Espn. What happened? | The Boneyard

Espn. What happened?

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JB75

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Seriously, I know it’s been going on for a couple years now but what the hell happened to ESPN ? I’m a big Green Bay fan and I tried to get some nice highlights after the big win last night and all I got was over analyzing and a bunch of weird back view camera angle mini highlights and a garbage post game interview from mike McCarthy. Does anyone even watch SportsCenter anymore now? I mean besides the 30 for 30s and live games and a little bit of SVP sprinkled in late night- what’s the point of even watching ESPN anymore? And by the way, the announcers in this Jets game are horrible - ESPN can’t do better than this ? Remember the days when after a long Sunday of NFL games watching “NFL prime time “ with Boomer and Tom Jackson was a must ? this is a joke. Wow , espn has fallen off. Ok I’m done. Just had to vent. Lol
 
Politics happened. People like Jemele Hill had to start politicizing everything. There’s a time and place for everything but on a sports news television show is not the place. That and the over coverage of things like Stephen Curry and kneeling for the anthem.
 
PowerfulLegitimateBichonfrise-small.gif
 
JimOllie said:
Politics happened. People like Jemele Hill had to start politicizing everything. There’s a time and place for everything but on a sports news television show is not the place. That and the over coverage of things like Stephen Curry and kneeling for the anthem.
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This has nothing to do with politics. SC has not shown proper sports highlights in nearly a decade now.
 
Sports coverage is expensive, because people want to know what actually happened. Political talk and idle chatter and gossip is cheap, because it needs no connection to reality, only glib speakers and fertile imaginations. ESPN went for cheap content.
 
So basically espn is like tmz now. They are Just trying to put everyone’s business on blast for the quick easy viewership. It’s funny because I’m pretty sure the younger audience (under 25) doesn’t really watch SportsCenter and I know damn well my demographic(ages 30-50) Is sick of the “new” espn, and people over 60 didn’t really care about ESPN as much as my generation did- so why wouldn’t they stick with their bread and butter and cater to their main age group? Dumb.
 
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I understand people can now get thier highlights on their phone in an instant or any other way but sometimes you just want to sit down after a long day and watch some damn highlights which covers everything that happened in sports for that day. Unreal.
 
It has everything to do with politics. Folks want sports, and to be able to have sports without politics.
ESPN tried to be cool by encouraging the politics piece and mixing it in. Glad it's backfiring.

As the OP said: "besides the 30 for 30s and live games and a little bit of SVP sprinkled in late night- what’s the point of even watching ESPN anymore?"
Answer: there isn't any.

Although...I do have to say, even as a Sox fan, I don't think A-Rod sucks at announcing.
 
I agree , as a Sox fan, pains me to say it- but a rod is not bad. Only good announcer left in my opinion is jim nantz, and maybe Gus johnson( makes everything sound exciting ) and maybe joe buck. All the great ones are no longer. musburger , costas, enberg. Al Michaels good too. But not many left
 
JB75 said:
It’s almost like MTV now. they used to show videos and a couple reality shows - which was great . now they don’t show any videos at all anymore. Comical
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It's exactly like MTV in that when you have access to the internet to watch your music video or your sports highlights you don't have to wait through all the content you don't care about. The internet killed ESPN and MTV both.
 
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JB75 said:
I agree , as a Sox fan, pains me to say it- but a rod is not bad. Only good announcer left in my opinion is jim nantz, and maybe Gus johnson( makes everything sound exciting ) and maybe joe buck. All the great ones are no longer. musburger , costas, enberg. Al Michaels good too. But not many left
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I absolutely love arod.

I think he’s even better in studio.

He’s the star of Sunday night Baseball. They need to upgrade that team.
 
the Q said:
I absolutely love arod.

I think he’s even better in studio.

He’s the star of Sunday night Baseball. They need to upgrade that team.
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Yep. It's weird. I was there when Dempster drilled him and cheered my arse off at that with the rest of the Fenway faithful. (I think he ended up something like 3 for 4 with a gomer that night?)
Now, he's not only a good announcer, with a ton of knowledge, he doesn't even seem like a bad dude either.
 
