In the end they just paid too much for their rights and all the players now are the ones benefiting. They better all get that money now because come the next deal that number is probably gonna start walking itself back as networks have now realized we have reached the saturation point.

4/27/2017 10:27:31 AM

revenue streams are on the rise....

4/27/2017 10:35:00 AM

Quote :

"^^i think it's far less of disgruntled fans dropping ESPN due to politics than people seem to think. in order to drop ESPN you have to likely move down an entire "level" in your cable subscription and lose a lot of other channels in the process. especially since most low level basic cable packages include ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN losing subscribers is almost entirely cord cutters and changes in the way people view television, it would seem to me. and i'd say most people cut the cord to save money, not make a political stance."

Agreed, but in the end taking the political stance they have doesn't encourage people to stay plugged in if they are on edge about cutting the cord, or not. It is going to be interesting to see what networks survive once more and more peopel start going to cheaper options like Sling TV and Netflix.

4/27/2017 12:21:32 PM

as long as live sports are in demand, ESPN isn't going anywhere. it'll evolve and change to new streaming options and platforms. but there's just too much money in live sports. ESPN is getting some of the fallout from cord cutters and the change in how in TV is consumed. but a lot of those people were paying for ESPN and never really watching it anyways...it was just part of their cable subscription. so ESPN (and other channels) will have to find new ways to reach paying customers and come up with new platforms/services to offer paying customers. and eventually we probably won't be able watch State games on WatchESPN with a parents' login information.

4/27/2017 12:29:59 PM

Britt McHenry looks like she got picked out of a casting call for Scream Queens.

4/27/2017 2:37:03 PM

lol this "too much political stance is hurting sports" stuff is rubbish

always has been

4/27/2017 3:36:35 PM

whole lotta snowflakes

4/27/2017 4:05:11 PM

^^ It's really not, though. If SportsCenter is what you wanted from ESPN, and wanting ESPN was keeping you from cutting the cord, but then you got tired of having to wade through political bullshit just to see highlights and game scores... Well, then politics caused you to cut the cord.

4/27/2017 6:53:43 PM

I never watch ESPN programming other than the game I want to watch and haven't for years. What do they do thats so political? Honest question here. Is it the personal twitter/fb of ESPN personalities that people are referring to or are there political shows/segments on ESPN now?

4/27/2017 7:17:44 PM

I don't think espn is stupid enough to push an agenda that causes massive subscriber loss...and then continue pushing that agenda. Like, they are gonna do what gets them more subscribers...if they deem that they are doing something to hurt that goal, they'll probably stop doing it.

4/27/2017 7:59:01 PM

^^ From what I've heard, their incessant coverage of Caitlyn Jenner. Apparently they repeatedly made a big deal over the NCAA and ACC pulling games out of NC, including editorializing over what NC should do. There's the kneeling for the anthem. The gay Mizzou football player... The list really goes on and on. And they are doing this on SportsCenter, in lieu of highlights and scores.

I wouldn't say that it's solely a matter of politics. It's a "death by 100 cuts" thing, and politics is one of those things. I also wouldn't say that it's a matter of ESPN pushing an agenda which is turning people away. Rather, it's a matter of them delivering less of what their viewers want: sports. You don't go to ESPN for politics, you go there for sports. Their political editorializing and bloviating is taking away from their sports coverage. I can go on the internet and get highlights and scores, all without the politics, so it's easy to substitute SportsCenter with something else. And that might be enough to finally push someone over the edge to say "fuck this, I don't need ESPN anymore."

[Edited on April 27, 2017 at 8:32 PM. Reason : ]

4/27/2017 8:22:26 PM

Sure. I just think it's a pretty small percentage of people that fall into that category. Far more people don't like sports but pay for espn and other channels every month. But now they can watch Netflix so they cancel it.

4/27/2017 8:36:46 PM

No doubt it's a small percentage that left because of it. But that number dwarfs the number of people who decided to start watching ESPN to get the latest scoop on politics from a washed up quarterback.

4/27/2017 9:56:27 PM

Right. But it doesn't seem fair or accurate to characterize the drop in subscribers as a direct result of their political leanings. Other factors seem to be the leading contributors to that drop in subscribers, the political shit is just a lazy excuse. It's nowhere near the main reason for a drop in viewers or subscribers.

4/27/2017 10:01:59 PM

Quote :

"From what I've heard, their incessant coverage of Caitlyn Jenner. Apparently they repeatedly made a big deal over the NCAA and ACC pulling games out of NC, including editorializing over what NC should do. There's the kneeling for the anthem. The gay Mizzou football player... The list really goes on and on. And they are doing this on SportsCenter, in lieu of highlights and scores."

