Adam Schefter just wanted a phone that actually worked. What he got instead? A full-blown tech crisis, some family side-eye, and ESPN straight-up ghosting his (very reasonable) request. With NFL free agency right around the corner, the man needed to level up. But instead, he got hit with a corporate ‘nah’. Now? He has to take matters into his own hands.
Schefter had been rocking a glitchy iPhone 13, which, in tech years, might as well be from the Stone Age. So when ESPN sent him a new phone, he was hype—until he opened the box. “It was a 15. And my wife and my son right away were like, why is it a 15? Why are you not getting the new model?” Instead of letting him cook, his wife of 18 years and son clowned him for not securing the 16. Feeling the pressure, he hit up ESPN, hoping they’d bless him with the newest model. Their response? A hard no.
A new league year means .… a new phone.
With @tyschmit
https://t.co/vl9XgTcd9Y pic.twitter.com/HvzvW7FBgR
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 5, 2025
At that point, Schefter was over it. He marched into the Apple Store, ready to drop his own cash for the iPhone 16. Easy fix, right? Nope. When he tried to trade in his old phone, the store hit him with a fat rejection—ESPN still technically owned the device and wasn’t about to sign off on the swap. “Okay, just let me pay for the damn phone, and let’s get the process going,” he said, fully fed up.
Of course, switching to a new phone wasn’t smooth either. “As you know, it’s a process to transition to a new phone,” Schefter explained. Adam Schefter debated whether to do it before or after free agency, but his 13 was barely holding on, so he took the leap. Then came the classic Apple scam—none of his old chargers worked. “You find out something every day you need to adjust and adapt to,” he sighed.
At the end of the day, though, he’s flexing. “I might be the only ESPN employee with a 16 right now,” he said. Whether that gives him a leg up on free agency news is TBD, but one thing’s clear—when ESPN fumbled the bag, Schefter made the clutch play himself.
ESPN’s star insider, but no iPhone 16?
Now, let’s talk about the real shocker here—how is Adam Schefter, ESPN’s top NFL insider for 15 years, not automatically getting the best tech? The guy has been breaking news for them since 2009, basically built their football coverage, and is one of the most plugged-in journalists in sports. And yet, when he asked for a phone that costs just under 800 bucks, or max a grand. ESPN shut him down?
It’s not like the company is strapped for cash. ESPN just secured a $2.7 billion deal for Monday Night Football and is paying top-tier talent millions every year. Schefter himself is rumored to be making around $9 million per year, meaning he could obviously afford the upgrade himself—but that’s not the point. A network built on delivering fast-breaking news should be prioritizing its top insiders having the best tools for the job. And yet, they had Schefter, their No. 1 NFL news source, out here arguing over a phone upgrade like some random office worker fighting for a better company laptop.
What’s even funnier? This isn’t the first time ESPN has been called out for being cheap. The network has a history of slashing budgets, cutting corners, and making questionable financial moves. Back in 2017, ESPN laid off nearly 100 employees, including some of its most well-known analysts and reporters, to cut costs. More recently, the network canceled “Around The Horn” after 4,900 episodes, likely as part of its shift toward prioritizing bigger names and star-driven programming. Even their contract negotiations have been stingy—just ask Stephen A. Smith, who is currently pushing for a $100 million deal while ESPN plays hardball.
If that wasn’t enough, ESPN has even pulled back on major content deals. Walking away from a potential MLB partnership as part of its ongoing strategy to cut costs. It’s clear that the company is picking and choosing where to spend its money, but refusing to pay for a basic phone upgrade for the guy who literally breaks some of the biggest stories in sports? That’s next-level stingy.
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