Lol. True I know this has been going on with espn for years but god for some reason it really struck me last night. I was waiting to watch the espn intro and then hear svp say “ok let’s get right to the highlights!” That’s all I wanted. Don’t know why It finally dawned on me last night - I knew ESPN has been falling off for a while now but yesterday really seemed to bring that to the forefront
 
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Yes we can throw this thread into the cesspool but I figured everyone on here is a sports fan so to watch the demise of ESPN must be at least a tad bit annoying and painful because we knew what it was. When espn was everything. Just sad that’s all.
 
JB75 said:
Yes we can throw this thread into the cesspool but I figured everyone on here is a sports fan so to watch the demise of ESPN must be at least a tad bit annoying and painful because we knew what it was. When espn was everything. Just sad that’s all.
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JB, its ok to let the thread breathe sometimes bro.
 
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pj said:
Sports coverage is expensive, because people want to know what actually happened. Political talk and idle chatter and gossip is cheap, because it needs no connection to reality, only glib speakers and fertile imaginations. ESPN went for cheap content.
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ESPN lost over 13 million subscribers over 6 years, as of 9/15/2017, when the following article was written.

ESPN has lost nearly 13 million subscribers in 6 years, but it is not as bad as it sounds

The key takeaway from the article? "But that loss in revenue is due to cordcutting. Politics and "bad programming" are playing a far-less important role."
 
The share of the population frustrated by ESPN's "politics" doesn't have demography on their side. They're overwhelmingly older, and as such will represent less and less of ESPN's potential customer base going forward.

I'm sorry that these people are upset, but they would do well to realize that any struggles ESPN faces going forward are environmental (cord-cutting) and structural (show lineup construction), rather then a response to their boycott campaign.
 
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Stainmaster said:
The share of the population frustrated by ESPN's "politics" doesn't have demography on their side. They're overwhelmingly older, and as such will represent less and less of ESPN's potential customer base going forward.

I'm sorry that these people are upset, but they would do well to realize that any struggles ESPN faces going forward are environmental (cord-cutting) and structural (show lineup construction), rather then a response to their boycott campaign.
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ESPN doesn't really agree. They are getting out of the politics game.

ESPN’s New Boss Changes Course, in Step With the N.F.L.

When football fans tune in to see the Los Angeles Rams play the Oakland Raiders on ESPN today, they will be greeted by a brand new “Monday Night Football” crew. After Jon Gruden left to return to coaching, ESPN executives opted for a radical makeover, selecting Joe Tessitore and Jason Witten as the lead announcers.

This is just one of the many high-visibility changes to take place at ESPN since Jimmy Pitaro was named the company’s president in March. Along with “resetting” (his word) the network’s relationship with the N.F.L., Pitaro has overseen a rebuilding of ESPN’s daytime lineup and the return of “SportsCenter” to its past prominence. …

His ESPN is a network in lock step with the N.F.L., still the most popular sports league in the country. It is one that is swiftly retreating from offering commentary on political and social issues, and re-establishing the prominence of bread-and-butter highlights. It is a vision that raises questions about the company’s commitment to hard-hitting investigative journalism, and whether it is even possible to be a down-the-middle sports network anymore. …

[ESPN personnel interviewed] spoke carefully. Fulsome praise for Pitaro could be seen as criticism of his predecessor, John Skipper; outlining, or praising, the major changes he has undertaken by definition means admitting major changes were necessary. …

Jemele Hill, who was suspended by ESPN for suggesting fans boycott sponsors of the Cowboys last fall, is leaving the company. Michelle Beadle, an outspoken critic of how the N.F.L. handles domestic violence cases, was removed as one of the three hosts of the uneven morning show “Get Up.” The change came one day after Beadle said she doesn’t watch football as part of a segment about Urban Meyer.
And as part of a shake-up of daytime programming,

“SportsNation” — which was co-hosted by one of ESPN’s most outspoken on-air personalities on social issues, LZ Granderson — was canceled and “High Noon,” a new show hosted by Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre, who delight in discussing issues of race and politics, was reduced from 60 minutes to 30 and had its time slot changed.

