{"id":782738,"date":"2026-07-24T23:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/782738\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T23:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T23:36:21","slug":"former-espn-star-dan-patrick-calls-out-company-for-how-it-handled-layoffs-as-criticism-rises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/782738\/","title":{"rendered":"Former ESPN star Dan Patrick calls out company for how it handled layoffs as criticism rises"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dan Patrick knows a thing or two about ESPN, and he has a message for his former employer of 18 years after they fired multiple key talents in another cost-cutting move.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/21\/sports\/karl-ravech-expected-to-be-let-go-by-espn-after-33-years-as-massive-layoffs-continue\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Karl Ravech<\/a>, a 33-year ESPN veteran, was among those fired Tuesday but didn\u2019t find out until a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/22\/sports\/how-karl-ravech-handled-shocking-espn-layoff\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reporter reached out to him requesting comment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been done from ESPN for 20 years now,\u201d Patrick began on his self-named podcast. \u201cI\u2019m asked a lot of times about things that are going on at ESPN, and I always say \u2018I don\u2019t know.\u2019 For the most part, I kind of leave ESPN up in Bristol, Connecticut. I had a wonderful 18 years there.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Show dignity to those people in how you let them go. It can&#8217;t happen that Karl Ravech is contacted by somebody wanting a comment. 33 years, and that&#8217;s how it ends? Show dignity,\u00a0give them that dignity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2013\u00a0Dan Patrick on the recent ESPN layoffs <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D23gq9IlTl\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/D23gq9IlTl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/dpshow\/status\/2080328922147786955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only thing that I would say is show dignity to those people in how you let them go. That\u2019s all. It can\u2019t happen that Karl Ravech is contacted by somebody wanting a comment. Thirty-three years and that\u2019s how it ends? Show dignity. Give them that dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/21\/sports\/ryan-clark-breaks-silence-on-madness-of-shock-espn-layoff\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Patrick then commented on the way<\/a> that Ryan Clark was fired, learning off camera during an appearance on \u201cNFL Live\u201d that he would be laid off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRyan Clark is on \u2018NFL Live.\u2019 \u2018Hey, it\u2019s about to break. Let\u2019s break the news to you right now in real time,&#8217;\u201d Patrick continued explaining what happened. \u201cIf you get to the point where you know you\u2019re not going to keep them, then contact them right away. Not wait. Not wait until someone gets on set. Not someone from a website is going to contact Karl Ravech. Give them the dignity they deserve. Not someone calling you saying, \u2018Hey, can you comment on you being let go after 33 years?\u2019 That, to me, that really bothered me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ravech started at ESPN in May 1993 and steadily built his career from a studio anchor to the network\u2019s baseball voice, and also worked on \u201cBaseball Tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.29456384;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40077427\" width=\"764\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1840823030.jpg\" alt=\"Two male sports commentators smiling with headsets and microphones.\" class=\"wp-image-40077427\"  \/>Karl Ravech also broadcasted college basketball games on occasion.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Patrick, who started at ESPN in 1989, and Ravech were teammates at ESPN for 14 years.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a tough conversation to have,\u201d Patrick explained. \u201cBring them in. Call them. Go see them. Zoom with them. Like, 33 years and you find out for someone else other than your boss. That\u2019s a shame. I felt really bad for Karl Ravech. He had a great run. But that\u2019s not how you should be told that your services are no longer needed here. Give them dignity so they can prepare, and maybe they can get out in front of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patrick pointed out that Clark was told he was done because ESPN executives are fearful of a fired employee saying something live on air that they don\u2019t want aired publicly.<\/p>\n<p>Clark said he asked whoever was firing him if he was going to continue his \u201cNFL Live\u201d segment.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"40077431\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ryan-clark-.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a blue corduroy jacket and patterned tie speaks into a microphone attached to his ear.\" class=\"wp-image-40077431\"  \/>Ryan Clark was fired by ESPN among other employees.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ask, should I be done now?\u201d Clark recalled on X. \u201cThe answer was \u2018yes.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would have said [if I was Ryan Clark] \u2018Look, I\u2019m a professional; I\u2019m finishing the show. I promise I won\u2019t say anything,&#8217;\u201d Patrick explained. \u201cThat\u2019s always what happened when people were let go or left for other jobs. They immediately took you off the air because they thought you might go on \u2018SportsCenter\u2019 or ESPN outlets and say something. And that\u2019s why, as soon as it was announced, you\u2019re ushered out the door. But look, it\u2019s not the ESPN that I worked at or grew up in or was a part of. But they\u2019re very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Patrick knows a thing or two about ESPN, and he has a message for his former employer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[26610,352,399,398,396,397,99,1625,3015],"class_list":["post-782738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-dan-patrick","tag-espn","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports","tag-sports-entertainment","tag-sports-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}