DOCUMENT: Sex, Sports

Harold Reynolds's Big Hit

Fired announcer's $5 million contract surfaces in ESPN lawsuit

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Harold Reynolds's Big Hit

FEBRUARY 7--While not much has been happening with Harold Reynolds's breach of contract lawsuit against ESPN, the announcer's lawyer has just filed an amended complaint that includes a copy of the former baseball star's contract. Reynolds was only four months into the six-year pact when the cable network terminated him last July for alleged sexual harassment. As detailed in the agreement, a copy of which you'll find below, the deal with Reynolds, an independent contractor, was worth a combined $4.875 million. Along with covering the Little League World Series and post-season Major League games, Reynolds was required to cover 15 regular season games, spend 85 'studio days' at ESPN's Bristol, Connecticut headquarters, and make three personal appearances on behalf of the network. The agreement states that the network could terminate Reynolds's deal if the announcer were to be involved in any 'willful or egregious' act that would 'constitute an act of moral turpitude' or which would 'otherwise constitute public humiliation' to ESPN. It appears that this section of the agreement will prove to be central to the network's defense of its actions. While ESPN has not specified what triggered Reynolds's firing, the ex-athlete's Connecticut Superior Court lawsuit charges that he was canned for giving an 'innocuous hug' one day to a female intern, with whom he later dined that same evening at a Boston Market. (7 pages)