Massive number of layoffs at ESPN!

[Flutterguy]

They're current programming model of bringing social issues into sports is driving viewership down in addition to the cable issues. People tuned into ESPN to watch sports, not hear a sports journalist's opinions on current affairs. They have cable news for that shit. Sports is supposed to be a sanctuary where all that matters is the competition at hand. It's pretty unfortunate, because I used to watch ESPN a lot and I do like their 30 for 30 series.

[Allerius]

I'm not surprised that cable companies are losing the younger generation. Online streams are easy to find, heck I'm watching the playoffs on one right now. Forgive me if I don't feel bad the guys making 30 mil a year.

[ohiostate124]

They're current programming model of bringing social issues into sports is driving viewership down in addition to the cable issues. People tuned into ESPN to watch sports, not hear a sports journalist's opinions on current affairs. They have cable news for that shit. Sports is supposed to be a sanctuary where all that matters is the competition at hand. It's pretty unfortunate, because I used to watch ESPN a lot and I do like their 30 for 30 series.

100% this. Sports is supposed to be the escape. The product has simply gotten worse. Add in the other factors like cutting the cord and millennials watching less sports, this is what happens. Sounds like espn is doubling down on their current model too.

[Ripster42]

I loveeeeee Stephen a smith.


Sue me.

Is this like token likes tyler perry movies?

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Hardly. The only league with bigger wimps and prima donnas is baseball.

Prima donnas=NFL wide receiver/cornerback.

Wimps= Soccer.

Both are the biggest examples of each in sport.

[Putin-Chan]

you mean sports bars?

Sports bars include screaming obese men who peaked in high school. AND the TVs still only have ESPN. AND you can't hear anything. That's at least triple Hell, maybe even Hell squared.

[Krekko]

We, as in millennials, not only are watching less cable TV, but are watching less and less sports in general.

Just don't touch PTI and Around The Horn.

Because we realize that when you watch say Football on TV you spend almost 1/3 of the game watching stupid commercials. Not to mention you already have to pay to watch most of these (not to mention blackouts, etc).

I don't mind sports but the amount of commercials is insane. The games have been molded to be more accommodating to commercials too.

[THE Bigzoman]

Is this like token likes tyler perry movies?

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Prima donnas=NFL wide receiver/cornerback.

Wimps= Soccer.

Both are the biggest examples of each in sport.

I don't follow.

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Sports bars include screaming obese men who peaked in high school. AND the TVs still only have ESPN. AND you can't hear anything. That's at least triple Hell, maybe even Hell squared.

You have shitty sports bars then.


Nothing beats getting shitfacrd and winning bets with your co workers at b dubs.

[Ghostpanther]

Do not feel sorry for them. If my cable company said I would save 1 dollar per month if I have no ESPN channels in my TV selections, I would jump on it. I hate having those useless ESPN channels in my package.

[Kellhound]

Regardless.
It's still the sport with the best athletes and the one that is growing the fastest of the 5 throughout the world.

Plus it is especially popular with the younger crowd.

I disagree on the best athlete part, soccer and hockey have it beat.

[Blur4stuff]

I imagine cable/satellite is losing millions of customers each year. If ESPN wants to survive in the long term they'll eventually have to insert themselves into popular streaming services and start covering a wider variety of events like gaming. The same thing that happened with jocks and geeks in the 70s-80s is happening again.

[Alvito]

Yep, totally just pulled that from my ass.

https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/art...ounger-viewers

You can Google for more if you want. One is about as much as I'll be bothered with.

Wow they asked 31k people in 10 countries not all being in the age bracket you are talking about. That is some lock solid info. I think your little doggy avatar is talking about your statement.

[Macaquerie]

Prima donnas=NFL wide receiver/cornerback.

Wimps= Soccer.

Both are the biggest examples of each in sport.

Honestly, I feel like people make too much of athletes' behavior. If in my job I couldn't run 5 yards without someone trying to take my head off, I sure as hell wouldn't be doing it quietly. Guys who sign up to get the crap beat out of them week after week for our enjoyment and don't ever say a peep are not heroes, they're suckers. Oh sure they get paid a lot, but what good is money when your mental faculties are gone by age 50?

[Magicpot]

TV is dying out.

Between Netflix and similar services and the internet in general, young people have no motivation outside passively doing nothing to use a TV anymore. Out of my group of friends (all 20-28 aged) only one person even owns a TV anymore. Certainly nobody pays for cable.

[Barnabas]

Now espn can charge people the $7 fee to access their main channel and see how it goes? The channels people actually watch are much less. Even ESPN parent company disney has more viewers and charges 1/5 of what espn does. They will have to fire more people than they have even online.

