ESPN Layoffs coming

[wiffleball 4,629]

Various sources are reporting that between now and the end of the year there could be as many as 100 additional layoffs at ESPN. Particularly set to be hard hit the Sports Center. This on the heels of already over 400 layoffs since 2015.

 

I don't care about much, but I hope they leave their documentary staff alone. E60 consistently produces some of the best television journalism of any genre.

 

Just amazing to see Bob Woodruff recording there. Dude said was basically blowing off in early 2006. The dude went from vegetable to damn you're good as new. And in the meantime, he and his wife formed a pretty incredible and very functional charitable organization as well.

[bandrus1 413]

I hope they finally realize people actually want sports not sports drama

[wiffleball 4,629]

I hope they finally realize they shouldn't try to cater to 6% of the population. Especially when half of that six doesn't have access to cable television at a minimum.

[TimmySmith 2,782]

Makes me wonder if ESPN is on shaky ground and is trying to disguise it. Laying off staff is a desperation move that is really a short term solution.

[wiffleball 4,629]

Makes me wonder if ESPN is on shaky ground and is trying to disguise it. Laying off staff is a desperation move that is really a short term solution.

Hindsight being 20-20, their management has to eat a lot of this. They signed multiple multi-billion-dollar contracts for football and basketball pretty much right before cord-cutting started happening in earnest.

 

They can cut until there's one guy and a handheld camera in a studio somewhere but that doesn't negate the four or five billion dollars that they are on the hook for.

 

NFL better be paying really serious attention to this. The next contract for TV rights sure as hell can't look like the last one. And I don't care how many networks you spread it across.

[nobody 2,031]

Espn thought they were the shït because they were only the game in town for so long. Now that that has changed, they have no idea what to do.

[wiffleball 4,629]

Espn thought they were the shït because they were only the game in town for so long. Now that that has changed, they have no idea what to do.

You know, there was a time when that would have been my post. But seriously, do we see Fox Sports 1 as being some Contender that's running over the top of ESPN? The Audience Network? NBC sports? Nah.

 

I really think it's more about changes in technology and changes in the audience attention spans as well.

 

Exceptions: TNT owns NBA game time. NFL Network does well, but not on as many systems/packages.

[TimmySmith 2,782]

You know, there was a time when that would have been my post. But seriously, do we see Fox Sports 1 as being some Contender that's running over the top of ESPN? The Audience Network? NBC sports? Nah.

 

I really think it's more about changes in technology and changes in the audience attention spans as well.

 

Exceptions: TNT owns NBA game time. NFL Network does well, but not on as many systems/packages.

It's all of them. ESPN has Monday Night Football and that is about the only thing that sets them apart. They are just another dog in the fight. The doom of ESPN comes when the Cable companies quit paying their ridiculous fee. Your cable bill would be at least 20% smaller without ESPN. ESPN may be the biggest cause of cord cutting.

[wiffleball 4,629]

Totally agree Timmah.

[nobody 2,031]

No one needs espn or sportscenter. Look up a score to a game and you get all the highlights on demand along with opinion on which coach sucks and which coach is a genius.

 

When i was in college in 1997 i would watch sportscenter at 10 and the reruns at 11 and 12 and 1 just because it was the only thing on. Now i have cable and never watch sportscenter because i get everything interesting on social media 2 minutes after it happens.

[TommyGavin 788]

What is this SportsCenter you are referring to ?

[dain11279 926]

Over/under on the % of them being white?

[Gladiators 1,900]

Over/under on the % of them being white?

 

90%

[nobody 2,031]

 

90%

Over

[Filthy Fernadez 2,696]

Over/under on the % of them being white?

Are there enough left to meet the layoff numbers?

[kutulu 1,541]

Get my ESPN through sling tv...20 bucks a month, great deal for what you get.

[Cdub100 3,366]

They will get rid of the people who actually talk sports and break down what happens on the field and keep people like STEPHEN A SMITH!!!!!!!

[supermike80 1,282]

They will get rid of the people who actually talk sports and break down what happens on the field and keep people like STEPHEN A SMITH!!!!!!!

This is almost certainly what will happen. Clearly.

[bandrus1 413]

This is almost certainly what will happen. Clearly.

 

 

it actually doesnt bother me.... I watch MLB tv for baseball coverage and I actually really like the NFL morning show good morning football.... Sports center and espn wont be missed

[supermike80 1,282]

 

 

it actually doesnt bother me.... I watch MLB tv for baseball coverage and I actually really like the NFL morning show good morning football.... Sports center and espn wont be missed

Oh I agree. I haven't watched sportscenter in forever and don't ever turn on ESPN unless it is for an NFL game. When that black lady got herself into all kinds of trouble over her tweets, I was serious when I said I had no clue who she was. Still don't.

 

Don't need ESPN for sports. I can read all I want online.

[Voltaire 4,550]

Soon Jemele Hill will be the only one left.

[TommyGavin 788]

Stephen A is unlistenable

[ROCKFORD 134]

i still click on sportcenter out of habit. when there is a commercial on what im watching.

[ROCKFORD 134]

bring madden back.

