Who is Norby Williamson and why is it a big deal that he's reportedly out at ESPN?

The name Norby Williamson may be familiar to some of you given that you’ve heard it in the news connected to ESPN over the years.

But with a report from the New York Post that Williamson is out after nearly 40 years at the Worldwide Leader, you might want to know more.

Williamson actually started out in the mailroom way back in 1985 and worked his way all the way up to senior VP and managing editor at ESPN in 2002 and became the executive VP of production in 2007. Eventually, in 2014 he was executive VP of production, program scheduling and development. Basically, he oversaw all kinds of things when it came to developing programming and schedules and such.

There were times over the years in which Williamson’s name came up when he was accused by talent like Pat McAfee of “sabotage” or former employees like Jemele Hill or Dan Le Batard of doing negative things to protect the ESPN brand.

Per the Post:

About a year ago, Burke Magnus was promoted above Williamson to become president of ESPN content.

Sources said that Magnus and Williamson did not share a vision that aligned with ESPN’s long-term strategy and that Magnus made the decision to part ways with the seasoned executive.

Norby Williamson is out at ESPN.

First reported by @sportsrapport

Here is a memo from ESPN president of content Burke Magnus: pic.twitter.com/LIsGjdUYlG

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) April 5, 2024