Longtime 'SportsCenter' anchor Neil Everett reportedly leaving ESPN amid network's job cuts
Longtime "SportsCenter" anchor Neil Everett is leaving ESPN, he told Front Office Sports, ending a 23-year tenure with the network amid its Disney-mandated job cuts.
Everett joined ESPN in 2000 after 15 years of working with various affiliates in Honolulu. Since 2009, he had been paired with Stan Verrett in Los Angeles, hosting the later, West Coast edition of "SportsCenter" and providing an engaging and steady presence for the highlight show. Verrett reportedly won't be impacted by Everett's departure.
Front Office Sports reported two different explanations for Everett's exit, with one saying he turned down a new deal at a reduced salary to remain with the Worldwide Leader and another saying his contract, last signed in 2021, wasn't renewed.
Everett will reportedly seek to increase his role with the Portland Trail Blazers, for whom he has moonlighted since 2021, with "several" side projects also in the works.
From FOS:
“Bartender…last call,” Everett said in a statement to Front Office Sports.
He added: “ESPN changed my life, but now it’s time for me to change my life. Time to write a new chapter.”
Verrett also tweeted to praise his "SportsCenter" partner:
I started at espn in 2000, a few months after Neil Everett. We joined up for sportscenter from LA in 2009. For 14 years, he was the best teammate I could imagine. Selfless, caring, generous, and a pro’s pro. He’s moving on now, but we are brothers for life. That’ll never change.
— stan verrett (@stanverrett) June 8, 2023
Everett, a Spokane, Washington, native and Oregon graduate, won't be the only notable name to leave ESPN this year. The network has been bracing for layoffs since Disney was reported to be planning to eliminate 7,000 jobs and slash $5.5 billion in costs.
Those cuts will affect far more than ESPN, but it has already seen one wave of mostly off-air talent let go. Everett opting to leave is a sign that it will soon be the on-air talents' turn.
