The “well-respected” SVP/Programming & Content Strategy Ilan Ben-Hanan was the “most senior executive to be laid off” in ESPN’s layoff of “about 30 employees” on Tuesday, according to John Ourand of PUCK. Ben-Hanan is leaving after a 24-year career in which he was “widely considered one of the company’s young stars.” Most recently, the L.A.–based Ben-Hanan oversaw all sports on ABC. But he “really cut his teeth handling ESPN’s relationships with college conferences at various points and was a big part of ESPN’s rights deals for the CFP, NCAA, and NHL” (PUCK, 4/16).
SAYING THANKS: Ben-Hanan posted a lengthy statement on X in which he said in part, “After almost 24 years, I can boil my experience here down to one word - gratitude. Where else could I pitch the idea for Jimmy V Week, and have it turn into an annual initiative that’s raised over $100M for cancer research? Where else would I get the chance to lead multi-billion dollar rights negotiations for myriad college conferences, NCAA Championships, the College Football Playoff, the NHL, and the chance to run the SEC Network and ACC Network, along with so much more? Where else would I be entrusted with the keys to program all of our networks, including ABC, getting to touch every property and program we air? Where else would I get the chance to work with the most talented, passionate, and committed colleagues, across both ESPN and The Walt Disney Company? If you had told me in 2002 that I’d get to do all that, I’d sign up over and over again” (X, 4/16).
