After today's cuts, is ESPN going to adjust their business model?

[PatsFan1283]

So if they had more white people talking golf and nascar in primetime then their ratings would be better is what you are saying?

I doubt that. And I think black people/libs/sports fan is a much broader coalition than people who want to hear how mentally tough Rory is or something like that.

I think you underrate that at the end of the day, they may have mostly liberal anchors working in the building, but the people who make the calls and sign the checks generally are supportive of a more niche audience because it brings viewers in. People running major segments of corporations usually are not idiots.

And obviously they are failing largely because of cord-cutting, which started in 2011 and is related to technology. The Michael Sam thing didn't even happen until 2014 and nobody was really calling out ESPN for being too political in 2011. Not on any grand scale that I am aware of.

 

[bigwang]

They need to develop their own pay streaming app. Not the watch espn app tied to your cable provider but one that allows them to capitalize off people willing to ditch cable but haven't because of espn.

The cuts made today are all window dressing. No big contracts were clipped.

The liberal slant of their editorials has little to no impact on their revenue. The guys in here whining about it still watch espn(even though they deny it here).

 

[Enfuego]

So if they had more white people talking golf and nascar in primetime then their ratings would be better is what you are saying?

I doubt that. And I think black people/libs/sports fan is a much broader coalition than people who want to hear how mentally tough Rory is or something like that.

I think you underrate that at the end of the day, they may have mostly liberal anchors working in the building, but the people who make the calls and sign the checks generally are supportive of a more niche audience because it brings viewers in. People running major segments of corporations usually are not idiots.

And obviously they are failing largely because of cord-cutting, which started in 2011 and is related to technology. The Michael Sam thing didn't even happen until 2014 and nobody was really calling out ESPN for being too political in 2011. Not on any grand scale that I am aware of.

Pats, I'm telling you a large portion of their audience are white male conservatives that watch football, NASCAR and golf. If you don't think catering to that audience is what you should do, you are bat shit crazy.

Sports fans are not black liberals. You are way off buddy.

I think you are way off. Management is liberal and has said it. They don't hide this. Sage Steele just got fired for her conservative views. Anchors don't fire co workers.

 

[Greenbacks]

ESPN is cutting a number of its most familiar faces as part of a larger layoff of 100 on-air personalities and writers.

ESPN didn't release a full list of those let go. But among the cuts are former NFL quarterback and analyst Trent Dilfer, prominent NFL reporter Ed Werder, senior baseball writer Jayson Stark and host Jay Crawford, all of whom shared the news about themselves on Twitter.
Most people affected by the job cuts, including television, radio and online personalities, were informed of the decision Wednesday, and many of the layoffs took effect immediately. A source told CNNMoney that ESPN also plans to cut a limited number of additional off-air employees.
ESPN is shifting its focus toward digital as it faces cable subscriber losses and increased pressure on costs. The network has spent billions of dollars in recent years on rights deals with major sports leagues and college conferences.

 

[Albatross]

What content should they have? Should they be more just highlights (which you can geton your phone in 30 seconds), more sports opinions (theirs are terrible IMO)

If they stop putting Michael Sam or Kaepnerick on air, what should they then put on air to gain them more viewers? I think people underestimate that they were going to lose viewers regardless and shifting left was a way to carve out a niche, which is what all the cable news networks do.

It's just going to be 2 guys screaming at each other if Aaron Rodgers sideline demeanor shows he isn't a leader or some BS.

I don't watch cable news either but I recognize that those networks do pretty good ratings by catering to what a niche segment of people want to hear. That's just a reality.

I watch the SEC network a decent amount. I was watching the NFL network some, but they are trending toward the talking points of espn.

The 30s for 30s are great. Live sports are great. Pregame shows are decent. The NFL may have fked them some due to shit games on MNF. Saturday mornings in the fall....gameday runs nonstop at my house. I always have thought it was good. They do pretty good with golf as well because they show it twice. I watched the Thurs/Friday round of the masters on espn rerun because I was at work. I guess the daytime stuff blows....but I would think most of the espn audience is at work anyways.

