ESPN Assailed For Multimillion$ Salaries For Get-Up Hosts

Mike Greenberg, Michelle Beadle, Jalen Rose

ESPN is under fire for a new morning show that will reportedly pay its hosts multimillion-dollar salaries on the heels of recent layoffs at the network.

“Get Up!” will be hosted by Mike Greenberg, Michelle Beadle and former NBA star Jalen Rose. A glowing feature in The Hollywood Reporter, headlined, “ESPN Plans to Wake up Woke with New Morning Show,” recently revealed that the program would dabble in politics while offering a whopping $14.5 million in combined salaries for the three co-hosts, according to Fox News.

Syndicated talk-radio host and author Clay Travis brought the lofty salaries to the attention of his followers with an explosive monologue on his “Outkick the Show” program on Thursday. Travis said there was “no way” ESPN can justify paying $14.5 million to three hosts when the company has been plagued by layoffs.

“These are some of the craziest salaries I’ve ever seen,” Travis said.


According to THR’s Marisa Guthrie, Greenberg will be paid $6.5 million, Beadle will earn $5 million and Rose will take home $3 million per year. ESPN is also constructing a studio at Manhattan's South Street Seaport.

“This is an intriguing financial decision. … I am all in favor of guys, and girls, making as much money in our industry as they possible can,” Travis said. “I’m not sure there has ever been a more over-paid member of the sports media in the history of sports on television than Michelle Beadle.”

ESPN declined comment when asked to confirm the salaries.

Travis focused his outrage on Beadle, pointing to her failed stint as an NBC Sports host, while mentioning that Greenberg’s two decades on ESPN Radio could possibly justify his inflated salary.

ESPN laid off somey 250 employees in 2017, according to Sports Illustrated. The staffers let go included on-air talent, in addition to producers, executives and tech workers.

ESPN has come under fire in recent memory for a variety of situations that have left some viewers feeling that the network has a liberal bias. During a recent shareholder meeting for ESPN’s parent company, Disney, a frustrated investor told CEO Bob Iger that ESPN had become a “24/7 anti-Trump tirade channel.”


ESPN's “Get Up!” will air on Weekdays, 7-10 a.m. ET, starting on April 2.