ESPN Layoffs

[Doc]

I had a patient who was one of the original guys (off-air, "non talent" and he jokingly and gruffly put it) who had retired from there. He said he's glad he got out when he did.

 

It will be interesting to see how hard this hits the NFL. I can't see them or anyone else for that matter continuing to pay $1.9B/year when this contract is up.

[GG]

just read her role will be reduced, prolly meaning a renegotiated salary as well.

 

ESPN pretty much just relegated hockey to the "other" tab.

 

But keep insisting the game is in great shape Gary...you freaking moron.

 

NHL's problem is all self inflicted

[Royale with Cheese]

I had a patient who was one of the original guys (off-air, "non talent" and he jokingly and gruffly put it) who had retired from there. He said he's glad he got out when he did.

 

It will be interesting to see how hard this hits the NFL. I can't see them or anyone else for that matter continuing to pay $1.9B/year when this contract is up.

Maybe ABC gets it back....but maybe not since they are both under the Disney umbrella.

[Matt_In_NH]

I cancelled ESPN last year and ordered it for one week to watch the BIlls game. I dont miss it at all and watch NFL network instead. I could not stand how they would play things up so much, for instance, they followed Koby Bryants last game in each arena as if he was retiring each time...made me want to puke.

[row_33]

 

It's very much the same dynamic. People are cutting the cable, getting some streaming package and noticing they don't actually care much about ESPN. ~$7 of everyone's cable bill goes to ESPN - if they have the channel of course.

 

 

 

Cutting off a paper doesn't mean someone has 100% fulfilled the paper-reading time with other sources, they have cut into it dramatically or off totally.

 

And the internet is providing snippy and diluted items that people think is the same as reading 2-3 page newpaper in-depth spreads on major issues.

 

Total dumbing down.

 

They are going to watch TV/computer/iPhone eternally in more and more pockets of their days, getting more shallow each day.

[Doc]

Maybe ABC gets it back....but maybe not since they are both under the Disney umbrella.

 

Yup. Maybe TNT?

[row_33]

People around me brag "I don't watch TV anymore" as if they are Einstein or something.

 

But they are watching TV-type programming just the same on other devices.

 

So they are getting fooled even worse than they think they aren't....

 

And tremendous eyestrain as well that will hammer them bad in their middle age years...

[Art in PNS]

Garbage channel. The screaming morons with "hot takes" and the hot young and intellectually devoid female "reporters" make it unwatchable. ESPN went for the young population, forgetting that the older, professional, gainfully employed population is where the money is at.

Agreed .

[Kirby Jackson]

just read her role will be reduced, prolly meaning a renegotiated salary as well.

 

ESPN pretty much just relegated hockey to the "other" tab.

 

But keep insisting the game is in great shape Gary...you freaking moron.

It will always be that way because it's a regional game. Living in the south has been a little eye opening on that end. I have friends that are big, big sports fans (season tickets to Saints, Pelicans, LSU football and baseball) and they couldn't name 10 hockey players. It's not one guy either. A guy I work with played for the Bruins and does "Hockey Night in New Orleans." It really is a bunch of guys drinking beer and he explains the game to the guys. They still call it halftime. There is a large portion of the country that is like his. People didn't grow up with the game and no one played the game. The closest rink is in on the other side of Baton Rouge (an hour plus). ESPN hasn't cared about hockey for the same reason that it doesn't care about NASCAR. They are regional, niche sports. They pour their energy into the NFL, college football and the NBA (with some baseball) because it hits the most people.

[HT02]

the last several years ESPN has turned into crap, thats why they have a declining viewership

I agree

Garbage channel. The screaming morons with "hot takes" and the hot young and intellectually devoid female "reporters" make it unwatchable. ESPN went for the young population, forgetting that the older, professional, gainfully employed population is where the money is at.

Couldn't agree more. Perfectly said

[plenzmd1]

 

NHL's problem is all self inflicted

 

100% Agree

It will always be that way because it's a regional game. Living in the south has been a little eye opening on that end. I have friends that are big, big sports fans (season tickets to Saints, Pelicans, LSU football and baseball) and they couldn't name 10 hockey players. It's not one guy either. A guy I work with played for the Bruins and does "Hockey Night in New Orleans." It really is a bunch of guys drinking beer and he explains the game to the guys. They still call it halftime. There is a large portion of the country that is like his. People didn't grow up with the game and no one played the game. The closest rink is in on the other side of Baton Rouge (an hour plus). ESPN hasn't cared about hockey for the same reason that it doesn't care about NASCAR. They are regional, niche sports. They pour their energy into the NFL, college football and the NBA (with some baseball) because it hits the most people.

I agree to a point, but to be relegated below soccer and women college hoops is a new low, even for the NHL.

 

Remember about 20 years ago when SI was calling the death the NBA and new king would be the NHL. Then Bettman comes in and insists that his game is great when 50% of the goals seem to be scored on accident.

 

If this purge of the hockey talent, plus the recent ratings for the playoffs does not wake Gary up, nothing will. Freaking Buffalo highest-rated market for the hockey playoffs

Edited April 26, 2017 by plenzmd1

[Royale with Cheese]

 

Yup. Maybe TNT?

I can honestly see it going to Showtime or HBO....

[4_kidd_4]

Take note, NFL.