All told, that is five of ESPN’s strongest voices on the vexing intersection of sports, politics, race — a conversation that Skipper had encouraged — who won’t be seen speaking about these topics as much, or at all, this football season.
 
Scrutiner said:
ESPN lost over 13 million subscribers over 6 years, as of 9/15/2017, when the following article was written.

ESPN has lost nearly 13 million subscribers in 6 years, but it is not as bad as it sounds

The key takeaway from the article? "But that loss in revenue is due to cordcutting. Politics and "bad programming" are playing a far-less important role."
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Cord-cutting takes away cable subscribers from all cable networks. It doesn't explain why ESPN subscribers are down 12% in a period when other sports networks increased subscribers:
 

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intlzncster said:
ESPN doesn't really agree. They are getting out of the politics game.

ESPN’s New Boss Changes Course, in Step With the N.F.L.

When football fans tune in to see the Los Angeles Rams play the Oakland Raiders on ESPN today, they will be greeted by a brand new “Monday Night Football” crew. After Jon Gruden left to return to coaching, ESPN executives opted for a radical makeover, selecting Joe Tessitore and Jason Witten as the lead announcers.

This is just one of the many high-visibility changes to take place at ESPN since Jimmy Pitaro was named the company’s president in March. Along with “resetting” (his word) the network’s relationship with the N.F.L., Pitaro has overseen a rebuilding of ESPN’s daytime lineup and the return of “SportsCenter” to its past prominence. …

His ESPN is a network in lock step with the N.F.L., still the most popular sports league in the country. It is one that is swiftly retreating from offering commentary on political and social issues, and re-establishing the prominence of bread-and-butter highlights. It is a vision that raises questions about the company’s commitment to hard-hitting investigative journalism, and whether it is even possible to be a down-the-middle sports network anymore. …

[ESPN personnel interviewed] spoke carefully. Fulsome praise for Pitaro could be seen as criticism of his predecessor, John Skipper; outlining, or praising, the major changes he has undertaken by definition means admitting major changes were necessary. …

Jemele Hill, who was suspended by ESPN for suggesting fans boycott sponsors of the Cowboys last fall, is leaving the company. Michelle Beadle, an outspoken critic of how the N.F.L. handles domestic violence cases, was removed as one of the three hosts of the uneven morning show “Get Up.” The change came one day after Beadle said she doesn’t watch football as part of a segment about Urban Meyer.
And as part of a shake-up of daytime programming,

“SportsNation” — which was co-hosted by one of ESPN’s most outspoken on-air personalities on social issues, LZ Granderson — was canceled and “High Noon,” a new show hosted by Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre, who delight in discussing issues of race and politics, was reduced from 60 minutes to 30 and had its time slot changed.

All told, that is five of ESPN’s strongest voices on the vexing intersection of sports, politics, race — a conversation that Skipper had encouraged — who won’t be seen speaking about these topics as much, or at all, this football season.
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If this is a question of shuffling around individual shows, good for them. I have no problem going on record that caving to irrationally angry boomers when shaping the entire image of one's network is a terrible long-term strategy.
 
Overpaying for sports to monopolize the market coupled with cord cutting hurt profits. In order to recoup, ESPN fired high priced talent and decided to become "more topical." There already is a ton of political content on cable people who want that aren't going to ESPN for it. ESPN's core customers didn't want to be force fed political content. It was the "New Coke" marketing move of cable TV.

Just my take.
 
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ESPN should learn from history
The very dramatic NFL highlight shows was a large part in elevating that league into to colossus it has become. NFL films and the great voice of the late John Facenda ( the voice of God) was possibly the greatest PR coup in history.
ESPN is run by Disney executives. Do they really understand their audience?
 
OkaForPrez said:
It's exactly like MTV in that when you have access to the internet to watch your music video or your sports highlights you don't have to wait through all the content you don't care about. The internet killed ESPN and MTV both.
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This.

It’s all it is. Things change. The internet has changed the way information is consumed in such a huge and devastatingly fast changing way.

I lol at people who say “politics”

That’s a snowflakey excuse.
 
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