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The internal strife at BBC Sport is set to be ramped up this week with the announcement of restructuring and redundancies.
Daily Mail Sport has learned that staff are bracing themselves for a department-wide summit on Wednesday afternoon at which director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski is to deliver what many fear will be a wide-ranging cost-saving programme which will result in the losses of significant numbers of jobs.
It is expected existing employees will be offered voluntary redundancy, as Kay-Jelski continues his efforts to transform the department.
Sources have disclosed that some sections of staff are already considering strike action, in what clearly are turmoiled times at MediaCity.
In what is effectively a split department, some feel that Kay-Jelski is going too far in the quest for a younger, digital-focussed audience.
However, others believe that many of the changes have been a long time coming and have privately disclosed that time may well be called on a large section of the workforce which has been ‘coasting along’ at the courtesy of the taxpayer.
The BBC is set to announce redundancies to its sport staff as part of a restructuring
The National Union of Journalists failed to respond to a request for comment when contacted by Daily Mail Sport but is thought to be aware of what is a developing situation.
The ‘savings announcement’ has already been announced to staff and a meeting will take place at MediaCity, in Salford, at 2pm. Others have been sent a link to log in to the summit from home.
Kay-Jelski has already overseen a programme of change, with dozens of redundancies made last year. Earlier this month, the BBC announced it was to axe Ski Sunday while it came in for criticism for not building a studio in North America for the summer’s World Cup.
A series of events have been dropped, including the Commonwealth Games, the Boat Race and the Rugby League World Cup. Football Focus was also canned at the end of last season.
Meanwhile, Daily Mail Sport previously revealed how the BBC was considering stopping sending local radio commentators to away matches - and it would appear that cuts are already being made in certain parts of the country. On Merseyside, this newspaper has learned that there will no longer be commentaries on Tranmere Rovers or Everton and Liverpool women’s matches, while updates from the grounds of Chester FC and Southport have been scrapped.
On Saturday afternoons when Everton and Liverpool are not in action, and there is no rugby league (with the season soon to finish), listeners will instead receive a national sport programme.
A BBC spokesperson declined to answer direct questions about the changes. In a statement, they said: ‘BBC Radio Merseyside provides unrivalled local sports coverage across the region from football to rugby league and more. For the 2026/27 football season, across the BBC Local Radio network, there is extensive live football commentary, covering every English Football League club, every round of the FA Cup, and thousands of matches across the football pyramid.’