Bruce Jenner like his ex-wife has been an attention whore almost all of his post-athletic career. Thing with Michael Sam is Sam is really no different than Tim Tebow. They both got coverage far undeserving of what their actual station in sports was, and in Tebow's case he had a far more successful NFL career. Sam even flamed out after one game in the CFL. Amusingly, it's righties that got upset on the coverage of Sam and lefties that get upset on the coverage of Tebow, so there's a lot of hypocrisy from people of all stripes unless you're fine with both or upset at both. Kaepernick was the most covered washed up starter now backup QB in the league...after Tebow.

[Edited on April 27, 2017 at 11:17 PM. Reason : /]

4/27/2017 11:15:33 PM

Quote :

"From what I've heard, their incessant coverage of Caitlyn Jenner. Apparently they repeatedly made a big deal over the NCAA and ACC pulling games out of NC, including editorializing over what NC should do. There's the kneeling for the anthem. The gay Mizzou football player... The list really goes on and on. And they are doing this on SportsCenter, in lieu of highlights and scores."

I agree 100%. They would rather spend 1/2 of a Sportscenter broadcast discussing a semi-political sports story than showing pure highlights.
They also spend wayyy too much time promoting their other broadcasts. SC is unwatchable after MNF. They cut right back to the on-field broadcast booth. They show the game recap 3 or 4 times. They cut live to press conferences. What about relevant baseball playoff games during that time or college bball games? You might as well go online and lookup highlights yourself.
They tend to key in on news that they think gets ratings over what's currently going on. For example:
The latest on Johnny Dumpster Fire
Lebron throws his team under the bus
Deflategate was appealed
Tim Tebow takes a dump
Ray Rice beats his wife
Carmelo Anthony causes drama in NY

[Edited on April 27, 2017 at 11:44 PM. Reason : O]

4/27/2017 11:30:01 PM

They have to show something, who relies on tv for highlights in 2017?

4/27/2017 11:53:18 PM

Quote :

"They have to show something, who relies on tv for highlights in 2017?"

And who relies on TV to argue about sports? That is what message boards are for.

4/28/2017 12:58:41 AM

Quote :

"If SportsCenter is what you wanted from ESPN, and wanting ESPN was keeping you from cutting the cord"

Does anyone watch SportsCenter? If so, why? Twitter is a million times better than SportsCenter.

4/28/2017 1:00:23 AM

^This! There is no need to watch sports center. The moment something cool happens a video is put on the internet by some random person, or the network broadcasting the event.

4/28/2017 1:17:13 AM

Quote :

"If SportsCenter is what you wanted from ESPN, and wanting ESPN was keeping you from cutting the cord, but then you got tired of having to wade through political bullshit just to see highlights and game scores... Well, then politics caused you to cut the cord."

I don't have cable as of 6 months ago but when I did I rarely saw political things on SC unless it is a big breaking story EVERYONE is talking about already. It would be more awkward to avoid something happening in sports everyone knows is happening. They have to talk about NC politics when it affects sports in the state, and they are a sports commentary network so of course they are going to comment on it. But mostly, the politics come from mostly online content and niche shows like Outside the Lines.

The reason why I don't miss sports center is because I only care about the scores of a handful of teams, and I can find them and a million more stories about just those teams on ESPN.com, other sports sites, and the teams' individual sites. Seeing scores on tv is outdated, so they're losing viewership which leads to losing sponsors, so they had to cut back.

Ultimately, I think it has ZERO to do with politics.

4/28/2017 2:25:36 AM

KEEP THEM DERN GAYS OUT OF MUH FOOTBALL TV

4/28/2017 7:18:01 AM

Quote :

" They would rather spend 1/2 of a Sportscenter broadcast discussing a semi-political sports story than showing pure highlights."

i feel like this^ is a result of this v

Quote :

"There is no need to watch sports center. The moment something cool happens a video is put on the internet by some random person, or the network broadcasting the event."

people consume media and highlights and sports so much differently...there isn't a need for a channel that is nearly all highlights all day anymore. ESPN has to fill the time with non-highlights now that highlights aren't driving ratings.

