Life after ESPN.

ESPN unceremoniously laid off so many middle-aged employees. Calling it "Black Wednesday". Many of them are well-regarded producers, programmers, and video editors at the peak of their talents and careers. Now that the headlines and press releases have faded, reality is setting in. ESPN is cutting loose these often middle-aged executives and employees. Their career prospects are bleak in a sports media industry riven by cutbacks, ageism, and shrinking cable TV audiences. More and more TV viewers have been "cutting the cord," or dropping expensive cable TV bundles, in favor of cheaper Web-based options such as NetFlix, Amazon Fire, Sling TV, and Hulu. As a result, ESPN's subscriber base is shrinking. After losing about 9 million subscribers in recent years, ESPN is down to about 92 million homes. A former ESPN employee or executive can apply for jobs at Fox Sports, HBO Sports, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, or other ESPN competitors. But there are only so many jobs to go around. The sad truth is many of these higher-paid executives and middle-aged employees are losing out to millennials in a business where "younger" is the hiring mantra in Sports Media Production.

-Rajeev Pahuja