[Kapadons]

Cord cutting is to blame. They lost something like 10 million subscribers since 2013. People are using sling or PlayStation vue instead of dish or direct tv. Even more use Netflix or Hulu instead of cable.

The weird thing is, the only thing I watch on cable is live sports. Everything else is through Netflix or HBOgo or amazon. ESPN has been super retarded to not come up with a $7.99 a month app that allows me to watch any game or sporting event they own the rights to. Instead I have to have their channel as part of a cable package that runs $100+ If not more. Easy fiscal decision for someone living on a budget.

They also lost the "sports center on in the background" crowd with the internet. You used to be able to leave sports center on and get a entire run down of what happened that day in sports. It was the way to keep up with your favorite league or teams or players. Now I can simply get a highly personalized version of that in mere seconds that includes any highlights or drama that cuts out all the bullshit about stuff I don't care about.

Hopefully, this can serve as a springboard for other companies and cable companies to get their shit together. My family maybe watches 6-7 channels total. But to get those 7 we have to pay for 300+. Give me the option to choose the channels I want and pay on a per channel basis while having an increased on demand movie service and I'll happily keep cable. Otherwise I'll stream all of it from my phone or laptop.

[Nazrark]

I loveeeeee Stephen a smith.


Sue me.

Man you should lay off the weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed. Sometimes I genuinely enjoy First Take. Except it's Football, Basketball with occasional dashes of boxing. The other sports don't get much coverage at all.

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Also, most of their stuff is region locked so I have to watch not so legal streams of it online.

[Barnabas]

Cord cutting is to blame. They lost something like 10 million subscribers since 2013. People are using sling or PlayStation vue instead of dish or direct tv. Even more use Netflix or Hulu instead of cable.

The weird thing is, the only thing I watch on cable is live sports. Everything else is through Netflix or HBOgo or amazon. ESPN has been super retarded to not come up with a $7.99 a month app that allows me to watch any game or sporting event they own the rights to. Instead I have to have their channel as part of a cable package that runs $100+ If not more. Easy fiscal decision for someone living on a budget.

They also lost the "sports center on in the background" crowd with the internet. You used to be able to leave sports center on and get a entire run down of what happened that day in sports. It was the way to keep up with your favorite league or teams or players. Now I can simply get a highly personalized version of that in mere seconds that includes any highlights or drama that cuts out all the bullshit about stuff I don't care about.

Hopefully, this can serve as a springboard for other companies and cable companies to get their shit together. My family maybe watches 6-7 channels total. But to get those 7 we have to pay for 300+. Give me the option to choose the channels I want and pay on a per channel basis while having an increased on demand movie service and I'll happily keep cable. Otherwise I'll stream all of it from my phone or laptop.

Why when you can burn nfl network free trials?

[Revoldt]

Good. Cause why would anyone want to pay to watch baseball regular season during the summer....
Piecemeal it all to NBA/NFL/MLB/Nascar TV... You pay for what you want.

National TV (ABC/NBC etc) Broadcast games is enough a medium to promote the sports to casual fans.

With sports sites like bleacherreport/sbnation etc, ESPN has become meaningless.
There's no purpose to watch Sportscenter, when any and every site will give you scores, highlights and instant-analysis ad-nausem within minutes of it happening.

All that BS w/ Olympics "live-delays" just proves the TV-model of watching sports needs to die.

[Tinykong]

I hope this is the first step towards ESPN losing it's stranglehold on the television market. I don't watch sports, and I don't want to pay to subsidize other people watching them, either.

[Berengil]

Cord cutting is to blame. They lost something like 10 million subscribers since 2013. People are using sling or PlayStation vue instead of dish or direct tv. Even more use Netflix or Hulu instead of cable.

Interesting. Personally, I have zero interest in sports; I've always found them quite boring.

As for cord-cutting, as far as cable companies go, I'm in full agreement. I haven't dealt with a cable company since 1999. Instead, I've had a Dish Network subscription ever since then, anywhere I've lived.

I'm unfamiliar with the "sling" you mentioned. I don't have a Playstation, or indeed any console gaming system since 2005 (PC gaming only for me). I've heard of Hulu, but not looked at getting it. As for Netflix, I'm familiar with it, but I haven't bothered to try it out.

I have Dish network's "Everything Pack". I've never had any trouble with their customer service, and they are cheaper than cable or Direct TV. From what I understand, if I had Netflix, I'd have to have an old-style antenna to receive local channels. Dish includes them. I'm a bit of a dinosaur I suppose; I still buy bluray discs,cds, and printed books rather than digital streaming or w/e. Often inside of the physical copies I notice they include a free code for the digital version.