Le Batard (l) makes around $3.5M a year and has indicated he has less than two years left on his contractESPN IMAGES
A divorce between ESPN and Dan Le Batard seems to be inching closer, following comments Le Batard made on his radio show yesterday. After ESPN laid off one of his producers, Chris Cote, Le Batard hired him back and will personally pay his salary. Le Batard said on-air Wednesday, "We were blindsided by him being let go. It's the greatest disrespect of my professional career that I got no notice, no collaboration" (John Ourand, SBJ Media).
CORROBORATING REPORT: In N.Y., Andrew Marchand writes it is "hard to believe" Le Batard and ESPN are not "destined for a separation." It "just depends if it will be sooner or later." He "doesn’t seem to like them much" and they "don’t seem to like him much." Le Batard, who makes around $3.5M a year and has indicated that he has "less than two years remaining on his contract, said that he was 'wounded' by the move." ESPN had "already moved Le Batard's TV show to an earlier, less desirable time during the day" and "cut the national radio program by an hour." Then, it "moved the show to ESPN+." Le Batard and company "missed Monday's and Tuesday's show as they dealt with the Cote news" (N.Y. POST, 11/12).
TAKING CARE OF HIS OWN: In Miami, David Wilson notes Le Batard is hiring Cote back as his "personal assistant." Le Batard said, "We have spent the last five days trying to figure out what it is that we can do with this. ... I'm going to hire Chris Cote as my personal assistant with a raise on his present salary to fill the role vacated by Allyson Turner." He added, “I will cover the raise. I will cover the entire thing.” Wilson notes Cote has been part of “The Dan Le Batard Show” since '12 and was a "full-time employee with ESPN the past five years." He "will remain as a major presence on the show." Turner was a "personal assistant to Le Batard before leaving last year" (MIAMI HERALD, 11/12). Le Batard: "Since we're on ESPN+, I'm not sure that anyone at ESPN is going to notice for like six weeks. It's going to be so confusing, because they're not going to know from just listening to the show. Again, this is a big, sprawling corporation. The people who oversee us don't understand much of what we do" (USA TODAY, 11/12).
