NBC Sports Boston hit by Massive Layoffs

Abby Chin, A. Sherwood Blakely, Gary Tanguay and many others out. Draper stays! Bad news for all let go, let’s hope this whole COVID time ends soon and all people who have lost their job get back to work.


NBC Sports Boston hit by massive layoffs from parent company
By Chad Finn Globe Staff,Updated August 4, 2020, 5:31 p.m.
sports media
Celtics reporter Abby Chin is among the layoffs at NBC Sports Boston.
Celtics reporter Abby Chin is among the layoffs at NBC Sports Boston.Charles Krupa
NBC Sports Boston has been hit hard by a decision from parent company NBC Universal to slash its digital and regional cable staffs the past two days.

Nearly 20 on-air and behind-the-scenes staffers at NBCSB were laid off Monday and Tuesday, including longtime anchor Gary Tanguay, Celtics sideline reporter Abby Chin, and Celtics reporter A. Sherrod Blakely.

Bruins reporter Joe Haggerty, who like Blakely was one of the team-centric reporters the network hired when it relaunched in November 2009, and host Danielle Trotta also were let go.

Among those confirmed to be remaining at the network are hosts Michael Holley and Kyle Draper, Patriots reporter and “Quick Slants” host Tom E. Curran, Patriots reporter Phil Perry, Celtics reporter Chris Forsberg, and hosts Trenni Kusnierek, Tom Giles, and D.J. Bean.

While programming similar to “Early Edition” and “Boston Sports Tonight” has been cut or reduced at other NBC regional networks, the two shows will remain on the air here.

The timing in letting go of Chin is curious considering NBCSB is the regional home of the Celtics and the NBA relaunched its season last week after being shut down because of the pandemic.

According to multiple sources, the network may keep some laid-off staffers around for 60 days. Blakely, whose contract is up in October, will stay on through the remainder of the Celtics season before beginning a teaching job at Boston University in the fall. Haggerty will remain through the Bruins’ postseason run.

The decision to cut staff comes from corporate parent NBC Universal, which also has cut regional staffs in Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, and San Francisco the past couple of days.

NBC Universal, which, like other sports media companies, has had to deal with the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, also cut its NBC Sports digital staff Monday, doing away with its popular “Hardball Talk” baseball blog, among other properties.

NBCSB confirmed the cuts but did not provide a statement.

This is sad news. Those jobs are rare.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/hit-pandemic-losses-nbcuniversal-begins-layoffs-n1235803

This pandemic is a killer+ as we are experiencing depression era job losses.

I don't get the Draper connection. No mention there of Scal? he must be on the keeper list.

There are a couple of people on that list of people kept that are head scratchers. This is a tough time all around kind of sad. That is a large number of people to let go all at once

Holley and Draper are fine. Forsberg is good to be there. Very sad to have Abby leave. Blakely I guess is there another 2 months and he has a teaching job at BU in the fall.

I'd rather they find someone else for Scal's spot. He makes watching games harder.

They were very uncomfortable on their Early Edition show tonight. Giles was all over the place and Treni was uncomfortable.  I hope Holley takes on a bigger role, he is much more palatable than Draper.  I can remember the days when Draper tried to correct Tommy on things he really had no idea about, just to be on the opposite side. Heinsohn just looked at him.  I just am not a fan, period. They should go out and get some good talent from the area. I know that won’t happen now as money is the name of the game. Maybe in the future

Draper would be fine if he’d stop with the fake arguments with ball players who know way more than he does. Yes, there are more talented people out there (don’t know about locally) but they are probably in places they’d like to stay.
Pretty sad. They even fired a guy that is In cancer remission. Tough times.
I liked Blakely and Abby was pretty good when she wasn’t cheerleading.
I don’t know what kind of deal this is but I wish they would shit can Felger and Mazz post haste!

Weird choices, and I'm sorry but letting Abby and A. Sherrod go is a really bad look. While I may not have always agreed with their takes, they are both professionals and I don't in any obvious way see that they are less talented than some folks who got to stay.

Shamrock1000 wrote:Weird choices, and I'm sorry but letting Abby and A. Sherrod go is a really bad look. While I may not have always agreed with their takes, they are both professionals and I don't in any obvious way see that they are less talented than some folks who got to stay.

Don’t know if this is the case but lots of time it’s talent be damned and more who’s making the most money. I think that’s the case with Tanquey. Not too sure about Abbey and Blakley. Holly is probably one of the highest paid and the most talented. They’d really look stupid if they blew him out.

I wish Holley would take over for Draper.  What is with Perk? He is on there every night, filling in when Scal goes to work with Mike and then post game.  He cannot be doing it for free

I haven't read anything about Tommy, Mike, Scal or Perk. I searched around yesterday and only found what was posted above by BobC. I don't get to watch NBC Sports Boston since I moved out of New England, so I am missing any news about the layoffs.

I don't get the Boston stations, Perk is all over ESPN every morning, day. Today he made a comment about Lakers that they didn't have anything to worry about, JWill and Steven A totally disagreed with him. I like Perks comments usually, but if I was a Laker fan there's plenty to be worried about.

Abby being let go was a mistake. We should do something to right this wrong.

what did Perk say? the other night when the Lakers got beat by OKC I made the comment that they could be a force to worry about out west. But before that, I thought everyone was on the Lakers bandwagon. What was the illustrious Stephen A worried about?

So I just read a Yahoo article that says that LeBron basically is bearing the burden of leading this team so when he takes a day off, they are suffering. Seems the "glory boy" Davis appears "disinterested" according to Yahoo and they are not sure he will be up to the task of taking the next step , so maybe Stephen A is right

RosalieTCeltics wrote:So I just read a Yahoo article that says that LeBron basically is bearing the burden of leading this team so when he takes a day off, they are suffering. Seems the "glory boy" Davis appears "disinterested" according to Yahoo and they are not sure he will be up to the task of taking the next step , so maybe Stephen A is right

Funny you posted this. I was just thinking about Davis - as talented as he is, he has yet to become the force I expected him to become. Playing the beta to Lebron's alpha might not be the best thing for someone with his potential at this stage of their career. He is 27 now, and should be leading his own team. What did Stephen A say???

Steven A said their perimeter defense sucks without Avery Bradley, that he didn't trust Green or Caldwel Pope to hit enough shots and basically said after the Big 2 they don't have enough and with no Rondo, no one else can give Lebron a breather, that its asking alot for him to lead and score at his age....

AB still a valuable piece on a team. I always loved that kid and the way he played hard all the time. Danny loved him too, it killed him to let him go.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:AB still a valuable piece on a team. I always loved that kid and the way he played hard all the time. Danny loved him too, it killed him to let him go.

AB would at least be a detriment to Lillard, without AB who's gonna cover the elite guards, also have Westbrook and Doncic out there. I'm not saying AB would shut them down, but he sure would have helped.