Norby Williamson, the influential executive at ESPN, has exited after four decades at Bristol

One of the most influential executives in sports media is at ESPN.

Norby Williamson, who has had a hand in nearly every part of ESPN's content and business areas, from programming, production and news during his nearly four decades at ESPN, will no longer work for the company, effective immediately, according to an ESPN employee memo.

ESPN chief content officer Burke Magnus made the decision, even though Williamson had several years on his contract, according to executives familiar with the move.

Magnus wanted to go in a different direction as the company moved forward and felt that Williamson was not the best person to oversee production.

said an executive with direct knowledge of the decision The athlete“It was time.”

In recent months, Williamson has been in the news after Pat McAfee — host of “The Pat McAfee Show,” which airs on ESPN — claimed during his show that Williamson was the source of leaked information about the show's poor TV ratings and called Williamson a “rat.” ESPN sources said the incident had no impact on Friday's decision.

“This had absolutely nothing to do with the Pat McAfee episode,” said Mark Shapiro, a former executive vice president of ESPN, who worked closely with Magnus and Williamson and is now president of Endeavor and TKO. The athlete. “Norby didn't quite fit in with the content vision set by Jimmy (Pitaro) and Burke. More than anything after his amazing career, it was time to pass the torch.

In the memo sent to ESPN employees, Magnus said a “full search for a new senior content executive to help lead our team” is underway. The idea at ESPN is that multiple people could fill Williamson's job or that his responsibilities could be divided up differently.

Writer and podcast host Jemele Hill, a former ESPN personality, has had some professional friction with Williamson, as have some other on-air talent.

“My reaction was somewhere between an amused chuckle and 'I didn't think I'd see the day,'” Hill said. The athlete. “I don’t know the circumstances behind his departure, but I believe it was no coincidence that an earthquake struck New York City on the same day this announcement was made.”

Williamson has been as influential as one can be at ESPN without serving as president. His most recent responsibilities included overseeing NFL and college football content at ESPN. He is most associated with “SportsCenter” which had a major role in the running back.

Williamson joined ESPN in 1985 as an employee in the company's mailroom and quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming one of the company's most powerful executives, giving him the power to make or break a career.

“I was very fortunate to get an opportunity at ESPN,” Willamson said in the internal memo from Magnus. “Because of the extraordinary hard work, creativity and commitment of the people at ESPN, and to a much lesser extent my contributions, I like to think we have left our great company in a much better place than we found it.”

In January, McAfee accused Williamson of sabotaging his show by leaking false viewership information to the media.

“There are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN,” McAfee said. “More specifically, Norby Williamson is the guy trying to sabotage our program.”

ESPN eventually sent out a statement saying everyone was on the same page. Magnus was photographed shortly after with McAfee at a football game, and McAfee posted the photo on social media.

It was the final chapter of Williamson's career, which ended on Friday.

“Norby was ESPN,” said Traugh Keller, who spent a long time as an influential executive at ESPN. The athlete. “No one took command and control like he did. He has an uncanny knack for shaking up ratings as he did with “SportsCenter,” “First Take” and countless others. And he did the hard things that senior executives wanted to do but wouldn't do themselves. He's on ESPN's Mount Rushmore next to George Bodenheimer.

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(Photo by Norby Williamson in 2005: Mark Brian Brown/Getty Images)