to several major live sporting events, including NFL games.

The Deadspin article features snippets from recently-departed employees who offer the following insight:

I was laid off from ESPN today after 9 and a half years. Completely out of the blue, no warning at all. I was told it was 10% across the board, which would be roughly 400. I was told the reason was they needed to make their profit margin and they chose to do that via layoff of staff… we were told that the layoffs ARE tied to the profit margin that ESPN needs to meet and the fact they haven’t met that number. Your comments about them buying all of these live rights and now needed to reduce overhead costs is dead on.

As an example, here are two of the “live rights” deals being discussed in these emails to Deadspin:

- ESPN spends $825 million over 11 years to gain exclusive rights to the US Open (tennis, not golf).

- ESPN extended its partnership with SEC until 2034, which gives ESPN ownership of the upcoming SEC Network. While the terms of the contract were undisclosed, the two entities will split the SEC Network profits evenly.

Are these two business acquisitions/partnerships the reason why these layoffs are happening in Bristol, Connecticut? It’s hard to come up with any other conclusion, although, Disney (ESPN’s parent company) has been laying off employees as well. Maybe ESPN is trying to keep with their owners.

Roberts, one of the hosts of ABC’s Good Morning America, has captivated morning show audiences this past year with her battle against myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood disease disorder of bone marrow stem cells. Before she was the darling of morning network TV, though, she was a sportscaster for over a decade.

Roberts began working for ESPN in 1990 as one of the first black female sports journalists in the business. She earned three Emmy Awards for her work at ESPN, and now the network will be honoring her for her achievements.

The 2013 Arthur Ashe Courage award will be given to Roberts during this year’s ESPY awards, which air on July 17. Past recipients of the award have included Muhammad Ali and Dean Smith.

“Robin brings an amazing amount of energy, compassion and determination to everything she does,” said John Skipper, president of ESPN. “Those qualities made her an incredible asset during her time here at ESPN, and they have served her well as she battled the terrible health challenges that she’s had to face.”

Follow @RobinRoberts

Robin Roberts
@RobinRoberts

My humble thanks to @ESPN for naming me recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. He was a true friend and mentor. An amazing honor.

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1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto

“I think his career is over without playing another position,” one NFL GM reportedly said of Tebow. And while his fans will undoubtedly think that’s way harsh, some think it’s just the brutal truth. Whether it’s the result of poor management decisions on his behalf, making him overshadowed and underused in the past season–or, some would say, that he was overhyped to begin with–one can’t deny that he hasn’t had much of a chance to show us what he’s made of. After a promising start to his career and a much-anticipated move to New York, the 2012 season left fans underwhelmed.

As far as the Jets go, they seemed at a loss for what to do with him, though they seemingly had faith that his talents could be put to good use.

“I think Tim Tebow can be good at whatever he wants to be good at,” offensive coordinator Tony Sparano said.

The Jets can’t try and make a trade until March 12th, so we’ll see what happens.

#Ravens win #SuperBowl what do we tweet about now…? Tim Tebow trade rumors of course…duh

— Alex Diaz (@ADiazMix1051) February 4, 2013

Jets do not plan to release Tim Tebow before start of new league year in March and will hold on to him with slim hopes they can trade him.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 3, 2013

New on @br_nfl: #Jets are foolish to try to trade Tim Tebow and other AFC East news. bit.ly/US1nyZ

— Erik Frenz (@ErikFrenz) February 4, 2013

Jets trade Tim Tebow for Leon Sandcastle.

— Az (@Adam_Zee) February 4, 2013

Here’s a clip of Parker’s comments:

ESPN suspended Parker, and has reportedly been mulling over whether or not it should fire him.

Nearly a week later, Parker has now tweeted out an apology:

Follow @RobParkerESPN

Rob Parker
@RobParkerESPN

I blew it and I’m sincerely sorry. I completely understand how the issue of race in sports is a sensitive (cont) http://t.co/vWG6OZwM

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23 minutes ago via TwitLonger Beta · powered by @socialditto

I blew it and I’m sincerely sorry. I completely understand how the issue of race in sports is a sensitive one and needs to be handled with great care. This past Thursday I failed to do that. I believe the intended topic is a worthy one. Robert’s thoughts about being an African-American quarterback and the impact of his phenomenal success have been discussed in other media outlets, as well as among sports fans, particularly those in the African-American community. The failure was in how I chose to discuss it on First Take, and in doing so, turned a productive conversation into a negative one. I regrettably introduced some points that I never should have and I completely understand the strong response to them, including ESPN’s reaction. Perhaps most importantly, the attention my words have brought to one of the best and brightest stars in all of sports is an unintended and troubling result. Robert Griffin III is a talented athlete who not only can do great things on the field, but off the field handles himself in a way we are all taught – with dignity, respect and pride. I’ve contacted his agent with hopes of apologizing to Robert directly. As I reflect on this and move forward, I will take the time to consider how I can continue to tackle difficult, important topics in a much more thoughtful manner.

