O.T. ESPN Layoffs expected to start Wednesday...

[j66kicker]

...ahead of Disney's May 9 earnings report. Some on-air personalities are already taking pay cuts in order to stay. Some with multi-year contracts are being offered 50% buyouts. Expected up to 300 will go, including up to 70 on-air and online personalities. Wonder who in WBB will be affected....

Washington Post:
ESPN layoffs reportedly to begin this week, could be larger than expected

Sporting News:
'Bloodbath' in Bristol: ESPN could cut 70 people

 

[Vowelguy]

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

...ahead of Disney's May 9 earnings report. Some on-air personalities are already taking pay cuts in order to stay. Some with multi-year contracts are being offered 50% buyouts. Expected up to 300 will go, including up to 70 on-air and online personalities. Wonder who in WBB will be affected....

Washington Post:
ESPN layoffs reportedly to begin this week, could be larger than expected

Sporting News:
'Bloodbath' in Bristol: ESPN could cut 70 people

Bad news for anyone who enjoys" sports".

 

[BigBird]

ESPN has its weaknesses, but if it folds or cuts programming drastically, all it means is that the Fox empire grows. Fox is a worse version of ESPN.

 

[Sonny44]

I guess Doris saw this coming. Or did she have no revenue from them?

 

[OldAlum]

So what happened? Overexpansion? More competition? Are fewer people watching sports? Or did they tire of the sportstalk stuff and get their talk online (like here!)
I imagine it is a combination, but is there one main problem that lead to this?

 

[UcMiami]

So what happened? Overexpansion? More competition? Are fewer people watching sports? Or did they tire of the sportstalk stuff and get their talk online (like here!)
I imagine it is a combination, but is there one main problem that lead to this?

Over-bidding for sports content primarily - their NFL contract is terrible - they pay almost 2x anyone else per game broadcast and they get the dregs of the games. And they have done the same kind of thing for other 'properties' often bidding against themselves. Between that and an explosion of competition that has diluted the market for every broadcaster it isn't a pretty picture.

And it is a standard mistake with corporations as they grow rapidly - thinking the growth rate is never going to stop and getting badly over-extended.

 

[Orangutan]

So what happened? Overexpansion? More competition? Are fewer people watching sports? Or did they tire of the sportstalk stuff and get their talk online (like here!)
I imagine it is a combination, but is there one main problem that lead to this?

Rights fees are very high but their subscriber base is decreasing. From the Sporting news article:

 

[CL82]

Since ESPN is in large part responsible for our current conference woes, it is tough to feel sorry for it institutionally. That said feel bad for anyone whose job may be a risk due to the poor management decisions.

 

[noirwestern]

Maybe a lot more of this instead of

the usual bloviators would have been beneficial to the bottom line?

 

[Vowelguy]

So what happened?

Cord cutting.
ESPN charges cable companies the highest fees. (ESPN = $7 / subscriber. Fox News = $1.50. TBS = <$1.)
When that number was on the rise, ESPN was making $ hand over fist. But now subscribers are shrinking, and thus ESPN is losing a bigger chunk of revenue than others.
Many contracts were negotiated in the days when revenues were booming.

 

[MilfordHusky]

When I watch games in almost any sport, there are too many announcers/reporters. NBC football games include Michaels and Collingsworth plus Costas, Patrick, Harrison, and Dungee. Both Fox and CBS have studio crews of five. All of those could manage 30% cuts without appreciable loss of analysis or content.

 

[j66kicker]

So what happened? Overexpansion? More competition? Are fewer people watching sports? Or did they tire of the sportstalk stuff and get their talk online (like here!)
I imagine it is a combination, but is there one main problem that lead to this?

ESPN's business model has allowed them to "double-dip" - they get the traditional advertising revenue plus cable subscriber fees. This has allowed them to outbid other networks for premium content.

But many of those subscriber fees are from subscribers who couldn't care less if they had ESPN in their package - it just came with the package. Now, with unbundling and cord-cutting, a lot of those subscribers who don't need ESPN are not forced to buy it, so they've been losing subscribers by the millions. Technology and regulatory changes will just accelerate this trend. Meanwhile ESPN is stuck with multi-year content contracts they overpaid for.

