Quietly announced Saturday by ESPN PR maven, Josh Krulewitz, Curt Schilling who has been embroiled in the 38 Studios mess in my home state of Rhode Island, will be on leave from the network for the foreseeable future.
ESPN mutually agreed w/ Curt Schilling to have him take a leave as he works thru business issues. We expect he’ll return later this season
— Josh Krulewitz (@jksports) June 16, 2012
Schilling has mostly been in hiding ever since his video game company went down in flames last month and laid off its entire staff. If you’re not aware, Schilling took a $75 million loan from the State of Rhode Island in 2010 to move his video game company, 38 Studios from Massachusetts to the Ocean State, and depending on whom you believe, either the State failed to guarantee Schilling tax cuts or the former Red Sox pitcher lied to the State about its bottom line leading to the collapse of the venture. And when the company could not pay back an installment on the loan, news of the potential collapse became front page news here in RI. Plus, there have been reports that have surfaced on financial mismanagement and potential lawsuits from both sides. No matter what, the State and its taxpayers have been left holding the bag.
So in the interim, Schilling will not appear on ESPN to analyze MLB and had he done so, ESPN would have been in the awkward role of having to ask him questions on the issue. So to avoid that, it appears both ESPN and Schilling have agreed not to have him appear on air for now.
We’ll see what the future brings for Schilling.