 

Times are changing. People aren't blindly forking over cash for hype anymore.

[Chuck Wagon]

 

100% Agree

I agree to a point, but to be relegated below soccer and women college hoops is a new low, even for the NHL.

 

Remember about 20 years ago when SI was calling the death the NBA and new king would be the NHL. Then Bettman comes in and insists that his game is great when 50% of the goals seem to be scored on accident.

 

If this purge of the hockey talent, plus the recent ratings for the playoffs does not wake Gary up, nothing will. Freaking Buffalo highest-rated market for the hockey playoffs

 

 

The lockouts murdered the NHL with casual fans. Basically just as the NBA cleaned up it's act, became a little less "urban" and brought in new marketable guys headlined by Lebron and company the NHL sat out a season. I don't think the interest with casual fans ever recovered.

[plenzmd1]

I can honestly see it going to Showtime or HBO....

I dont know about that...DTV better not lose the NFL, cause i will cancel in a heartbeat. ESPN loses the NFL, they might as well shut down to and go back to pre 1985 size, cause at that point I will join the cord-cutting revolution too.

 

Weird, cause i never watch the MNF games anyway live...always the next morning which i guess i could do online with Gamepass

[NewEra]

I went to HS and was friends with Elle Duncan(haven't stayed it touch after graduation)...she's a morning anchor who just joined like a year ago. I would think she might be on the chopping block because of her time slot and she's a a newer one.

She's the worst morning anchor in memory to me. She's just awful. She's not very cute and she thinks she's funny, when she's really not. No offense, but I pray she gets the axe. Her show was usually just background noise but now I just put on something different Edited April 26, 2017 by NewEra

[Royale with Cheese]

I dont know about that...DTV better not lose the NFL, cause i will cancel in a heartbeat. ESPN loses the NFL, they might as well shut down to and go back to pre 1985 size, cause at that point I will join the cord-cutting revolution too.

 

Weird, cause i never watch the MNF games anyway live...always the next morning which i guess i could do online with Gamepass

I cut the cord with DTV and they keep calling me every few weeks to get me back. I'm saving like $130 a month without cable. I got a Roku now and it's great.

 

There's a bar about 10 miles away from me that's owned by a guy from Buffalo...he always puts the Bills game on the main screen. That'll be my new Bills watching spot.

[HansLanda]

A company poised to make a huge and long term disruption in Sports is the same one that started off selling books.

[Royale with Cheese]

She's the worst morning anchor in memory to me. She's just awful. She's not very cute and she thinks she's funny, when she's really not. No offense, but I pray she gets the axe. Her show was usually just background noise but now I just put on something different

When she was let go from a local radio morning show here in Atlanta....I read the online comments and most people were glad. I never really paid attention.

 

She's moved a lot in the last few years.

After the radio gig, she was a reporter for the local NBC affiliate. Then soon moved to NESN covering the Red Sox. Then soon after to ESPN. All this is like in the last 5 or so years.

 

She used to look different. She was thicker in HS and had to have a breast reduction because it was hurting her back. She also had really curly hair. I wish I could post a pic of her back then.

 

She went through a bad part of her life....her BF about 15years ago committed suicide. She was really in love with him and she went into deep depression from what I heard. We all hear this in small town Georgia.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Teeflebees

[Kirby Jackson]

 

100% Agree

I agree to a point, but to be relegated below soccer and women college hoops is a new low, even for the NHL.

 

Remember about 20 years ago when SI was calling the death the NBA and new king would be the NHL. Then Bettman comes in and insists that his game is great when 50% of the goals seem to be scored on accident.

 

If this purge of the hockey talent, plus the recent ratings for the playoffs does not wake Gary up, nothing will. Freaking Buffalo highest-rated market for the hockey playoffs

Soccer is a weird one to me. I casually watch what's going on overseas but don't follow the MLS. It kind of became the ironic hipster thing and caught on. Now it is pretty big in the US and, like hockey, has its own fan base. I think that it is certainly on the up but will never rival the NFL, NBA or MLB. I don't know what to think of it.

 

Women's basketball just does nothing for me. I'm not saying that to be sexist. I actually enjoy women's soccer, track, swimming and gymnastics. I would rather watch a men's high school game as it's just a higher level of play (and way higher level of athleticism).

 

Bettman has done a terrible job but the ceiling for the NHL was always limited. Connor McDavid can never be LeBron James or Tom Brady. That isn't to say that he can't be historically as great. He just can't have the appeal and marketability. He doesn't reach everyone. As great as Crosby is, if you were to give sports fans a quiz where you showed the face and they needed to name the athlete he would fall behind every QB, dozens of NBA players and a bunch of other athletes. He may not be one of the 100 most recognizable athletes in the US (and that isn't hyperbole).

 

What the NHL should do is concentrate on youth development. That is what soccer did and 15 years later you are seeing a generation of fans in this country. They need to make the game more accessible even in markets where it is popular. They need to continue to grow abroad as well.

 

Lastly, they need their own night of the week even if it isn't a big revenue generator. They should beg ESPN to give them the "Tuesday Night Game of the Week" or something. It should feature the stars and the big market teams. They need to develop story lines. These are millenials whose attention they want to capture. David Stern modeled the NBA after Disney World. He wanted stars and characters. The NHL needs to tell stories. They are awful at that.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Kirby Jackson