More Cleaning House : NFL insider John 'The Professor' Clayton out at ESPN

[Betallsports]

The Professor's tenure at ESPN is coming to an end.


NFL insider John "The Professor" Clayton is leaving ESPN as part of the sweeping layoffs at the Worldwide Leader in Sports, sources tell Sports News. ESPN and Clayton both declined comment.


The well-respected Clayton has served as a senior NFL writer and commentator at ESPN for 23 years.


Sporting an unforgettable ponytail, Clayton starred in one of the most memorable "This is SportsCenter" TV commercials of all time. In the 2012 commercial, Clayton delivers a report to anchor Stan Verrett. Once his on-air hit is over, the secret rock n' roller rips off his faux suit, lets down his mullet and cranks up the music.


"Hey Mom, I'm done with my segment," screams Clayton, while chowing down in his bed.

 

[HacheMan]

He was one of the very few i actually liked...

 

[GoBlue34]

Wow didn't think he would be let go. Didn't think he was great but thought a lot of people did

 

[doubledeuce22]

What in the world is this network doing... meanwhile the sc6 still going strong (according to them).

 

[rolltide]

he's a white guy that never played in the NFL reporting facts and news without bizarre partisan opinions. this does not fit the new 4-letter network

 

[Mobdeeper7239]

What in the world is this network doing... meanwhile the sc6 still going strong (according to them).

lol. I turn the channel right when 6 o clock hits because I want to be one of the millions tuning out

 

[jimmythegreek]

there's always the skipper and gilligan.

 

[rolltide]

meanwhile the sc6 still going strong

since March, SC6 has been performing below the 2016 pace, ranging in a given week from 6% to 20% less viewers compared to 2016. SC6 is down 20% compared to the 2016 SportsCenter.

the online space can be a place for divisiveness and bitterness anyway, but reaction is quite negative. A search of the #SC6 hashtag shows that 86 of the last 100 messages are of the negative variety about the show, compared to 6 neutral or undetermined, and 8 positive. One site composed negative reactions to SC6 amidst the ESPN layoffs, and Daniel Roberts with Yahoo Finance said that about half of the comments on a post dealing with layoffs were about Hill and Smith.

the 6 p.m. time slot was fairly even in its political distribution of viewers, and represents a different demographic than daytime. According to Yahoo Finance just two weeks ago, “ESPN says SC6 is finding a diverse audience: 41% black, and its reach among black viewers ages 18-34 has increased 15% year over year since Hill and Smith took over.” Implicit in that is that viewership is down among white viewers, with the overall drop in viewers compared to 2016.

Three months into the SC6 experiment, the landmarks that Rob King cited–better ratings, a larger available audience–are not so clear to emerge. The evidence of success is murky, particularly set against the background of removing one anchor, paying two, and heavily promoting the show as much as any that has appeared on the network. If the old version was such that it needed to be replaced, then simply treading water is not a good sign given the larger investment.

 

[slapshot]

he was useless there now as nobody watches ESPN for any news so really a good call to let him go

 

[PatsFan1283]

With Twitter a lot of the "sources" type people are useless to employ now. Nobody really cares who breaks stories.

It it used to be a race to report that info the fastest, just doesn't matter now. Marc Stein same thing.

 

[rolltide]

he was useless there now as nobody watches ESPN for any news so really a good call to let him go

exactly. they only want opinionated ex-athletes as long as those opinions are heavily left leaning

 

[Greenbacks]