ESPN Reviews

Former Employee – worked at ESPN full-time for more than a year

Pros – Deep rooted in a strong company culture and very team oriented. Plenty of opportunities to grow and forward, out-of-the-box thinking is encouraged... the the main goal to serve the sports fan in the best way possible.

Cons – Location, location, location. The headquarters has remained in its original location in the middle of Connecticut. A bit out of the way. However, if small town suburbia and serious winters appeal to your lifestyle, you'll be ok.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at ESPN full-time for more than a year

Pros – -Sports everywhere, from wall decorations to memorabilia displays to athletes walking around.
-Great benefits (401k, health, dental, vision) and perks (free gym, huge disney discounts, etc)
-Always expanding campus with new buildings and new technology

Cons – -Could be a bad location depending on what you're looking for
-Can be difficult to move up depending on department

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at ESPN full-time

Pros – -Working in sports
-Fast paced environment
-Co-workers are cool

Cons – -Working in Seattle was a bit of an island from the rest of the company

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the good fight against the cable companies. They will all be long gone at some point but your content distribution will live on via the information super highway.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at ESPN full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Best place to be in the industry for multi-media. TV, digital, tablet, mobile, social, print, radio - if you want to work across different mediums, this is a fantastic place to be.

Cons – Compensation is not at the top of the payscale.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at ESPN full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – The company has a genuine and total focus on serving sports fans, and creating programming and services that fans want. They are extremely innovative both creatively and technologically. Always one of the first on new technological platforms.

Cons – Not a good place to work for women (I am a man).
There are few opportunities for anyone to advance, regardless of gender.
 An old guard still runs the Programming, Production, Administration and other departments, which stifles creativity. They are not welcoming to those who started their careers at other companies, and promotions and good assignments usually go to those who started careers at ESPN right out pf college.
ESPN has extremely homogeneous employees and a complete lack of diversity. There are an average number of employees of color, but they tend to be from upper middle class suburbs and Ivy League schools. There is a lot of pressure to fit in to the Connecticut suburb/white picket fence/let's play golf/my kids play lacrosse, hockey and soccer/I like beer mindset.
Has gotten complacent over the past 15 years of dominating the sports business.
The Affiliate Relations department is different, and more diverse and dynamic than other divisions, with more opportunities to advance and is more of a meritocracy open than other departments.
Salaries are low, even compared to people at sister companies at Disney who do the same work.

Advice to Senior Management – Get rid of dead weight at the top and middle, create opportunities, and embrace diversity, or your young talent with leave for your competitors.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at ESPN full-time

Pros – It's ESPN, so as a sports fan you're at your mecca. You get tickets at times, but not all that often, but mostly you get to have all your meetings and reporting be about the sports you love.

Cons – Under average pay.

Very little room for growth.

Stifles intelligence: respects glad handing over work.

Many managers aren't qualified for the positions that they're given.

Advice to Senior Management – Foster an environment that respects intelligence and hard work over who you know and how you network. Create more opportunities for growth within the lower and middle levels, and base promotions on performance based metrics. Transparency in goals for the department or restructuring wouldn't hurt either.

– I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at ESPN full-time

Pros – Best people in the business

Cons – Tough track for middle management

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at ESPN as an intern for less than a year

Pros – -Networking with important people
-Workshops (executives come in and speak)
-Penn Plaza

Cons – -No real skills improved
-did not set me up for future employment

Advice to Senior Management – Help better present different career paths in the industry. This was in an internship at 98.7 FM ESPN Radio

Former Employee – worked at ESPN full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Top Facilities and Talent. Decent Pay.

Cons – Lots of horizontal opportunities but little chance of leading the pack.

Advice to Senior Management – Stay in your offices.

– I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at ESPN full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Cool environment, nice people, casual dress.

Cons – Low salary, long hours, in the middle of nowhere, promotion process dicey.

Advice to Senior Management – Pay your employees better, promote based on merit.