From The Athletic:
Clark was making more than $2 million per year, the sources said. He had been with ESPN for more than a decade and, while he was slated to be a large part of its Super Bowl LXI coverage next year, when the network is set to broadcast the event for the first time, the sources said there had also been talk internally since February that he might not return.
ESPN executives soured on Clark because of issues with some of his choices, a dynamic that peaked with an on- and off-air incident this past season involving colleague Peter Schrager.
On “Get Up” last September, after Schrager defended Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb’s performance in an opening-night loss, Clark said, “That’s the non-player in you.”
Schrager asked Clark not to belittle him and mentioned there are other perspectives, to which Clark responded, “Peter, what I need for you to do is not get mad and let me finish.”
Much later that day, Clark tweeted out an apology, saying, “Today, I had an interaction with my colleague (Schrager) both on and off the air that I regret.”
Hmm, maybe he shouldn't have tangled with the golden haired boy....
A $2M mistake, perhaps?
I agree with Ken in that he is aging out of the talking head gig.
Add to that causing tension on and off the air, and taking $2M off the company after what the article says was a contentious contract negotiation, and you are setting yourself to get axed at the next major layoff.
If he's smart, he's been banking some of those pay checks. The NFL media world is consolidating. The big money being splashed around in the podcast space has come and gone. ESPN is now running NFLN. There aren't a lot of jobs out there.
PS: One thing released: Rich Eisen isn't going to be doing play-by-play any more. It kind of suggests his contract had a per-game payout in it, and ESPN decided they could get someone cheaper to do the games.
ESPN has cut ties with one of its most prominent NFL analysts, sources briefed on the move told The Athletic.
www.nytimes.com