In short there are ways to make it watchable again, but they have had the daytime crap move into the evenings....

I used to love PTI....when I got my first dvr I that was my first show I set up a series recording of....haha.

 

[Greenbacks]

Trent Dilfer‏ @DilfersDime <small class="time"> </small>

Laid off by ESPN today.Although sad cause I loved my job, mostly filled w/gratitude & appreciation for the 9 years

 

[PatsFan1283]

Entertainment is really fragmented now. It's harder for a network to cover NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL, Soccer, CBB, CFB, Nascar, Golf, MMA, Boxing, etc

So you pick a few sports, really feature them and promote the hell out of them. That is the big reason ESPN doesn't cover the niche sports as much to me. Most people these days only follow a few sports. I only follow NBA/NFL/Boxing/MMA. So if you have any content about any other sport, I won't even watch.

A lot more people are like this now than years ago because of more entertainment options.

The people who watch golf, nascar or MLB don't watch NBA, NFL, etc....So you're going to get cannibalized either way, pick your poison.

 

[Greenbacks]

Ed Werder‏ @Edwerderespn <small class="time"> </small>

After 17 years reporting on <s>#</s>NFL, I've been informed that I'm being laid off by ESPN effective immediately. I have no plans to retire.

 

[Albatross]

Jaymee Sire
Trent Dilfer
Danny Kannell
Ed Werder
Jade McCarthy

The list goes on and on.

So Danny Kannell is gone????? Thank you jesus.

 

[PatsFan1283]

Trent Dilfer‏ @DilfersDime <small class="time"> </small>

Laid off by ESPN today.Although sad cause I loved my job, mostly filled w/gratitude & appreciation for the 9 years

I actually would watch the Steve Young/Dilfer/Ray Lewis crew after MNF. Those guys were so nuts that it was kinda funny.

I remember when the Pats got crushed by KC on MNF, Young yells "YOU WANNA GO AT TOM BRADY, YOU GO THROUGH ME" And he was dead serious. Dude is nuts.

 

[Greenbacks]

Jayson Stark‏ @jaysonst<small class="time"> </small>

For 17 yrs I've had a dream job covering baseball for ESPN. Today is my last day. Thanks to all the great people at ESPN, MLB & all of you!

 

[Greenbacks]

Jay Crawford @jaycrawfordespn

After 14 wonderful years my time at espn is over. From Cold Pizza to First Take to SC I made more friends than I can name. Forever grateful!

 

[Greenbacks]

Brett McMurphy @McMurphyESPN

After 5 great years, I’ve been laid off by ESPN. It was a tremendous opportunity & I enjoyed working w/a lot of really, really good people

 

[Albatross]

Entertainment is really fragmented now. It's harder for a network to cover NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL, Soccer, CBB, CFB, Nascar, Golf, MMA, Boxing, etc

So you pick a few sports, really feature them and promote the hell out of them. That is the big reason ESPN doesn't cover the niche sports as much to me. Most people these days only follow a few sports. I only follow NBA/NFL/Boxing/MMA. So if you have any content about any other sport, I won't even watch.

A lot more people are like this now than years ago because of more entertainment options.

The people who watch golf, nascar or MLB don't watch NBA, NFL, etc....So you're going to get cannibalized either way, pick your poison.

Agree mostly. You are wrong on people who watch golf and nascar not watching football tho.....esp golf and football relationship.

 

[PatsFan1283]

Agree mostly. You are wrong on people who watch golf and nascar not watching football tho.....esp golf and football relationship.

Yeah, definitely overlap there. Was just making the point that I think it is tough for them to wanna cover a lot of stuff when there are so many other networks that cover that stuff now. More "niche" competition from other networks now. Like you said NFL network is way better.

MMA they barely cover because FOX has the MMA rights for a few more years. 20 years ago they just killed everyone at everything.

