‘Loyalty doesn’t pay’: Former ESPN star claims network slashed salary in final year

Since retiring from ESPN this June, Linda Cohn has spoken at length about having “total freedom” and started her eponymous podcast shortly thereafter. The all-time record-holding SportsCenter host has not shied away from discussing what really happened during her 34 years at ESPN, at least from her perspective.This week, Cohn appeared on The Sage Steele Show, where the two discussed their time as colleagues at ESPN. (Steele departed ESPN after settling a free-speech lawsuit in August 2023 after spending 16 years at the company.)Steele stated that the majority of her time at the Worldwide Leader was “awesome” at ESPN, but that the remaining 10 percent was “devastating,” a notion with which Cohn agreed. Cohn then recalled “sobbing in the ladies’ room multiple times” after “dealing with people who made me feel like crap on the air.”Cohn then made quite the revelation.“I did not understand, with the National Hockey League, I was one of few people that kept that damn sport alive on SportsCenter, and then I was cast aside,” Cohn said, adding, “That hurt me. That really hurt me. They put me basically—and thank God I had Barry [Melrose] most of the time to host ‘In The Crease,’ when I should have been out there on the ice with those players, covering Stanley Cup Finals or being rink side. But after the first year and a half, I was cast aside, and suddenly, they didn’t use me at all. And they just put me in that SportsCenter box.”She then revealed what she dealt with in her final year with the network.“The last year, technically, I was at ESPN, they cut my salary 80 percent after they closed the L.A. studio,” Cohn said.“I actually signed a deal that [said], ‘OK, Linda, you can do 15 events or appearances for us, but we’re cutting your salary 80 percent,’” she added. “Sage, loyalty doesn’t pay because I’ll tell you something. What people think I made, or if you google me and what I made, that’s all incorrect. Trust me on that.”Cohn appears much more content since launching The Linda Cohn Show independently in July and then officially partnering with Bleav in late September.“For the first time, I’m not in a box,” Cohn said of her podcast. “For the first time, I don’t have a muzzle around my mouth. A gag! I was able to talk about how I was feeling about certain things. Now, it’s a sports show. But it’s a sports topical show. It’s stuff off the court, off the field.”The post ‘Loyalty doesn’t pay’: Former ESPN star claims network slashed salary in final year appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.