Front Office Sports reports that Bomani Jones may be on his way out at ESPN.
The Worldwide Leader reportedly isn’t expected to renew Jones’ contract. This comes at a poor time for the long-tenured sports personality, whose HBO show, Game Theory with Bomani Jones, was recently axed.
Front Office Sports wrote on Jones’ status with the company, with Jones himself saying that Bristol “has not show interest in renewing his contract” that will expire at the end of the month:
ESPN does not plan to renew the contract of journalist Bomani Jones, Front Office Sports has learned. His current contract with ESPN expires at the end of this month as the network separately laid off 20 on-air personalities amid broader cost-cutting moves from parent company Disney.
Last fall, Jones signed a contract extension with ESPN to host his three-times per week podcast, “The Right Time with Bomani Jones.” His show is the second-highest-rated podcast among ESPN’s 35+ shows, but the network has not shown interest in renewing his contract, Jones told FOS in New York prior to speaking during the Writers Guild of America’s Sports Solidarity Day held on the picket line outside of the CBS Broadcast Center.
“The economic fate of people in sports media is getting dicier and dicier by the day,” Jones told FOS. “I think the ESPN layoffs were the beginning of it in a lot of ways. Seeing what happened [with] the New York Times shutting down their sports department and they moved those people to other desks, but at some point they’re probably going to deem those people to be surplus and they’re not going to be there anymore.”
Assuming this does in fact lead to the end of Jones’ tenure at ESPN, he will join a laundry list of former long-tenured ESPN employees who won’t return to the company. Suzy Kolber, Jeff Van Gundy, Steve Young, and Keyshawn Johnson are just some of the on-air talents the Worldwide Leader either moved on from or let go.
In Jones’s case, he fits that bill as well. He’s made recurring appearances on ESPN dating back to 2004. He’s frequented Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, and Outside the Lines over the years, as well as Highly Questionable and others.
He does have his critics, but Bomani’s outspokenness and style make for good television most of the time. So the Worldwide Leader would feel an impact without him as they currently trudge on with their ongoing makeover. With his HBO show gone, and ESPN potentially letting him leave, it will prove interesting to see what’s next for Bomani Jones.