Maybe if they stopped the Jenner/Sam/Kaepernick/comparing rap groups to NBA players/making brackets for music videos aspect of their network that they could grow again but I do think people underestimate all their competition and technology.

Don't get me wrong, I think all of that is bad. I just don't think the business solution is as simple as getting rid of it and having Chauncey Billups break the game down. I think they just figure the cable news "more sensationalism/less substance" model is what works.

 

[Enfuego]

Entertainment is really fragmented now. It's harder for a network to cover NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL, Soccer, CBB, CFB, Nascar, Golf, MMA, Boxing, etc

So you pick a few sports, really feature them and promote the hell out of them. That is the big reason ESPN doesn't cover the niche sports as much to me. Most people these days only follow a few sports. I only follow NBA/NFL/Boxing/MMA. So if you have any content about any other sport, I won't even watch.

A lot more people are like this now than years ago because of more entertainment options.

The people who watch golf, nascar or MLB don't watch NBA, NFL, etc....So you're going to get cannibalized either way, pick your poison.

I think you are very wrong.

 

[Albatross]

Jayson Stark‏ @jaysonst<small class="time"> </small>

For 17 yrs I've had a dream job covering baseball for ESPN. Today is my last day. Thanks to all the great people at ESPN, MLB & all of you!

Always enjoyed him

 

[PatsFan1283]

Pats, I'm telling you a large portion of their audience are white male conservatives that watch football, NASCAR and golf. If you don't think catering to that audience is what you should do, you are bat shit crazy.

Sports fans are not black liberals. You are way off buddy.

I think you are way off. Management is liberal and has said it. They don't hide this. Sage Steele just got fired for her conservative views. Anchors don't fire co workers.

ESPN talks tons of football though, the football content they talk about is just horrible. It's guys yelling about if Joe Flacco is clutch or not, or if Dak should start over Romo 15 weeks into the season.

NASCAR and Golf are niche sports, I think you are overrating how much that would help them. You think commentary on these sports is really going to drive some ratings resurgence? These are niche sports that have their own network. I can see focusing on college football more maybe, but I think they already do that. Their problem is not that they don't have enough analysis on those subjects, it is that the actual analysis is bad. Can you make the analysis better and expand viewers? That's an interesting question. I tend to think if you try to make content smarter or more in depth, people will change the channel.

If you think their political bias is so paramount to their dwindling bottom line, how do you explain them hemorrhaging subscribers since 2011 when most of the political stuff started in 2014?

How is the golf channel or the nascar networks subscribership or ratings doing over the last 5 years? If it's higher then maybe you have a point, if it isn't then I'm not sure that's where the low hanging fruit is.

 

[Enfuego]

ESPN talks tons of football though, the football content they talk about is just horrible. It's guys yelling about if Joe Flacco is clutch or not, or if Dak should start over Romo 15 weeks into the season.

NASCAR and Golf are niche sports, I think you are overrating how much that would help them. You think commentary on these sports is really going to drive some ratings resurgence? These are niche sports that have their own network. I can see focusing on college football more maybe, but I think they already do that. Their problem is not that they don't have enough analysis on those subjects, it is that the actual analysis is bad. Can you make the analysis better and expand viewers? That's an interesting question. I tend to think if you try to make content smarter or more in depth, people will change the channel.

If you think their political bias is so paramount to their dwindling bottom line, how do you explain them hemorrhaging subscribers since 2011 when most of the political stuff started in 2014?

How is the golf channel or the nascar networks subscribership or ratings doing over the last 5 years? If it's higher then maybe you have a point, if it isn't then I'm not sure that's where the low hanging fruit is.

You really think NASCAR is a niche sport? I don't like it at all and have never watched a race but dude, it's huge in this country and they pay nearly no attention to it at all. I would argue you have more people in this country that care about NASCAR than basketball and baseball combined.

 

[Albatross]

The one person that needs to go is that woman that calls college football games. I wont watch a game if she is calling it.

Put me in a tough spot when she called the UGA bowl game. It had to be the equivalent of the pits of hell.