One of the network’s longest-tenured figures is out at the Worldwide Leader. In a post on his Twitter account, Kenny Mayne announced that he’s a “salary cap casualty” at ESPN, and as a result, his nearly three decades as a SportsCenter host and personality across a number of platforms has come to an end.
Mayne thanked a number of individuals who played a role in getting him to ESPN back in 1994 and listed a handful of things he’d miss, including “the vending machine set up over by the old Van Pelt joint.”
I am leaving ESPN.
Salary cap casualty.
Thanks for the opportunity Vince Doria & Al Jaffe & for taking my solicitations
Herman/Stinton/Lynch.I will miss the people.
I will miss the vending machine set up over by the old Van Pelt joint.
We had everything.IntoTheGreatWideOpen#
— Kenny Mayne (@Kenny_Mayne) May 10, 2021
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Mayne was offered a chance to stay with the network, albeit after a pay cut.
ESPN did make Kenny Mayne an offer, according to a source. It was a pay cut.
This is a trend in many of its negotiations as it tries to “market corrects” what it views as exorbitant salaries.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) May 10, 2021
Mayne began his tenure at ESPN back in 1994, and in the years since has endeared himself to viewers with his dry sense of humor and lighthearted approach to sports. This was evident whenever he’d man the SportsCenter desk over the years, or whenever he’d take on another project at the network to show off his personality — he was the host of the web series Kenny Mayne’s Wider World of Sports and was star of the scripted online series Mayne Street, which featured Mayne playing an exaggerated version of himself.
Beyond his television work, Mayne authored the book An Incomplete And Inaccurate History Of Sports in 2008. A popular personality during his time at Bristol, there is no word on what the future holds for Mayne.