ESPN will figure out a way to survive. Their on-air and online content is WAY more robust than anyone else's, and they are still the dominant player. But the double-dipping gravy train is slowing down, and it's moving closer to a level playing field.

 

[noirwestern]

Guess I'm not a real sportsguy. I've never understood how they managed to stay afloat for this long after they pulled an MTV and made actual sports a sideline to the business of promoting sports, "personalities". They slowly morphed into AM radio with visuals. I mean, who needs to pay fifty bucks a month for the privilege of hearing some loud, large headed, overfed doofus explain it all to them when they can mosey down to any bar in the country, pull up a stool and get the same show for nothing?

 

[j66kicker]

Guess I'm not a real sportsguy. I've never understood how they managed to stay afloat for this long after they pulled an MTV and made actual sports a sideline to the business of promoting sports, "personalities". They slowly morphed into AM radio with visuals. I mean, who needs to pay fifty bucks a month for the privilege of hearing some loud, large headed, overfed doofus explain it all to them when they can mosey down to any bar in the country, pull up a stool and get the same show for nothing?

Well, it's about 7 bucks a month - about the price of one beer at that bar, depending on where you live.

 

[Paesano]

Hopefully it will be the Syracuse mafia that gets axed...

 

[triaddukefan]

Hopefully it will be the Syracuse mafia that gets axed...

You'll be pressing the button on the left

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I just have to say - after reading the article - that replacing Chris Berman (that I didn't like) with Samantha Ponder (that I never heard of) on their football show sounds like an attempt at appealing to a new demographic.

But sadly, I don't know how that is going to work out - I think there are a lot of sports fans who care about the events and not the social media stuff, and the "cutsie" stuff and the endless talking heads. We shall all see, I suppose.

 

[jimazee]

Well, it's about 7 bucks a month - about the price of one beer at that bar, depending on where you live.

I recall the days of guys like Vince Lombardi, Mike Ditka, Willis Reed (and UConn CPTV) and even the $5 beer(!?) when most games I cared about were available over the air for free without endless panels of pregame/post game BS. To me the cost/hassle avoidance is a +-$150 monthly TV package for "200+ stations"...that I don't watch...and dealing with crappy customer service and ever rising prices and gimmicks.

Butt I'm old and ornery

 

[Wbbfan1]

Watched maybe 15-25 minutes of last nights ESPN NFL Mock Draft Show. Watched it while flipping channels to avoid commercials. Each Draft pick I saw, a different ESPN Personality came down to announce the pick. While watching that, I thought was it necessary to have a different personality to announce the pick and this is where ESPN can make personnel cuts. Obviously I don't know what other job responsibilities these personalities have. ESPN must have a large staff dedicated to research that eventually the on air personalities use during game or other Sports shows.

I've read some ESPN personalities are willing to take substantial pay cuts to keep their job and be able to stay on the air.

I'm wondering if ESPN could come up with a Subscription Service that those that viewers that no longer have cable would be willing to pay for. If ESPN had a subscription service, lets say at $10-$20 a month, I'd probably drop my cable TV service in a heart beat. I end up watching many of the TV shows that I regularly watch on line at a different time then originally aired.

Does anyone know if you don't have Cable TV Service, but have Cable Internet service, can you still access ESPN3?

 

[huskyrob1]

Rights fees are very high but their subscriber base is decreasing. From the Sporting news article:

View attachment 21948

If they had realized when they needed to, that the NYC to Boston corridor was critical to their subscriber base, maybe trashing UCONN football and ignoring the UCONN brand in basketball, might not have been done with such zeal in conference realignment, and ignoring multiple NC's in men's and women's basketball, not approaching Geno or JC to do NBA games during the off season, etc. Whatever they could have done to help UCONN'S brand they refused to do and instead helped their precious ACC. I hope the whole Bristol complex burns down.

 

[Vowelguy]

jamesmiller‏Verified account @JimMiller 21m21 minutes ago
Hearing now from several @espn employees who, despite advanced word, are "in shock" and "frozen." This is an awful day for all in Bristol.

12 replies28 retweets21 likes

 

[mbr33ct]

The AAC conference didn't stop UConn from recruiting top players...maybe this will!

 

[Orangutan]

First name I've seen -

 

[Vowelguy]

http://deadspin.com/a-running-list-...source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow