Karl Ravech finished his 33-year ESPN career Sunday by calling the Little League World Series championship game, then said in a Washington Post profile published Monday that he would have been willing to take a pay cut or reduce his workload to remain at the network.
The Insult: That conversation, he said, never happened.
“I would’ve been willing to talk,” Ravech told the Post. “But I never heard anything.” Ravech, 61, was laid off in July during a broader ESPN talent cut that also included Ryan Clark, Cam Newton, David Lloyd, Tom Pelissero, Stephania Bell, Bart Scott and Charles Davis.
He learned of the decision from a reporter seeking comment while standing on an Amtrak platform in Philadelphia, before ESPN executives told him themselves. He later described the three-hour train ride home to Connecticut as “a lot.”
The network gave him an on-air send-off; Ravech thanked colleagues and said the event had always been about the kids and the people he worked with.
According to the Post, Ravech was earning in the low-to-mid seven figures and carried one of the heavier workloads at ESPN, including years as the voice of Sunday Night Baseball, Baseball Tonight, college basketball and World Series studio coverage.
He said he had “literally no ill will” toward the company that hired him in 1993, even as he questioned why no one discussed a reduced role before cutting him loose. ESPN declined to comment for the profile.