Two longtime executives at ESPN have accepted retirement packages as a part of the latest round of cost-cutting moves at Disney.<\/p>\n
According to On3\u2019s Brett McMurphy, VP of ESPN Events Clint Overby<\/a> and ESPN senior director of programming Kurt Dargis both will be leaving the Worldwide Leader.<\/p>\n \u201cOverby oversaw 35 annual collegiate events, including ESPN\u2019s 17 owned bowl games & seven college basketball events,\u201d McMurphy wrote<\/a> of his 25 years with the network. \u201cA huge loss for ESPN.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Dargis, McMurphy noted<\/a> that he had been with ESPN for 31 years, and that the network \u201cis losing some great internal pieces that will impact its college football\/basketball coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n The departures come as Disney has been making cuts across the company for months. A report from Nellie Andreeva at Deadline<\/a> in August noted that Disney executives were being offered packages that \u201cwill give eligible executives the opportunity to retire now with an enhanced retirement package that recognizes their service and contributions,\u201d per an internal memo.<\/p>\n There have been a number of dramatic layoffs at Disney already this year, including cutting more than 1,000 employees in April. A report from Todd Spangler at Variety<\/a> indicated that National Geographic was hit by the majority of cuts on the television side of Disney\u2019s downsizing, ESPN was far from exempt from cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n