Ryan Clark has non-compete with ESPN through February; won’t return to network TV without ‘freedom’

Ryan Clark resurfaced very quickly after his untimely exit at ESPN over the summer, launching The Pivot Sports this week to cover the NFL season.

Though Clark would seem to have a cushy setup with a Netflix-licensed interview podcast and now a live weekly show to break down games, he may not be done on network television. It will just be a matter of time.

In an interview Thursday on The Breakfast Club, Clark revealed that he has a non-compete with ESPN for the remainder of his contract, which expires at the end of February.

“There’s reasons why I can’t be on a network, right? Because as the contract goes, if you are laid off, you get to be paid. Which for me is the last day of February,” he said. “So until that point, I still have an opportunity to make money from them.”

Clark also again accused ESPN of intentionally leaking news of his “firing” to Fox-owned Outkick in order to “humiliate” him.

Clark infamously found out ESPN was letting him go during an appearance on NFL Live. Later, it was revealed that Outkick put pressure on ESPN with a sudden deadline that forced the network to notify Clark during a commercial break.

The Super Bowl champion former NFL safety has called his exit a “firing” to emphasize the more hostile manner in which he was treated on his way out the door.

“Only one person got let go on Monday. Only one person was let go on air. Only one person’s firing or layoff was leaked to a far-right, conservative sports site. Me,” he explained.

“So when all those things line up, it lets you know all these things are not on the up-and-up. But it was also purposeful, and it was also meant in my opinion to humiliate, right? And in leaking it to Outkick, you now know if anybody is going to curry favor for you in this decision, it’s going to be them. Because it’s me.”

Later, Clark was asked whether he would take a job where he couldn’t “be himself.” He said no.

In his telling, Clark faced frequent incursions into his freedom of self-expression under the ESPN banner. Media reporters have suggested Clark was in hot water with management over mistakes such as his ill-timed defense last fall of the late former LSU running back Kyren Lacy. Clark has noted other potential missteps such as his fervent defense of Angel Reese (another athlete from LSU, Clark’s alma mater) since leaving ESPN, and claims he was often at odds with management for being so outspoken.

Out from under the thumb of corporate media, Clark sounds refreshed.

“There’s a freedom in it for sure, but there’s also, for me now, the understanding of the separation,” he said. “I started The Pivot Sports show because I knew I’d miss talking about football.”

“And then I have The Pivot as well. So now these things that I’m passionate about and I believe are part of my purpose, I get to do that too. I’m only going to tell the truth. [But] there were times that I was there where [I could do both].”

Like others before him, Clark has found somewhat of a loophole to keep covering football and stay in the public eye while cashing Disney checks. Whether Clark, a Sports Emmy winner, ultimately returns to television will likely be more about his and his potential future employer’s appetite for controversy than his talent as a football analyst — which has never been in question.