Recently, it came to light that ESPN is shedding viewers at a rapid pace. They have lost 7.2% of their viewership and are getting rid of salary. I thought it was 3 million, but that means about 7.1 million viewers and the prospect of regaining them doesn't look very good. ESPN's contracts with major cable companies has a provision that says if they make an online offering (like HBO Now) then their contract is terminated and the cable companies can offer ESPN ala carte (Cable providers want to dump ESPN because of the high price). A study shows that only 35% of people would keep ESPN if it wasn't forced on them. The money paid to ESPN works out to about $6.50 for every cable subscriber.
In short, ESPN is poised to start losing a lot of revenue. Their contract prevents them from making an online option without losing their cable revenue and the cable companies want to dump the channel(s). They're getting rid of a lot of staff since the writing is on the wall.