The memo from Norby Williamson, one in all ESPN’s high executives, was brief and direct: Lee Becoming, a senior vice chairman of manufacturing who had been at ESPN for greater than 25 years, was “not with the corporate” and ESPN can be “finalizing a brand new manufacturing construction” for the exhibits he oversaw.
The timing of Becoming’s dismissal — the memo was despatched on Aug. 21, 2023, a few week earlier than the beginning of the school soccer season — amplified the shockwaves felt by means of ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn. Since 2004, Becoming oversaw “Faculty GameDay,” and his management cemented this system into the cultural zeitgeist, catapulted the recognition of on-air personalities like Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, and turned the present right into a income and rankings winner.
Because the present rose, so did Becoming’s profile inside ESPN. Along with “Faculty GameDay,” he finally oversaw all school and NFL properties, giving him the facility to make and break careers, and he was anticipated to someday succeed Williamson as head of the community’s programming. When he was escorted out of the constructing by safety, some at ESPN’s headquarters groused at what they perceived as indecorous therapy. For all he’d achieved, Lee Becoming deserved higher.
There was, in distinction, a subset of present and former ESPN staff who reacted in a different way. “I can’t consider it took this lengthy,” stated one girl.
She and others had watched Becoming rise inside ESPN regardless of, in line with them, making feedback objectifying girls, criticizing their bodily look and making crude jokes, some sexual in nature, within the office. This went on unchecked for years, in line with the scores of present and former ESPN staff interviewed by The Athletic, who requested anonymity to talk freely as a result of they nonetheless work in sports activities media. It had a devastating impact on quite a few girls who believed they needed to endure or associate with his conduct to remain employed or ascend at ESPN. Many ladies in sports activities media quietly shared their interactions and issues about Becoming with one another. Some left ESPN partly due to their expertise with him.
However in 2023, a grievance concerning Becoming was made with ESPN’s human assets division, prompting officers at ESPN to query a gaggle of staff, together with some outstanding feminine staffers. A short while later Becoming, then 48, was executed at ESPN. “It lastly caught as much as him,” stated one of many girls questioned.
Becoming, by way of a spokesperson, denied a number of the allegations made in opposition to him whereas selecting to not deal with others. He declined to touch upon the broader characterization of him as somebody who mistreated girls throughout his tenure at ESPN or why he was let go by the community.
Becoming’s ouster is among the many most important examples of ESPN’s ongoing reckoning with its previous. Since chairman Jimmy Pitaro got here from mother or father firm Disney in 2018, there have been vital adjustments. A much less publicized a part of that transformation has been a behind-the-scenes effort to wash up the boys’ membership ethos that lengthy permeated the corporate. Within the final two years, ESPN has eliminated a minimum of 4 male staff — three in elevated positions — who have been accused of wrongdoing towards girls and/or subordinates.
ESPN declined to debate Becoming’s dismissal, citing the corporate’s coverage to not talk about personnel issues. Williamson, who’s not at ESPN, additionally declined to remark. In a press release, the community stated: “ESPN is devoted to sustaining probably the most inclusive, respectful and comfy work surroundings for everybody. Our persons are probably the most worthwhile useful resource at ESPN, and we guarantee our dedication by offering year-round steerage, together with intensive assist and coaching. On high of that, we clearly talk office expectations for all, whereas emphasizing care, sensitivity and accessibility in response to any worker wants.”
In its early years, ESPN’s tradition was brazenly hostile towards feminine staff. Ladies have been ogled and topic to aggressive overtures and male staff supplied feminine co-workers development in trade for sexual favors. It was commonplace for workplace screens to point out the Playboy Channel.
In James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales’ 2011 oral historical past of ESPN, “These Guys Have All of the Enjoyable,” they describe the corporate’s ambiance in its early years (it was based in 1979) as “a wild wellspring of sexual misconduct.”
It wasn’t till the late Nineteen Eighties that somebody drew consideration to the issue. On-air character Karie Ross spoke up about what she felt was rampant sexual harassment at a gathering of a minimum of 200 staff. “I made a decision the one technique to get my level throughout was to face up in entrance of the entire place,” she stated within the guide. Afterward, Ross felt marginalized and left the corporate.
Former president Steve Bornstein blamed the widespread misogyny, partly, on ESPN’s location in Bristol. “It’s 100 miles from actual civilization, and you bought the sort of testosterone, jock mentality, frat home method that’s just about a recipe for silly selections being made,” he stated in “These Guys Have All of the Enjoyable.”
