Pat McAfee responds to layoffs at ESPN

When news of layoffs and expiring contracts not being renewed rattled ESPN, the network and its newest full-time talent, Pat McAfee, were hit with a torrent of criticism. McAfee, who recently signed an exclusive deal with ESPN in May, posted a lengthy tweet about the changes on Friday. For the "too long, didn't read" crowd, McAfee said he's hoping that "mass exits are never a thing again":

"We’re very pumped to be joining ESPN and our goal is that “Mass exits” are never a thing again.. we hope to help that.. obviously that’s a lofty goal but, that’s how I truly look at life... I wish we could’ve worked alongside a lot of the folks that got released today. Some absolute legends, that we all respect, in the sports media world were trending today for losing jobs. That sucks.. no matter how you slice it."

In May, the former Indianapolis Colts punter signed a five-year, $85 million contract to move "The Pat McAfee Show" to ESPN and contribute to other network programming. This was in addition to his "College GameDay" duties from when he joined the pregame show last fall. McAfee ended his partnership with FanDuel two years into a four-year, $120 million contract because he wanted to offload the actual production of the show to more experienced hands.

As honest and noble as McAfee's sentiment is, the reality is that the decisions are way above his massive pay grade. For over a year, economists and industry observers have anticipated a recession in the global economy. Media and tech companies have been trimming staffs for months, even as the economic indicators their leaders follow were slow to indicate an actual recession.

The recession fears were on top of problems that all media companies have been facing even in boom times thanks to cord cutting, declining traditional viewership across all of TV and an overabundance of subscription streaming services.

The media industry is incredibly volatile for a laundry list of reasons, but even with the challenges it faces, there's no greater adversity a company can face than dealing with the psychology of shareholders. If anything appears to threaten their profit margins, they will demand a company's leadership look for cost savings, even if its at the sacrifice of what makes the firm successful in the first place. They will also demand that the same leadership look for the "next big thing" that could generate more revenue. In sports media, if it's not a game broadcast, it comes from who gets to talk about the games themselves.

The optics of these two massive changes - the addition of a big media star concurrent with the subtraction of many, many others - reveal a contradiction that many publicly-traded companies engage in during times of economic uncertainty. Despite concerning trends and the need to keep bringing in massive revenues, to blame McAfee himself for the departure of Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber and many others for what's happening at ESPN may feel accurate but is far from fair.