[Edited on April 28, 2017 at 7:34 AM. Reason : d]

4/28/2017 7:32:46 AM

completely shocked that those pining for highlights being shown on TV in 2017 are the same who think ESPN has become too political

it would be completely absurd if a sports network didn't cover giant sports stories that were going on

Quote :

"From what I've heard, their incessant coverage of Caitlyn Jenner. Apparently they repeatedly made a big deal over the NCAA and ACC pulling games out of NC, including editorializing over what NC should do. There's the kneeling for the anthem. The gay Mizzou football player... The list really goes on and on. And they are doing this on SportsCenter, in lieu of highlights and scores."

that is a list of giant stories that of course have to be covered. it's 2017 for fucks sake. it's not an ESPN problem if reporting on these stories weirds you out, it's a you problem

[Edited on April 28, 2017 at 8:46 AM. Reason : .]

4/28/2017 8:43:53 AM

Quote :

"Does anyone watch SportsCenter? If so, why? Twitter is a million times better than SportsCenter."

I'd rather turn it on in the background and pay attention when a highlight is relevant to me. Like NC State, Panthers, insert bandwagon NBA team here. I still don't use twitter. I rehckun I need to git with tha times. /old man
Watching highlights on a website is annoying to me because you have to watch a minimum 15 second ad before it plays.

4/28/2017 11:46:43 AM

Quote :

"that is a list of giant stories that of course have to be covered. it's 2017 for fucks sake. it's not an ESPN problem if reporting on these stories weirds you out, it's a you problem"

It's not a matter of covering the "stories." It's a matter of the constant and incessant editorializing that they were doing, to the exclusion of other sports stories and highlights.

The Jenner thing was pushed heavily by ESPN, to the point of giving it center-stage treatment at the ESPYs. They then proceeded to talk about it almost exclusively for the next three or four weeks. Look, some former Olympian wanting to cut his dick off is simply not a "sports story" that warrants 24/7 coverage on a sports network. Rather, it's something you might mention in passing and then get back to highlights.

The NCAA and ACC boycotting NC is a sports story. There's no problem reporting on that. Editorializing on how NC is a bunch of bigoted bumfucks who need to get with the times, while true, is not a sports story.

Michael Sam getting drafted was a sports story. The first openly gay NFL player, a human interest story which warrants some discussion. Constant editorializing about it? Not necessary for a sports network.

Players kneeling for the anthem is a sports story. Constant, 24/7 arguments over whether they are right are wrong to do so is not a sports story.

Tebow sucking as a player is a sports story. Tebow praying after his rare touchdowns isn't.

And for people who were going to SportsCenter to get news and highlights in one place, all of this adds up. There's a point where you say, "I don't want to wade through all this bullshit just to catch a few highlights. I can wait 30seconds through ads and see a few highlights over the web and be done with it." SportsCenter was a consolidated place of sports news and highlights, packed into an hour. They changed it to 15-20 minutes of news and highlights and 40 minutes of gossip, politics, and bickering. The change attracted literally zero new viewers, all while pushing others to leave. It was a dumb move, and it was one whose effects were entirely predictable.

Is it alone the entire cause for ESPN's current woes? Of course not; ESPN is like many other corporate giants, failing to adapt to changes in consumers and technology. But did it contribute? Absolutely. I'm not pining for highlights on TV. I'm saying that what was a convenient place to get those highlights became inconvenient, making itself irrelevant for even that.

4/28/2017 11:30:49 PM

^excellent post

4/29/2017 7:47:40 AM

Quote :

"The Jenner thing was pushed heavily by ESPN, to the point of giving it center-stage treatment at the ESPYs. They then proceeded to talk about it almost exclusively for the next three or four weeks. Look, some former Olympian wanting to cut his dick off is simply not a "sports story" that warrants 24/7 coverage on a sports network. Rather, it's something you might mention in passing and then get back to highlights."

exaggerate much? I watch ESPN. it wasn't covered exclusively for a week, and for damn sure not 3-4 weeks.

and she wasn't just "some athlete", she was one of the most famous athletes in the world.

Quote :

"The NCAA and ACC boycotting NC is a sports story. There's no problem reporting on that. Editorializing on how NC is a bunch of bigoted bumfucks who need to get with the times, while true, is not a sports story."

why are you complaining if you threw in the "while true" caveat? they've done it in the past with other states and sporting events threatening to leave if discriminatory legislation wasn't changed. of course it's a sports story.

a network shouldn't be expected to not weigh in on matters of the day. in many ways, it allows people to think critically when they maybe wouldn't normally and/or show them aspects of life that they wouldn't otherwise see

it's classic case of The Times, They Are A-Changin'

[Edited on April 29, 2017 at 10:51 AM. Reason : .]

4/29/2017 10:40:16 AM

I've pretty much stopped listening to ESPN radio due to their politics. Bomani Jones and Lebretard are the ones that I can't stand when they get on their soap boxes. Mike and Mike and First and Last are just boring as fuck. I enjoy Clay Travis now and Cowherd on Fox.