By 1996, when Becoming landed a job in ESPN’s manufacturing assistant pool, the corporate remained a problematic place for girls, in line with a number of who labored there on the time. The “frat home method” continued.
Becoming, a fraternity member whereas he attended James Madison College, graduated from ESPN’s manufacturing assistant program and have become an affiliate producer on “Faculty GameDay” in 2000 and was promoted to characteristic producer two years later. Within the spring of 2004, he impressed his boss, Mark Gross, with a pitch for the way he’d run the present. Becoming was placed on smaller stay exhibits that summer season to hone his abilities, and by that fall, at age 29, he was sitting in “Faculty GameDay’s” lead chair.
The present, which started in 1987 as an in-studio manufacturing (it didn’t go on the highway till 1993), was already fashionable. The casting of Fowler, the unflappable host; Herbstreit, the previous school quarterback; and Lee Corso, the ex-coach-turned-charming-goofball, had already resonated. Becoming launched it into a unique stratosphere. He made the present really feel youthful, brisker and unpredictable.
Throughout a go to to Ole Miss in 2014, everybody on set wore customized bow ties. Katy Perry, on the apex of her pop stardom and decked out in a pink mohair sweater and matching area buns, arrived with a state trooper element carrying a tray of drinks. The phase culminated together with her tossing corn canine on the digicam, shucking off Lee Corso’s mascot helmet and main the gang within the “Hotty Toddy” chant.
“The primary rule to producing good tv is to not be scared,” Becoming stated within the keynote dialog on the 2017 SVG Faculty Sports activities Summit in Atlanta. “You’ve obtained to be prepared to take dangers and it’s important to be prepared to not fear about what your boss or bosses say while you take these dangers.”
Becoming additionally excelled at features of the job, comparable to hobnobbing with school coaches on the golf course or socializing with executives from the present’s company sponsors over drinks. “Lee is a gregarious, social, pleasant man. If we introduced advertisers round, Lee knew the right way to shake arms, and he was expert at that,” stated John Skipper, ESPN’s president from 2012-17. He added: “Lee clearly made the present higher and made the present terribly entertaining and terribly fashionable. He was a golden boy.”
And he was extraordinarily fashionable with many male executives at ESPN. Becoming was assured; he was good at golf (a worthwhile foreign money within the ESPN ecosystem; a number of executives belonged to the identical golf membership as Becoming). Folks see the on-air expertise at ESPN and assume it’s a firm of assured operators. However as one longtime worker framed it: ESPN is definitely a “kingdom of dorks,” and Becoming was a cool child with a gravitational pull. Among the strongest males on the firm favored being in his orbit.
The present’s success and Becoming’s recognition afforded him nice latitude. If he needed a child bison on the set throughout a present in Fargo, N.D., somebody rounded up a child bison. His sway over the present’s price range and personnel selections and skill to increase its attain was unmatched by others working ESPN applications. And as one of many few exhibits not centered in Bristol, there was much less oversight by the bosses again at HQ.
In an oral historical past of the present printed by The Ringer, “SportsCenter” host Scott Van Pelt stated about “Faculty GameDay”: “They’re their very own sort of nation, so to talk — favored-nation standing.”
The solid obtained particular catering, safety, transportation and extra. Staffers who moved from elsewhere at ESPN to “Faculty GameDay” went from boxed lunches to takeout from the Capital Grille. “It was steak, not sandwiches,” stated one one who labored on the present. “It was nearly piggish.”
Mentioned one worker: “The widespread theme is — there aren’t any guidelines. It’s ‘GameDay’ guidelines.”
A fan holds up an indication of Lee Becoming. (Courtesy of ESPN)
Many ladies who labored on “Faculty GameDay” and beneath Becoming elsewhere at ESPN — The Athletic spoke to greater than 20, together with six who participated within the community’s 2023 investigation into Becoming — stated that the office tradition beneath Becoming featured boorish conduct and offensive remarks, lots of them sexual in nature.
Round 2012, some ESPN staff have been watching the NCAA’s males’s basketball event from a convention room in Bristol when Becoming allegedly commented on a girl (who was not current and didn’t work at ESPN) and her means to “open her throat” to down a beer, then joked that the girl can be good at performing fellatio, in line with one particular person current. (The Athletic additionally spoke to a former ESPN worker who the particular person current informed concerning the alleged remark.) Becoming, by way of his spokesperson, stated this incident by no means occurred.
