ESPN’s Burke Magnus defends Katie Feeney hire, says company wants to add another social media influencer

ESPN’s hiring of Katie Feeney was certainly a unconventional one.

But the social media influencer’s first two months at the Worldwide Leader have gone so well that the network already views it as a blueprint for future additions.

Appearing on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast, ESPN president of content Burke Magnus discussed a variety of topics regarding the state of his company. And when it came to Feeney’s hiring, the longtime ESPN executive had nothing but praise for the recent Penn State grad.

“She’s remarkable. I’ve gotten to know her a little bit,” Magnus said. “I think we might [hire another social media influencer] in the not-too-distant future because of the great start that Katie is on.

“We’ve thrown her right into the fire and this is, I guess, the poise that she gathered by building her own profile independently on her own at such a young age, but she’s already been on-location at College GameDay, at Monday Night Football, at Sunday and Monday Countdowns. She’s essentially curating SportsCenter on Snapchat for us… she’s been great. This is the world we live in.”

The public reaction, however, hasn’t necessarily been as positive.

As is the case with any non-traditional hire, ESPN’s addition of Feeney was met with backlash from some people who felt the Disney-owned company was discarding its journalistic principles in order to cater to a younger demographic. Magnus, however, dismissed such criticisms, which he says miss the larger purpose of what the network is attempting to accomplish.

“I’m in my late-50s. And not that I’m an expert on it, but I have an appreciation for what matters to sports audiences — particularly younger sports audiences,” he said. “This matters. I don’t care what you say. And when I read articles or criticisms or things about how we’re sort of compromising ourselves by a hire like this, it’s just to me, like, laughable. She is so relevant with an audience that is not insignificant and is very important to the future of our business. It’s such an investment in both the present, but more importantly, the future, that it baffles me that people wouldn’t understand why we did it.”

Magnus also referred to Feeney’s hire as “totally additive” in the sense that she’s filling a position that didn’t previously exist at ESPN. He credited ESPN SVP of digital, social and streaming content Kaitee Daley for the hire, admitting that he likely wouldn’t have come across Feeney’s work otherwise

In many ways, the addition of Feeney is reminiscent of another polarizing hire that Magnus has repeatedly championed in Pat McAfee, whose addition to ESPN was also had its share of detractors. But as is the case with the former All-Pro punter, the ESPN content president is only doubling down, as evidenced by his now-public to add another Feeney-like social media star to the company’s roster.