In terms of TV, I stopped watching ESPN for anything non-live years ago, but that had nothing to do with politics.

4/29/2017 1:29:50 PM

Clay Travis is the absolute worst

he's a garbage person

4/29/2017 1:45:11 PM

fuck clay travis

4/29/2017 5:01:23 PM

LOL I enjoy Clay Travis' periscope shows, especially his Game of Thrones recaps.

4/29/2017 7:31:23 PM

Quote :

"and Cowherd on Fox. "

Cowherd is the guy that opined that Sean Taylor's death was because of Taylor's gang background coming back to bite him. Also he said since John Wall was a guy without a father he would never be a superstar or some shit.

So rflong might want to tune him out so as to not get any type of political hubbub.

[Edited on April 29, 2017 at 7:36 PM. Reason : .]

4/29/2017 7:36:05 PM

I've alwez thought Cowherd was annoying

4/29/2017 7:54:42 PM

^^ I never said I tuned out ESPN because of simply talking about politics. I've tuned out ESPN because I am sick of their blantant and obvious liberal views and the fact that they have blackballed anyone on their network who expresses a different opinion.

Initially I hated Clay Travis too, but he's grown on me. Yeah he's an arrogant prick, but his takes on ESPN and their problems have been spot on. Cowherd exaggerates and is a USC homer, but he's at least entertaining as opposed to most everything on ESPN radio. The only guy I even like now on ESPN is Russillo as I like his NBA takes. I'll listen to Bomani when he is actually talking sports and not making everything into a social justice issue.

4/29/2017 9:06:12 PM

Quote :

"the fact that they have blackballed anyone on their network who expresses a different opinion."

What are the examples of this? Cowherd was canned after saying multiple offensive things...not merely expressing a difference of opinion, but saying some fairly racist and outright offensive shit. What's an example of somebody being black balled for expressing a non-racist/non-offensive different opinion? Not trying to be a dick, I'm genuinely curious because I can't think of any. Curt schilling was, again, saying extremely offensive things and then got fired. They gave schilling a ton of leeway before finally firing him. If they were truly a hardline liberal agenda pushing network, schilling wouldnt have lasted a month there. They gave him plenty of second chances.

4/30/2017 9:56:03 AM

Quote :

"alwez"

Ha

4/30/2017 1:00:49 PM

Quote :

"The only guy I even like now on ESPN is Russillo"

4/30/2017 1:32:22 PM

James Andrew Miller (guy that wrote the ESPN book) on Richard Deitsch's Sports Illustrated media podcast says in light of these layoffs and the cost cutting that will continue into the future, he doubts the ACC Network will ever have a broadcast launch.

(Somewhat unrelated, but in terms of money losses the Longhorn Network has reportedly been a big loser for ESPN.)

5/2/2017 9:04:36 AM

Cowherd sucks. Fire Joe Morgan broke this down over ten years ago.

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2006/01/12-minutes-of-hell-with-colin-cowherd.html

5/2/2017 9:39:09 AM

^ I concur. Cowherd is the absolute worst! Even worse than Stephen A.

5/2/2017 12:27:42 PM

Quote :

"Only hockey guy left at ESPN Barry Melrose?"

When you are trying to save money and you have an employee you can keep around for a place to sleep and a warm meal, you keep him.

5/5/2017 1:36:17 AM

https://www.google.com/amp/profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/06/05/espn-bringing-hank-williams-jr-back-to-mnf-open/amp/

ESPN and their damn liberal agenda.

6/5/2017 8:28:08 AM

hell of a time for WatchESPN to go down

6/22/2017 7:35:05 PM

Watching "The Ocho"

the golf disk championship is on. this is not a bad thing they have.

8/8/2017 1:47:37 AM

http://theundefeated.com/features/50-greatest-black-athletes/?addata=espn:frontpage

they deserved to get killed for this

8/9/2017 1:12:41 AM

aside from the obvious

1. they used survey monkey to do a poll?

2. they rank simone biles and gabby douglas ahead of jerry rice, walter payton, magic johnson & kareem

3. steph curry made the list (28)

8/9/2017 8:39:06 AM

obviously the most glaring issue with that is no Tiger Woods.

8/9/2017 9:04:40 AM

What an atrocious list.

8/9/2017 9:46:42 AM

ESPN broadcaster Robert Lee taken off UVA game due to name

http://www.espn.com/espn/wire/_/section/ncf/id/20423195

8/23/2017 5:06:15 PM