In a manufacturing assembly round 2014, no chairs have been accessible for a girl on workers. Becoming patted his lap and stated to her: “I’ve obtained a seat proper right here for you,” in line with one particular person within the room and one other one who was informed concerning the comment from one other particular person current. Becoming denied this allegation. One feminine ESPN worker stated that Becoming despatched her a textual content message round 2018 that learn: “You look sizzling.” She confirmed the textual content to a producer, who recalled the girl’s hand shaking as she confirmed the producer the message.
On a couple of event, he jokingly requested a feminine staffer for her lodge room quantity and likewise routinely joked about performing mattress checks, in line with “Faculty GameDay” staff. Becoming denied these allegations. He additionally allegedly bragged about his and his spouse’s sturdy intercourse life, in line with a number of sources.
When he noticed a girl in an outfit he favored, he’d let her know, typically in methods girls and different staff discovered crude and/or humiliating. He as soon as loudly exclaimed “Goddamn!” when a girl appeared on set in a skirt he favored. Some of these feedback have been so frequent that one feminine “Faculty GameDay” worker developed a method to blunt his conduct. At any time when he would say or do one thing inappropriate, she would open up a pocket book and mimic writing one thing down. When Becoming would ask what she was doing, she’d reply: “Simply jotting this down for the guide.”
Boozy dinners close to school campuses have been widespread, adopted by visits to a neighborhood bar, and Becoming was a frequent late-night texter.
In a 2015 Harrisonburg, Va., Each day Information-Document profile, Becoming bragged about his partying days as a JMU fraternity member, and a few “Faculty GameDay” staff felt that facet of him by no means actually graduated. “It was a frat boy sense of ambiance on a regular basis,” one former present worker stated. In “The System,” a guide by Armen Keteyian and Jeff Benedict, Becoming mused about bringing the present to The Grove at Ole Miss, remarking: “Ah, sundresses and alcoholic drinks.”
Many ladies who labored on “Faculty GameDay” and beneath Becoming elsewhere at ESPN stated they felt pressured to exit for drinks and tolerate the inappropriate remarks, frightened that if they didn’t current as members of the boys’ membership they’d be ostracized. Typically, earlier than or after saying one thing crude or sexist, Becoming would use a phrase — “It’s OK, she’s one of many guys” — to justify why his comment was permissible, sources stated. When one feminine worker left the present, Becoming dismissed her as “no enjoyable” in entrance of a gaggle of staff, in line with one particular person current.
Some girls who appeared on-camera have been informed by Becoming the right way to fashion their hair, how a lot make-up to put on, what outfits he permitted of or didn’t like. He typically referenced features of their physique that he suggested them to hide.
One girl stated that someday, when she and Becoming have been working in numerous places, he had seen her on an in-house feed and texted her that he favored her hair in a ponytail. She disregarded the remark, however he texted once more: “Put your hair up in a ponytail.” The lady replied that she had already been in hair and make-up for the day, to which she stated Becoming responded: “Put your hair up in a ponytail earlier than I do it for you.” (Becoming denied saying that he would put her hair up if she didn’t.)
One other girl stated Becoming, along with commenting on her make-up and wardrobe, informed her she ought to chorus from laughing on air as a result of he discovered her snort annoying. (The Athletic spoke with an individual she later informed about that trade.)
“You have already got these items at the back of your thoughts. After which when anyone doesn’t assume you may advance in your profession since you don’t verify a field, that consciousness can turn into an insecurity,” one girl stated.
Becoming, by way of his spokesperson, stated it was his job to supply suggestions to female and male on-air expertise concerning their look and on-air supply.
Becoming commented so regularly on how girls appeared that judging girls in that approach turned engrained in how he operated the present. Within the manufacturing truck, he would direct folks to scan the gang for “sizzling” girls who may very well be proven on the printed, in line with a number of individuals who labored with him. In 2012, “Faculty GameDay” was in South Bend, Ind., for an October sport between Notre Dame and Stanford. Becoming had a difficulty with the gang shot behind the studio set: The Notre Dame cheerleaders within the shot weren’t engaging sufficient. They have been no Oregon cheerleaders, he remarked. (Becoming had a specific fondness for the Oregon cheerleaders, a number of folks stated, citing feedback he made about them that spanned years). As Becoming ordered the Irish cheerleaders lower from the shot, nobody batted an eye fixed.
In 2016, Becoming was promoted to vice chairman and given oversight of all school soccer and basketball studio and distant manufacturing. It gave him much more affect over the ESPN star-making machine.
One ESPN worker stated that round 2017 she requested Becoming if she might meet with him in New York to debate work alternatives. She stated that he then requested by way of textual content whether or not he ought to get a lodge room for the night time, which she interpreted as him asking if he ought to get a room for the 2 of them. She determined to drop the matter and the assembly by no means occurred. Becoming, by way of his spokesperson, stated that the girl misinterpreted his query; he was asking if he ought to reserve a convention room on the lodge.
