Amid a changing landscape at Fox Sports, at least one veteran employee is no longer part of the network’s plans moving forward. Former Fox Sports news editor Tanya Ray Fox, a seven-year veteran of the network, posted to Instagram on Thursday sharing she “was part of a mass layoff at FS1.”
FS1 recently announced the cancellation of multiple shows – Breakfast Ball, The Facility, and Speak. As part of those cancellations, Joy Taylor has departed the network and Craig Carton is likely also moving on. Danny Parkins will shift to an expanded First Things First.
But changes have also come behind the scenes. According to her LinkedIn profile, Fox had been with Fox Sports since November 2018 after stops at USA Today, Yahoo!, and SportsGrid.
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“Arrived in MA for summer downtime with the fam and was immediately informed I was part of a mass layoff at FS1,” the social media post read.
At this time, Awful Announcing cannot confirm if Tanya Ray Fox’s claims of “mass layoffs” are, in fact, correct. Per federal law, a company of Fox’s size must provide 60 days notice to employees when laying off 50 or more staff members. As of Thursday evening, Fox has made no such filing indicating a “mass layoff” did, indeed, occur.
However, it seems reasonable that one or more behind the scenes employees were let go as FS1 makes changes to their daily lineup. Per her LinkedIn profile, she worked on the executive editorial team overseeing FS1 studio shows like First Things First, Undisputed, The Herd and Speak For Yourself. Given that FS1 canceled three shows and only First Things First and The Herd remain, it is not surprising that associated production staff have also been eliminated.
Fox Sports declined to comment when reached about Fox’s Instagram post.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.