Michele Tafoya doesn’t buy ESPN fired Sam Ponder over budget cuts

The timing of ESPN’s shocking firings of Sam Ponder and Robert Griffin III certainly raised questions.

But when it comes to the reported reasoning for the layoffs—budget cuts—Michele Tafoya isn’t buying it.

Appearing on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, the former sideline reporter-turned-conservative commentator was asked about Ponder’s surprising firing. And after host Dana Perino used a 2023 social media post to draw a connection between Ponder being “outspoken on the fight for fairness in women’s sports” and her firing, Tafoya agreed that there’s more to the story than ESPN’s bottom line.

“I don’t believe that anything is just budget cuts anymore,” Tafoya, who worked at ESPN from 2000-2011, said. “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.”

That “unless” part has since seemingly proved prophetic, as ESPN announced on Tuesday that Mike Greenberg will replace Ponder as the host of Sunday NFL Countdown. And according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, part of the calculus of letting the previous host go—beyond budget cuts—was a desire to promote Greenberg as one of the faces of ESPN’s NFL coverage as the network prepares to host its first Super Bowl in 2027 (on fellow Disney-owned broadcast network ABC).

Absent of that information, however, it was logical to wonder whether Ponder’s social media presence played a role in her departure. But the idea that she was being uniquely targeted for her conservative beliefs — especially one she shared a year ago — falls apart quickly. While Ponder spoke out regarding the controversy involving Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, Griffin—who was also fired—was quick to point out that the Algerian gold medalist is, in fact, a biological woman.

Is it possible that ESPN simply prefers its personalities not publicly discuss such topics, regardless of which side of the political spectrum their their takes fall on? Perhaps. And that was a more logical conclusion to draw last week. But considering what we’ve since learned, it seems more likely that ESPN was not only trying to save some money, but also promote Greenberg, which resulted in Ponder being a casualty.

[Fox News]