Courtesy USA Today

(June 30, 2009) After they retire from pro sports, many athletes try to become sportscasters. But in a struggling economy, the job's no longer as easy, or secure, at it once was.

Brian Mitchell, the former Washington Redskins running back/kick returner, and Dennis Potvin, the ex-New York Islanders defenseman, lost their gigs in May.

Mitchell, 40, says he's frustrated about losing his $150,000-a-year radio gig with ESPN-980, a station owned by Redskins team owner Dan Snyder's Red Zebra radio network. While Red Zebra chief executive Bruce Gilbert says the decision not to renew his contract was "100% driven by the economy," Mitchell says his old bosses are using the recession as an excuse.

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Mitchell believes he may have been dropped for criticizing his old team on air. In fact, he says he was willing to take a pay cut as long as he didn't have to take on additional duties for no pay. But Red Zebra executives never asked.

"If you never discuss any money, or any changes in my money with me, then you already have your minds made up. This didn't have a damn thing to do with the economy," Mitchell says.

Ultimately, sports fans want analysts who'll tell it like it is, says Mitchell. If that was the cause for his dismissal, then Mitchell says the station won't last.

"When people turn on the radio, they want to hear what they truly see. Not what the company line is."

Mitchell is pursuing another broadcasting job.

Potvin, 55, was surprised when the NHL's Florida Panthers dropped him after 15 years and replaced him with Bill Lindsay. While Potvin could not be reached, he told the Miami Herald it was the first time he'd been fired: "Once you're somewhere for so long, you think you're a lifer. But times are different now."

Potvin had served as the Panthers' color analyst since the team's inception in 1993. But the days of team broadcasters just calling games are over in today's economy, says Panthers president Michael Yormark. He wants his broadcasters to also be team "ambassadors" in the local community and be more willing to schmooze with fans and corporate sponsors.

Potvin, on the other hand, spent half the year in his native Canada.

"When the last game was over, Boom! he got on a plane and went north," Yormark says. "That's something that, quite frankly, doesn't fit into the criteria we've established for our broadcasters moving forward."

Former athletes turned broadcasters aren't the only ones losing their jobs.

In May, the Miami Heat laid off respected community affairs liaison Wali Jones. Jones, 67, was the longtime principal of The Heat Academy, the club's academic afterschool program. Jones, who holds an economics degree from Villanova, won the NBA championship alongside Wilt Chamberlain with the 1967 Philadelphia 76ers.

The Heat declined to comment on Jones' departure except to issue a statement from president of business operations Eric Woolworth reading: "These challenging economic times mandate that every organization maximize efficiencies and remain strong. To that end, The Heat Group has eliminated a small number of job positions. Each of the employees affected will receive a severance package, and will be eligible for rehire."

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