Remember, just a few years ago, for cost savings reasons, both the on air and off air talent was gutted.

A lot of their best on air talent was either fired to save money, or they left for various reasons. Also, a lot of their producers, directors, camera men, etc were let go to save money. They were probably making a pretty high salary.

Well, the number of sporting events espn televises hasn't gone down. In fact, it's probably risen some. So, espn had to fill a lot of vacancies. So they had to dig deeper into the talent pool.

If the A, B and C level talents, both on and off air, are mostly run off, then they have to be replaced. Remaining B and C level talent moves up to A level, and other on and off air" talent" that would never have gotten a job at espn in the old days, is, all of a sudden, working for espn, and at salary levels way below what espn used to pay.

That's my theory.