Speculation that the exits were somehow connected by more than coincidence was fueled by
a juicy detail found a few paragraphs deep in The Hollywood Reporter’s July 8 story on ESPN’s decision to pass on renewing Olbermann’s contract: network president John Skipper had been given a mandate by parent company Disney to cut $100 million from the budget in 2016 and a staggering $250 million in ’17.
An ESPN spokesman subsequently told THR that the numbers were “factually inaccurate,” but the figures were nonetheless picked up by multiple outlets. That same week the Wall Street Journal
described ESPN as being in “belt-tightening mode” as it faced a loss of subscribers.