One other ESPN worker stated she requested to satisfy with Becoming to debate profession alternatives on three events. Every time he requested her to satisfy with him for drinks, she stated. She declined, as she stated different girls at ESPN informed her to not meet with Becoming alone exterior of labor. Mentioned one other feminine staffer: “Ladies had warned one another to take heed to interactions with him.” Becoming stated by means of his spokesperson that it was widespread for him to get drinks with women and men as a part of his job.
Throughout Becoming’s rise, ESPN took motion in opposition to some males accused of misconduct. In 2006, Sean Salisbury was suspended for displaying photos of his genitals to co-workers at a bar; his contract was not renewed when it expired in 2008. In 2009, Steve Phillips was fired for having an affair with a manufacturing assistant. One connection between these two circumstances: The wrongdoing was reported on by media retailers.
Across the time of the Phillips affair, ESPN additionally let two vice presidents go after the consensual relationship they have been in — which had been earlier disclosed to higher-ups — was reported on. Inside the firm, that transfer was thought-about pointless and reactionary, proof that the corporate was reeling.
Williamson known as a gathering of individuals in management, and the message he delivered was that the corporate “wasn’t placing up with any of this,” stated one attendee. However a lot of the alleged wrongdoing by Becoming shared with The Athletic occurred after that assembly. And regardless of Williamson’s message, many ladies at ESPN nonetheless believed that in the event that they raised the alarm about Becoming’s conduct it could price them their careers.
“It’s survival,” stated one girl.
The particular person current when Becoming allegedly made the joke concerning the girl being good at fellatio rebuked him on the time as a result of a younger feminine workers member was additionally current. “If I laughed alongside to that, I’m educating them it’s OK,” the particular person stated. However that particular person didn’t increase the matter to HR or anybody else as a result of, that particular person stated, Becoming was removed from the one man at ESPN who acted that approach and that particular person doubted that reporting him would change something.
The lady he allegedly despatched the textual content message to that learn “You look sizzling” concluded that escalating the problem was too fraught. Her producer understood her predicament: “Lee Becoming has extra energy and juice than you, so when you say one thing, you place your job and livelihood in jeopardy.”
The lady who stated Becoming texted her asking if he ought to get a lodge room for his or her assembly in New York disclosed that interplay to a male government at ESPN. Nonetheless, she determined to not report the matter to HR and requested the male government to maintain her disclosure quiet. (That government corroborated her account.)
“I used to be making an attempt so laborious to maintain the job and get extra alternatives,” stated the girl. “You get blackballed when you say something. Are they gonna preserve me or Lee Becoming?”
There have been vital adjustments at ESPN because the arrival of CEO and chairman Jimmy Pitaro from mother or father firm Disney in 2018. (Kyle Grillot / Getty Photographs)
Skipper, throughout his run as ESPN’s president, championed range points and the careers of many ladies on the community. However he was additionally working ESPN when a lot of the alleged wrongdoing by Becoming came about. Skipper stated he was by no means made conscious of any issues or complaints about Becoming’s conduct when he was at ESPN.
“I did invite folks and made it clear that if there have been points (with any staff), folks might come to me and inform me. They usually did (concerning others). Then again, I acknowledge how laborious it’s to go all the way in which to the highest of the corporate and inform the president,” Skipper stated.
Talking usually about folks coming ahead, he added: “It’s a laborious factor to do. You’ve obtained to resolve. I imply, when you’re uncovered to one thing, possibly it’s anyone who’s going to resolve what your bonus is subsequent 12 months. If it’s a colleague, you recognize, it’s incorrect, however folks nonetheless have the outdated ‘I’m not going to inform on anyone’ factor.’ After which, till an organization establishes a observe file of truly holding the folks accountable, you all the time worry you’re principally going to get into the unhealthy elements of being a whistleblower. Will these folks resent you and (then) they’re sad?”
Skipper abruptly resigned in 2018 to hunt substance abuse therapy in what he later stated was a cocaine extortion plot, and Pitaro moved over from mother or father firm Disney and have become ESPN’s president. In 2020, he added the title of chairman — ESPN’s first who didn’t rise by means of its ranks in Bristol. In response to a number of sources, Disney tried to insert Pitaro as Skipper’s No. 2 earlier, however Skipper rebuffed these efforts, protecting of ESPN’s insular tradition. However with Skipper gone, Pitaro had a transparent subject to drive change.