[mighty_thor 115]

Management is definitely to blame. They paid twice as much as the other networks for tgeir Monday night package and they dont even get a super bowl. The NFL knew that ESPN needed the NFL and they soaked them for 1.9 billion a year. Now the NFL seems over exposed with the Thursday night games, ratings for the NFL have gone down and millions of chord cutters have also taken away revenue from ESPN.

 

I dont know what their management is thinking with the more urban faces on their telecasts as well. They may be trying for a younger audience but they seem to be letting go of actual sports guys who have relevant things to say about the sport they cover.

[TD Ryan2 314]

ESPN, like many companies that that reach high levels of success, revenue, and profit, is failing because they are no longer innovative and creative, they are no longer "cutting edge" or "leading edge" of what they do... their passion is gone - replaced by metrics that steer their organization towards the middle - where they think the masses are - where they think the most eyes and therefore dollars are. And when they try to be passionate or cutting edge, it's so cookie-cutter, planned, packaged, and controlled that it doesn't fool anyone who is a real sports fan.

 

And like many organizations that make it big - sprinkle in political agendas and "policies/procedures" that "real" people disdain and bingo... you have a failing organization that makes failing products because they simply don't connect with anyone anymore besides corporate bean counters, SOP's, and attorneys.

[Filthy Fernadez 2,696]

Just like Hollywood/NFL..........keep politics out of it and put that energy into putting out a good product. Complacency is bad for business.

[supermike80 1,282]

Management is definitely to blame. They paid twice as much as the other networks for tgeir Monday night package and they dont even get a super bowl. The NFL knew that ESPN needed the NFL and they soaked them for 1.9 billion a year. Now the NFL seems over exposed with the Thursday night games, ratings for the NFL have gone down and millions of chord cutters have also taken away revenue from ESPN.

 

I dont know what their management is thinking with the more urban faces on their telecasts as well. They may be trying for a younger audience but they seem to be letting go of actual sports guys who have relevant things to say about the sport they cover.

I think........networks know what they are doing here. People with "resources" don't need one source for sports or anything else for that matter. We have options and we use those options. ESPN knows they need to attack the group that sits at home and watches TV and is generally lazy. And sell advertising to that crowd. Just like the daytime tv commercials you see a lot of. A guy like me, 50 yr old white guy, isn't going to sit in front of a TV for most of my day and ESPN knows it. They have to attack those that do.

[Strike 3,934]

https://frontofficesports.com/sources-espn-poised-to-potentially-lay-off-hundreds/

[Hardcore troubadour 12,554]

 Nike too. Nice. 

[Voltaire 4,550]

Outkick is hiring but hopefully they have enough sense not to hire any of these ESPN castoffs.

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

On 11/21/2017 at 12:36 PM, Cdub100 said:

They will get rid of the people who actually talk sports and break down what happens on the field and keep people like STEPHEN A SMITH!!!!!!!

I hope they do. They will die off more quickly then

[Utilit99 4,099]

Sure, it's the chinese flu's fault.   They can't even admit that they suck and turned a very good program into liberal agenda drivel.

 

Quote

"The months-long economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic is sparking painful fallout for media companies."

 

[Cloaca du jour 2,064]

1 hour ago, Voltaire said:

Outkick is hiring but hopefully they have enough sense not to hire any of these ESPN castoffs.

Espn fires the good people and keeps the garbage

[JustinCharge 2,397]

haha

[avoiding injuries 1,220]

7 hours ago, Utilit99 said:

Sure, it's the chinese flu's fault.   They can't even admit that they suck and turned a very good program into liberal agenda drivel.

 

 

I read the same quote and was going to post the same thing. Not taking any responsibility for hitching their wagon to the social justice movement. 

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

2 hours ago, avoiding injuries said:

I read the same quote and was going to post the same thing. Not taking any responsibility for hitching their wagon to the social justice movement. 

Which is just the latest offshoot of what has been ruining their network for decades now... Being more about entertainment and hot takes from personalities than sports.

You really have to be an idiot to fock things up from where ESPN was. But they did. Fock them and their Disney overlords.

[shorepatrol 1,734]

6 minutes ago, titans&bucs&bearsohmy! said:

 

You really have to be an idiot to fock things up from where ESPN was..

It really is amazing. Damn near every man on the planet had ESPN on for hours in the backround for YEARS. ALL gone now. Focking pathetic. I miss the old ESPN 

[Gladiators 1,900]

10 minutes ago, shorepatrol said:

It really is amazing. Damn near every man on the planet had ESPN on for hours in the backround for YEARS. ALL gone now. Focking pathetic. I miss the old ESPN 

Absolutely.

[FlyinHeadlock 459]

Cable TV has been in a slow roll death spiral for a decade. Even before streaming took off antenna TV has been making a comeback and is about to get a lot better with the new digital format. 4k, better sound quality, hundreds of stations,  a la carte any programing and it can be watched from any device. Going to take a few more years but in 5 years cable TV will be all but dead. 

ESPN will still be around but much like Sport Illistrated. 80's every sports fan had that magazine and they had those cool football home phones for signing up.