ESPN veteran Karl Ravech was among the employees laid off by the network on Tuesday, capping a 33-year tenure. Ravech, 61, was reportedly on assignment calling the Phillies-Dodgers game on Monday night and had no advance knowledge of the impending workforce reduction.
Buster Olney, an ESPN MLB insider who worked with Ravech for 23 years, shared his thoughts on the situation Wednesday. "Obviously, terrible news yesterday," Olney said on ESPN New York radio. "And I’ll just talk about Karl Ravech, who I have worked with 23 years at ESPN. People ask me all the time about who I root for — friends, family, people you bump into. And I always say, ‘you root for good stuff to happen to good people,’ and that’s why it’s hard today with Karl, because I got to do ‘Baseball Tonight’ with him, I got to do ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ with him, and every time we worked a game — and the last time was Monday night in Philadelphia, we had no idea what was to come — man, you know, he comes in, energy, excited, prepared. We’re sitting in the office with Dave Roberts, the Dodgers manager, the other day, they’re having a laugh."
Ravech's departure follows a series of layoffs impacting several prominent ESPN personalities. These included NFL analyst Ryan Clark, who learned of his termination during the "NFL Live" program on Monday; "First Take" personality and former NFL MVP Cam Newton; NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero; "SportsCenter" anchor David Lloyd; football injury expert Stephania Bell; NFL Network analyst Charles Davis; and combat sports reporter Andreas Hale.
ESPN New York also saw staff reductions, with former Jets player Bart Scott among those let go. Scott, who had also worked as an NFL analyst on television, co-hosted a midday show with Chris Carlin.
Ravech, who joined ESPN in May 1993, had a long history with the network, serving as a studio host for MLB programs like "Baseball Tonight." He became the lead MLB play-by-play voice in 2022 and previously called the Home Run Derby before the event's rights were acquired by Netflix. He also covered the College World Series and Little League World Series.
Ravech briefly addressed the layoffs on his "Dirt from the Dugout" podcast Tuesday night, stating, "we’re well aware of it," but declined to discuss the matter further on that occasion. When reached by The Athletic on Tuesday morning, Ravech indicated he had not yet received official news from ESPN regarding his termination.