Michele Tafoya doesn’t think it’s about the budget.
The longtime sideline reporter, who worked for years on ESPN, said she isn’t buying that Sam Ponder’s firing was for budgetary reasons, as has been reported.
Ponder has been outspoken about transgender women playing sports against other females, and Tafoya was specifically asked about a 2023 tweet from Ponder.
“Call me whatever names you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is inherently unfair for biological males to compete in female sports,” Ponder wrote on X. “It’s literally the reason they were separate in the first place, and the reason we need Title IX.”
“I don’t believe that anything is just budget cuts anymore,” Tafoya told Fox News on Friday. “I think that they clearly wanted to find an off-ramp for Sam. What’s troubling to me is the timing. This is three weeks before the NFL season begins.
“Her show ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’ is coming off its best ratings year in quite some time, so I don’t know why they would do this so close to the season and bring so much attention, unless they want to bring in the next host and give that host a lot of attention. But what Sam said in that tweet was so reasonable.”
Robert Griffin III was also let go by the network after he was pushed off of “Monday Night Countdown” by ESPN’s hiring of Jason Kelce.
The Athletic, which broke the news on the firing, reported that “NFL Live” host Laura Rutledge and Mike Greenberg were the most likely candidates to replace Ponder, with Greenberg considered the favorite.
Griffin has spoken several times since last week’s decision, thanking fans and colleagues for their support while saying Sunday that more details on what happened would be coming soon.
Tafoya went on to praise Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN’s top college football analyst, who last week went public with similar sentiments to Ponder on transgender women playing women’s sports and said he’s “done giving any s–ts” about potential blowback.
“That’s why I am so glad Kirk Herbstreit spoke out this week with Dan Dakich on Outkick because I think he is now opening the door for others to follow suit,” Tafoya said.
Both Ponder and Griffin had years left on their contracts and ESPN will have to pay that out. The Athletic’s report noted that the timing of the decision was tied to ESPN’s fiscal year ending in September.
Here is the latest on ESPN’s personnel decisions
“It kind of rings the same as what happened to say Sage Steele,” said Tafoya, who worked for ESPN for a decade in the early 2000s on “Monday Night Football” and other programming before leaving for NBC’s Sunday night games.
“I don’t know what to make of it. Robert Griffin III was also fired the same day, African-American and former football player, and both of them had time left on their contracts.”
Steele, who has also publicly supported Ponder, split ways with ESPN in 2023 after suing the network for being pulled off the air for publicly complaining about their COVID policies.
“This is another loss for ESPN, but it is a gain for literally the rest of the world because now you’re going to see the true Sam Ponder,” Steele said. “It’s all going to come out, and I hope you’re ready. She is a gem.”
Ponder has not yet commented on ESPN’s decision.
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