He was rapidly labeled a “boy scout” by some long-time ESPNers as he pushed the corporate’s inside enterprise and tradition to be extra synergistic with Disney’s, to drag “Bristol nearer to Burbank,” as one ESPN government put it. He reworked the human assets division. Longtime chief Paul Richardson departed in 2021 and senior vice presidents Sonia Coleman and Judy Agay arrived from Disney.
Among the many adjustments they made: Preseason conferences with exhibits throughout which members of the human assets group that handles complaints deal with present workers and emphasize making a welcoming work surroundings and description assets to assist deal with issues. A member of that workers additionally visits every present through the season and reiterates these messages. The corporate additionally created an government girls’s discussion board with an open line to firm management to deal with points.
“It often takes so much to get fired by ESPN,” Miller and Shales wrote in “These Guys Have All of the Enjoyable.” However as these adjustments took maintain, and with Pitaro empowering the brand new leaders in human assets, that was not true.
Rob King, a senior government who oversaw “SportsCenter,” ESPN.com and particular initiatives throughout his tenure and had been with the corporate for nearly 20 years, was fired in March 2023 amidst harassment allegations. When contacted, he referred The Athletic to a press release he posted on his private social media account shortly after the information surfaced: “The time is true for me to depart the corporate. I’m wanting ahead to spending extra time with my household and associates, and want the corporate continued success.”
SportsCenter anchor Max McGee was let go in February 2024 after the corporate obtained a grievance about him from a feminine worker, in line with ESPN sources. McGee stated he had been suggested to not remark and referred inquiries to a spokesperson, who didn’t reply to a number of requests in search of additional remark. In November, a “SportsCenter” producer was let go after being accused of inappropriate conduct towards subordinates.
The primary signal of bother for Becoming got here in 2023 when ESPN realized that “Faculty GameDay” was integrally concerned in a scheme that concerned sending falsified submissions to The Nationwide Academy of Tv Arts & Sciences, which operates the Emmys, and led to “Faculty GameDay” receiving greater than 30 statuettes that it didn’t earn.
That scheme, made public by The Athletic, led to Becoming being banned from future Emmy participation, in line with a number of sources. Then, in July 2023, an HR official contacted some staff who had labored with Becoming a few “confidential matter.” In response to a number of sources, a grievance had been made in opposition to Becoming, prompting an HR inquiry.
The individuals who participated within the probe stated they have been requested questions comparable to: Did you ever really feel stress to drink or socialize? Did you ever really feel such as you needed to have interaction in flirtatious conduct? Did you ever really feel such as you have been handed over for a possibility primarily based on something apart from benefit? Had been inappropriate feedback ever made about your look or your physique? Had been girls ever pitted in opposition to one another within the office?
Those that participated within the probe stated the questioning finally targeted on Becoming. A number of folks stated they described to an HR official cases by which they believed Becoming engaged in inappropriate conduct and/or discriminated in opposition to girls. Two present ESPN executives briefed about the results of the HR investigation stated the findings gave the corporate little selection however to let Becoming go.
Becoming, by means of his spokesperson, declined to deal with why his employment was terminated by ESPN.
Some girls who labored at ESPN have been surprised that the corporate lastly lower bait with Becoming. Others lamented the years of transgressions that went unseen or ignored. A number of expressed aid that their careers is perhaps allowed to flourish now with out having to faux being “one of many guys.”
The importance of Becoming’s ouster was underscored when ESPN put Amanda Gifford, who joined the corporate in 2004 and got here up by means of the radio facet of the corporate, in command of school soccer occasion manufacturing. Early on, Gifford met with girls engaged on “Faculty GameDay” to listen to about their experiences and clarify that she was there for them if they’d points or issues.
Becoming, in the meantime, was solely out of labor for a number of months. In January 2024, he was employed at WWE, an organization embroiled in a sexual assault and trafficking scandal allegedly involving founder Vince McMahon that has prompted a federal investigation. McMahon characterised the allegations as “baseless.”
WWE’s president is Nick Khan, who was beforehand a expertise agent who represented quite a lot of ESPN personalities.
Becoming produces “Monday Evening Uncooked” and “Friday Evening SmackDown,” and people broadcasts now extra intently resemble “Faculty GameDay.” On the time of Becoming’s hiring, Khan known as him a “phenomenal chief”; Paul “Triple H” Levesque not too long ago heralded him as a “game-changer.”
A WWE spokesperson stated the corporate had no touch upon the allegations in opposition to Becoming.
(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic. Photograph: ESPN)