Frightening Numbers For ESPN

[whaler11]

How many more homes is ESPN in than FS1 and NBC Sports Network? (June 2016 edition)

Coast Atl linked to a Clay Travis article in another thread that this link is within.

Anything to cost Clay Travis clicks is worth doing so here is the direct link.

If these numbers are true my takeaways would be:

A: Ain't nobody getting a new network in any traditional sense.
B: ESPN is probably not going to be paying for anything in the near future
C: Fox's strategy of trying to beat ESPN by copying their exact business model is fairly insane

Seems we may be nearing a tipping point - I've always read people on line talk about CC - but now that you hear people talking about it in the office and in bars it seems to be picking up speed.

 

[Palatine]

ESPN? Is that the network that exclusive broadcasts women's softball?

 

[Doggie Style]

ESPN? Is that the network that exclusive broadcasts women's softball?

Holy crap, if I see one more softball game on ESPN when I'm surfing, I'm gonna shoot myself. Wtf..... Who watches that crap?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

How many more homes is ESPN in than FS1 and NBC Sports Network? (June 2016 edition)

Coast Atl linked to a Clay Travis article in another thread that this link is within.

Anything to cost Clay Travis clicks is worth doing so here is the direct link.

If these numbers are true my takeaways would be:

A: Ain't nobody getting a new network in any traditional sense.
B: ESPN is probably not going to be paying for anything in the near future
C: Fox's strategy of trying to beat ESPN by copying their exact business model is fairly insane

Seems we may be nearing a tipping point - I've always read people on line talk about CC - but now that you hear people talking about it in the office and in bars it seems to be picking up speed.

That is one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is conferences regaining control of their own content and disintermediating ESPN.

It is interesting that one of the biggest proponents of the wonderful "exposure" of being on ESPN for free is now saying that ESPN is in trouble.

 

[whaler11]

Holy crap, if I see one more softball game on ESPN when I'm surfing, I'm gonna shoot myself. Wtf..... Who watches that crap?

To me the Little League World Series is way worse for a bunch of reasons.

Anyway - I caught up with some ESPN employees this weekend - they told me the company has been treating the more senior people in their areas so poorly they can't come to any conclusion but they want them to quit and avoid long severance deals.

 

[whaler11]

That is one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is conferences regaining control of their own content and disintermediating ESPN.

It is interesting that one of the biggest proponents of the wonderful "exposure" of being on ESPN for free is now saying that ESPN is in trouble.

The exposure has value - that you continue to claim it doesn't is stupid. Also - nobody else ponied up any more... so the market set 'free'.

All the networks have same network issues here - FS1 lost 1 million homes too - they just don't have as many dollars committed and each home they lose is 15-20$ not $80 annually.

 

[billybud]

Holy crap, if I see one more softball game on ESPN when I'm surfing, I'm gonna shoot myself. Wtf..... Who watches that crap?

Exactly!

Why we need localized networks of interest.

We do watch women's softball down south...(our ladies will play next in the world series)....who wants to watch that hockey crap?

Some folks really like to watch soccer (it is an acquired taste), some lacrosse....some women's basketball...a diversified, streaming, lower cost net would allow customizable watching.

We kind of have a limited version of that now. I can stream many of my team's college games, women's volley ball and softball, soccer, etc. on ESPN3.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Exactly!

Why we need localized networks of interest.

We do watch women's softball down south...(our ladies will play next in the world series)....who wants to watch that hockey crap?

Some folks really like to watch soccer (it is an acquired taste), some lacrosse....some women's basketball...a diversified, streaming, lower cost net would allow customizable watching.

We kind of have a limited version of that now. I can stream many of my team's college games, women's volley ball and softball, soccer, etc. on ESPN3.

Who wants to watch hockey? There's the NHL, so I imagine many people. I didn't even know softball was a college sport. I thought it was just something fat guys over 40 do as an excuse to hang out with dudes and drink beer, kinda like bowling. I guess I can see why that would be popular down south.

 

[Stinger92860]

Who wants to watch hockey? There's the NHL, so I imagine many people. I didn't even know softball was a college sport. I thought it was just something fat guys over 40 do as an excuse to hang out with dudes and drink beer, kinda like bowling. I guess I can see why that would be popular down south.

I may have missed the sarcasm switch. Have you never seen fast pitch softball? After high school and college there was only fast pitch available as we were not quite good enough for minor league baseball. I played in leagues in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven. It's a lot more fun than slow pitch.

 

[billybud]

NHL? The NHL playoff game opposite the Alabama spring practice game lost the viewership race.

NHL may pull well in the northern tier, I reckon.

Softball, baseball...they are sports with certain southern followings.


Which is why I like the idea of geographic based networks that stream....Me? I love the FSU Women's NCAA Beach Volleyball team....growing up on beaches, many of us coastal Floridians played beach volleyball for years. Into my late 30's, for me

By the by....as I type this, the UNC-Maryland National Championship, Men's Lacrosse, is playing on ESPN...a great game so far.

 

[BlueHen]

Exactly!

Why we need localized networks of interest.

We do watch women's softball down south...(our ladies will play next in the world series)....who wants to watch that hockey crap?

Some folks really like to watch soccer (it is an acquired taste), some lacrosse....some women's basketball...a diversified, streaming, lower cost net would allow customizable watching.

We kind of have a limited version of that now. I can stream many of my team's college games, women's volley ball and softball, soccer, etc. on ESPN3.

