Neil Everett has become one of the faces of SportsCenter. After 23 years at ESPN, he announced that he is leaving the network.

Colleagues at the World Wide Leader took to Twitter to share their thoughts. It was universal praise from the people that knew and worked with Everett. Chief among them was his SportsCenter partner of fourteen years, Stan Verrett.

If Root Sports Northwest requires references, there are plenty ESPN colleagues past and present that were immediately ready to vouch for Neil Everett.

Everett was not laid off. He turned down a new contract that would have forced him to take a pay cut.

The Walt Disney Company is in the middle of layoffs effecting every division. CEO Bob Iger has tasked his leaders with reducing costs by $5.5 billion and cutting 7000 jobs.

Sports and entertainment media production company Bleav has officially launched two channels available now on FuboTV.

Bleav Sports and Bleav Football will utilize content from its podcast network to comprise programming on the TV side.

“We are excited to be partnering with Fubo, one of the premiere companies for sports streaming,” Bleav president Eric Weinberger said.

Over 1,000 hours of original content is produced by Bleav each month. Former NFL and NBA standouts like Ahman Green, Rudy Gay, Lamar Odom, LenDale White, Ike Taylor and Jonathan Stewart are just some of the hosts for Bleav.

Neil Everett’s SportsCenter days are over. Front Office Sports reports that the anchor has chosen to say goodbye to ESPN after 23 years at the network.

“ESPN changed my life, but now it’s time for me to change my life,” Everett said. “Time to write a new chapter.” 

The network reportedly offered Everett a new deal. Had he agreed to it, the anchor would have taken a salary reduction.

This is a significant moment for SportsCenter. Everett moving on means one of the show’s longest-tenured partnership comes to an end. He had worked with Stan Verrett since 2009.

Everett’s exit comes in the same week that it was revealed Chris Chelios would not return to the network’s NHL coverage next season. The Walt Disney Company is currently in the middle of trying to cut 7000 jobs to save $5.5 billion.

As for the future, Everett says he will seek to increase his TV role with the Portland Trail Blazers. He has been part of the team’s broadcast crew on Root Sports Northwest for the last two years.