As ESPN weighs the potential outcomes of its decision, the apology, albeit pretty late, shouldn’t do much to hurt his chances of remaining with the network.

This isn’t the first time the First Take crew has taken some heat over racially-tinged comments in recent memory.

Both Steele and Ponder addressed the silliness that often comes with a relationship within a high-profile organization like ESPN, with Ponder saying, “This is big news, huh? Good Lord. There’s been a thousand articles today about it. You can’t really worry about it. You’ve got to try to keep it private, but that’s just part of the industry, part of the job. I don’t know. Comes with the territory.”

Steele tweeted about the fact that so many people are taking an active interest in every detail of her life:

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Samantha Steele
@Samantha_Steele

S/O to all the grown men critiquing my wardrobe/relationship choices. If it werent for y’all, I might’ve forgotten how awesome JR High was;)

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2 days ago via Echofon · powered by @socialditto

While a relationship between a player and a reporter is always going to get headlines, it’s likely that the couple will get their privacy back once the news dies down and the focus is shifted onto someone else. As for Ponder, he’s not complaining.

“I’m proud of the relationship,” he said. “I can brag. I’ve got bragging rights, I believe.”

Cook went from sports publicist to commentator over the years, impressing friends and colleagues with his vast knowledge of the history surrounding college football and a fierce passion for the game. He left an impression on everyone he met, say those who knew him best.

“College Gameday” host Chris Fowler said as much in an interview about him today:

“Cook was an American original. His passion, depth and breadth of knowledge, and humor were unique. He was an invaluable early mentor to me and friend. His imprint can still be seen on ‘GameDay’ each week.”

Cook, whose first name was Carroll, earned the nickname “Beano” after moving to Pittsburgh from Boston as a child and telling a neighbor where they were from.

“Oh, from Boston, like the beans”, came the reply, and from then on the name stuck. It fit him well, as a man with a well-known sense of humor. That lighthearted spirit became just one of many things his peers would remember about him; as a public figure in Pennsylvania, he left a lasting legacy which will be remembered for many years to come.

“It’s a sad day for college football,” said Penn State coach Bill O’Brien. “Especially in the state of Pennsylvania, where he was an icon.”

Image: ESPN

It’s called SportsCenter Feed, and today just launched in beta.

The feed features scores, stats, highlights, articles, videos, and audio content from all over ESPN.com and many of its affiliates. Users can sort their feed to show all stories, top stories, most popular stories, or simply browse videos. It’s all of the news available on ESPN’s network of sports sites, all in one convenient stream.

Logging in to your ESPN.com account automatically loads your previously-saved favorite sports, so that you can limit the SportsCenter Feed to just stream stories from a select view areas – for instance NCAA Football, NFL, NCAA Basketball, and Golf only.

Here’s what it looks like:

Clicking on any story from the feed on the left opens it up on the right-hand column. According to GigaOM, the stream will not feature long pieces or content from related sites like Grantland – just all of the content available on ESPN.com and affiliates.

We produce so much content over time it becomes difficult to uncover it all for fans,” said ESPN’s SVP of Product Ryan Spoon. “Our goal is to create another presentation layer that is real time and is streaming.”

Follow @ryanspoon

Ryan Spoon
@ryanspoon

ESPN’s new SportsCenter Feed http://t.co/5qqea21L – your news, personalized & real time. Very excited to launch this!

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1 hour ago via Tweetbot for iOS · powered by @socialditto

SportsCenter Feed will stream over 1,000 updates every day, and will eventually get its own mobile app. You can also expect to see SportsCenter Feed thrown into other ESPN products, possibly something like the WatchESPN app

And now, some Facebook sleuthing has led to one replacement referee’s ousting as it was determined that he may have held some allegiances that could have affected the outcome of one Sunday afternoon matchup.

Ref Brian Stropolo was stripped of his job as a side judge before yesterday’s Carolina Panthers/New Orleans Saints game after the NFL learned of his not-so-private Saints fandom.

According to ESPN, who were the ones to notify the NFL, Stropolo’s Facebook page was littered with references to how much of a Saints fan he is. This included photos of Stropolo in full Saints gear, and even participating in tailgates for Saints preseason contests.

Stropolo refereed the NFL season opener between the Cowboys and the Giants on September 5th. After that game, he posted this to Facebook:

Thanks to everyone for all the support. The crew did a great job tonight. Next stop September 16th at Carolina vs the Saints.

That post received 73 likes and a bunch of comments. Two of those comments referenced Stropolo’s allegiance to the Saints.

“Hey, now be nice with those yellow flags for our Saints!!” said one commenter. “That’s awesome you get to be an official for a Saints game! I didn’t think they would let you since your (sic) from Louisiana,” said another.

Of course, there’s no telling whether or not Stropolo would have been able to be an unbiased referee with his team on the field. The NFL removed him from the game for the mere “appearance of impropriety.” Stropolo’s Facebook page has been removed.

[ESPN via AllFacebook]