That "hockey crap" is pretty popular in CT. Lots of CT high schools have teams. Some CT universities, like UConn, have teams as well. CT has also been represented very well on the last few US Olympic teams.

 

[billybud]

That "hockey crap" is pretty popular in CT. Lots of CT high schools have teams. Some CT universities, like UConn, have teams as well. CT has also been represented very well on the last few US Olympic teams.

Again..EXACTLY!!

Popular some places.....geographic relevance----localized watching via streamed nets.

Connecticut may love some hockey, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, etc...not so much.

Baseball is big in the south, west coast, and southwest....not so much in the mid west and northeast

(The ACC just set a record for putting 10 teams into the Regionals). It is an ACC sport of interest.

 

[sportsart]

NHL? The NHL playoff game opposite the Alabama spring practice game lost the viewership race.

NHL may pull well in the northern tier, I reckon.

Softball, baseball...they are sports with certain southern followings.


Which is why I like the idea of geographic based networks that stream....Me? I love the FSU Women's NCAA Beach Volleyball team....growing up on beaches, many of us coastal Floridians played beach volleyball for years. Into my late 30's, for me

By the by....as I type this, the UNC-Maryland National Championship, Men's Lacrosse, is playing on ESPN...a great game so far.

My guess is if the beach volleyball team was wearing gym shorts and tee shirts, you may have less interest. Just sayin'

 

[whaler11]

LOL that there isn't interest in baseball in the Northeast. College baseball sure but if you did a survey of favorite sports I imagine the NE would show higher on baseball than any other part of the country.

 

[Ldandy]

LOL that there isn't interest in baseball in the Northeast. College baseball sure but if you did a survey of favorite sports I imagine the NE would show higher on baseball than any other part of the country.

Rubbish. Nobody cares about baseball in The Northeast. Just the other day I heard a rumor that all of the top names were considering moving to the South. Prepare yourself for The Mobile Mets, Savannah Red Sox, and New Orleans Yankees. Done deal.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I would argue that the northeast cares more about baseball than any other region. The Yankees, Mets and Sox dominate interest here with the exception of the NFL, which pretty much kills it everywhere.

 

[whaler11]

I would argue that the northeast cares more about baseball than any other region. The Yankees, Mets and Sox dominate interest here with the exception of the NFL, which pretty much kills it everywhere.

WFAN pretty much spends more time on the Winter Meetings than they do everything but the NFL and NBA over the course of an entire year.

 

[whaler11]

I'm not a big hockey fan anymore - but the first period of Game 1 tonight has been pretty good and College Baseball pretty much gives you all the boredom of MLB with a quality of play that is 5 levels below the Atlantic League.

 

[billybud]

I would argue that the northeast cares more about baseball than any other region. The Yankees, Mets and Sox dominate interest here with the exception of the NFL, which pretty much kills it everywhere.

Yeah, football too...but maybe the NE doesn't care about college outside of basketball......I just didn't parse it carefully enough.

The south doesn't have a long tradition of pro ball...when I was a boy in Pensacola, the nearest football and baseball teams to the lower south were St. Louis and Washington. No Atlanta, Tampa, Jacksonville, or Miami...

So we built a tradition of following college ball....Instead of Lombardi we had the Bear, Shug Jordan, and the like.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

I'm shocked how much people down here in NC follow college baseball. I'm a huge baseball fan, but I don't watch anything but mlb.

 

[billybud]

You can walk around the south and count cap logos.....And you will see college logos. In the rare instance that you spot a pro ball logo, you can be assured that you have a transplant from Pittsburgh, Jersey, etc.

Southern and middle Florida is no longer "the south"...but north Florida is much the same.

 

[Dibbie]

Guess I'm the only one, but I love watching college softball and baseball. Perhaps because I have kids playing both in high school and them potentially playing in college is right around the corner. When ESPN isn't showing the games, I watch in BTN and SEC Network.

 

[HuskyHawk]

LOL that there isn't interest in baseball in the Northeast. College baseball sure but if you did a survey of favorite sports I imagine the NE would show higher on baseball than any other part of the country.

Even college baseball is popular. The #1 national offseason league for college baseball players is in Cape Cod. Baseball is just as big in New England as anywhere, we just can't play year-round.

 

[IMind]

Rubbish. Nobody cares about baseball in The Northeast. Just the other day I heard a rumor that all of the top names were considering moving to the South. Prepare yourself for The Mobile Mets, Savannah Red Sox, and New Orleans Yankees. Done deal.

That's only if Gary Bettman was commissioner of MLB.

 

[IMind]

Yeah, football too...but maybe the NE doesn't care about college outside of basketball.I just didn't parse it carefully enough.

The south doesn't have a long tradition of pro ball...when I was a boy in Pensacola, the nearest football and baseball teams to the lower south were St. Louis and Washington. No Atlanta, Tampa, Jacksonville, or Miami...

So we built a tradition of following college ball....Instead of Lombardi we had the Bear, Shug Jordan, and the like.

The NE loves college football it's just a very fragmented market. Large numbers of Notre Dame and PSU fans... followed by a ton of local colleges...
and other big national programs.

CT is actually a little more like the south or Penn State in the way we follow UConn sports than most markets up here. The whole state is pretty invested in UConn more so than say the rest of New England or New York. I'm not trying to over sell this, but I think there's a lot of potential in the market and a winning program in CT would draw well... especially if we got out of the G5.