Ryen Russillo announces he’s leaving ESPN for another outlet
By Keith Farner
Published:
After a year of splitting time between ESPN and The Ringer, Ryen Russillo has announced his next career move.
The popular radio personality is moving to The Ringer full-time to work with the Bill Simmons operation.
Russillo, in a tweet, reflected on his time at ESPN, where he worked with 14 years, but has had several changes in the last couple of years. Two years ago, he announced he would leave ESPN after he declined to accept a contract extension, in part because of the long hours and lack of work-life balance. He also dealt with a legal matter in Wyoming in 2017, and he re-joined ESPN in 2018.
Sports Business Daily reported that Russillo has signed a multi-year deal with The Ringer to do several podcasts throughout the year focusing primarily on the NFL and NBA. This is reportedly an exclusive deal with The Ringer, and his ESPN contract ends Aug. 31, but it’s not clear how the balance of the contract will play out. He starts at The Ringer in September.
“Ryen was one of my most talented co-workers when we worked together at ESPN, and I’ve been just as impressed these last 12 months with how easily he fit into everything we’re doing at The Ringer,” Simmons told SBD. He’s a proven multimedia personality and a first-class talent, he’s a truly authentic voice, and he’s unafraid to keep trying new things. We’re delighted we could deepen our relationship with him — I absolutely love working with him. I’m gonna fight off the urge to compare this moment to The Rock joining the cast of ‘Fast Five.’”
So…the news is out. I’m headed to @ringer
Want to thank @espn for the last 14 years.
I grew up on @SportsCenter and then to be on the actual set, my name on a show…have to remind myself at times how cool that is
Excited to try and limit Celts talk to 30mins w/ @BillSimmons— Russillo (@ryenarussillo) August 6, 2019
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
