ESPN has said goodbye to broadcast journalist Coley Harvey.
Coley has done 2 stints with ESPN. First from 2013-2019 before joining Fox Sports and then returned in 2021. He posted on X that he was stunned and hurt by the move.
What is stunning, but maybe shouldn't be is he is being replaced by 22 year old Katie Fenney who has zero TV experience. But what the recent Penn State graduate does have is 14 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Coley doesn't even have a TikTok page! And his IG is a pathetic 5,000. Katie built her following posting videos about Penn State tailgating and other features around their sports department. ESPN's biggest original broadcast is the Scott Van Pelt show which uses reporters like Coley and that has about 700,000 viewers. If only 300,000 of Katie's 14 million followers start tuning in to that show it would equal a 30% viewership increase which would result in about 18-20 million dollars per year.
Katie will work as a sports and lifestyle content creator making content for ESPN’s digital and social platforms. She’ll also be appearing on the network’s popular shows like “Sunday NFL Countdown,” “Monday Night Countdown,” and “College GameDay.” The Senior Vice President commented “Katie's perspective and creativity are a perfect match for how we’re reimagining coverage to meet fans where they are, and we can’t wait to see the energy she brings to ESPN’s daily coverage and live event moment".
Photo: Valerie Loiseleux / iStock Unreleased / Getty Images