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Ryan Clark’s Departure Leads to Bad Takes About ‘NFL Live’

You need to take context into account when discussing the ratings for ESPN’s afternoon football show.
Jimmy Traina|
‘NFL Live’ averaged 469,000 viewers for the first quarter of 2026.
‘NFL Live’ averaged 469,000 viewers for the first quarter of 2026. | ESPN

1. We don’t really do perspective and context in 2026, but I’m going to attempt it in today’s column.

The big sports media story of the week has been ESPN’s layoffs (as discussed in a new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina). Ryan Clark’s release has generated the most headlines because he was told on air during NFL Live that he was being let go.

Since then, there has been discussion on social media about Clark’s role in making NFL Live a success and the history of NFL Live’s viewership.

I’m not going to debate what impact Clark had on the show because it’s an ensemble and there’s no way to quantify how many viewers watched for Clark or Laura Rutledge or Dan Orlovsky or Marcus Spears or Mina Kimes. It’s just flat-out absurd to attribute the show’s success to one person, as one former ESPN employee did this week.

However, when it comes to the viewership of NFL Live over the years, we have data that tells us where things stand.

Trey Wingo, who was a longtime cast member on the show during his 20-plus years at ESPN, shared a graphic on social media on Wednesday showing NFL Live’s ratings over the years.

Wingo was totally right in pushing back on the stupid claim that “nobody” watched NFL Live until recent years. Here’s what Wingo’s graph doesn’t tell you, though: ESPN, as a network, had A LOT more subscribers back in 2012 and ’13 than it does now.

While NFL Live pulled in 688,000 viewers in 2013, ESPN had 99 million subscribers in that year.

Thanks to massive cord-cutting over the past several years, ESPN is now in 61 million homes.

Simple math will tell you that NFL Live had 240,000 fewer viewers in 2025 than it did in 2013 while ESPN is in 38 MILLION fewer homes in 2025 than it did in 2013.

So, while Wingo’s version of NFL Live absolutely pulled in viewers, this current iteration is also doing just fine from a viewership perspective given cord-cutting.

2. A brand-new SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning. This week’s show features an interview with Puck media reporter John Ourand.

Ourand goes in-depth on the ESPN layoffs, explaining why they happened and how they happened. We also discuss the unfortunate situation with Ryan Clark finding out while he was on the air that he was being let go, how the NFL Network factors into all this, why the network parted ways with longtime broadcaster Karl Ravech and much more.

Other topics covered with Ourand include the bidding war for the broadcast rights to the next World Cup in 2030, why the NBA is anxiously waiting for LeBron James to make a free agency decision, Tom Brady’s very busy weekend and the NFL’s negotiations for new broadcast deals.

Following Ourand, Sal Licata from SNY TV and The Sal Licata Show joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss the World Cup final and the halftime show, a wild story about James Dolan and Madison Square Garden, Fanatics Fest, Larry David’s new HBO show, most buzzed-about New York sports event and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

3. I recently wrote that it felt like Caitlin Clark Mania took a little bit of a hit because she missed so much time with an injury. But now that’s she’s been back, she remains the single biggest impact on a sport’s ratings since Tiger Woods.

4. When I saw this clip of Florida coach Jon Sumrall snapping at a reporter on Wednesday because his cell phone rang during a press conference, I thought Sumrall’s ridiculous reaction was legit.

Later in the day, he claimed on social media that he was joking. If that’s the case, give him an Oscar.

5. A non-political take about politics: It’s pretty insane that an Arizona congressional race features a former Jets kicker and a former Jets doctor.

6. This was a good take by WWE superstar/Good Morning Football host Seth Rollins. Give me all the wacky and wild uniforms possible in football.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Larry David is completely unfamiliar with Lucky Charms. And I’m not surprised one bit.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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