Sam Ponder has spoken about her own dismissal from ESPN, following a candid account from former colleague Suzy Kolber regarding her departure from the network after 27 years.
Ponder, who previously hosted “Sunday NFL Countdown,” said she received a call from Kolber after her own firing, which occurred as part of ESPN’s cost-cutting measures in August 2024. Ponder, who had been with ESPN for 14 years, noted Kolber’s kindness to her when she began on “Countdown” and expressed regret for not showing her more deference.
“I remember feeling like it was a little weird that ESPN said nothing publicly, only leaking my firing so that I got a NY Times notification on my phone that I was out, when they fired me after 14 years there,” Ponder wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in a quote tweet that featured Kolber’s interview with Sports Business Journal.
Kolber, in her first public comments on her exit, described the layoff as emotionally difficult, particularly because the company did not acknowledge her departure. She highlighted her significant contributions, including being one of the first hires for ESPN2’s launch in 1993, her involvement with the X Games, and her role in the move of “Monday Night Football” to ESPN.
“Probably the most emotional thing was [Former ESPN exec] Norby [Williamson] saying to me [ESPN was] not going to say anything,” Kolber recalled. “I was the first person hired for the launch of ESPN2. I was the first person assigned to the X Games. I was part of ‘Monday Night Football’’s move to ESPN. I was part of some pretty big franchises. I was like, ‘You’re not gonna say a word? Not thanks for 27 years. Just acknowledge it?’
Kolber explained that she had previously accepted a 39 percent pay cut prior to her layoff, anticipating that the network was negotiating with a newer talent and offering a significantly higher salary. She stated that her request to reduce her workload was to regain personal time, particularly with her daughter who was 14 at the time, as she had worked year-round throughout her career.
“I thought about how much I loved what I’m doing. I loved the people I worked with. I took all of that into consideration and said it’s not about the money,” Kolber said. “I want to keep doing this.
But my pushback to the company [on the contract] was I’ve worked year-round my whole career and my daughter is 14 and we’ve never taken a spring break together because I’m prepping the draft and my summer ends at training camp. I wanted my life back, and that’s when my assignments were pulled back to just Monday nights and the NFL draft and the Super Bowl. Up until then, I was working year-round and full time. I did think the 39% cut was going to get me to the end [of the contract].”
To ensure her departure was publicly noted, Kolber created a social media post and enlisted the help of ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter and former ESPN executive Chris LaPlaca to repost it. Kolber described a moment of intense emotion, stating, “I crafted it, and as soon as I saw [the post] go live, I had a good three to five minutes of full-on sobbing. It was real.”