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The Rise and Fall of ESPN (2 Viewers)

Ramblin Wreck said:
Posted in the Clay Travis thread too but Mike Soltys, who is a VP at ESPN, is tweeting the number of boob references that Clay Travis makes on the radio this morning.

Yes, a VP at ESPN has Squissy level thin skin and is choosing to listen to Clay Travis over his own networks programming, giving Travis free advertising, whining about boobs when his own company produces ESPN the Body magazine, and totally embarrassing himself online.  

It's quite easy to see why this company keeps screwing things up.
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Who would have thought the left would become such prudish Puritans

 
culdeus said:
I'm curious what people think ESPN should fill their programming with.  If you remove "Hot Takes Served Fresh Daily" and also realize that SportsCenter is an obsolete product you have to fill it back in with something.   What would you have them do?  30 for 30 all day?  Get the H&G property brothers to sell NFL players homes?  Fishing with TO? What?
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2 words... Disc Golf...

 
culdeus said:
I'm curious what people think ESPN should fill their programming with.  If you remove "Hot Takes Served Fresh Daily" and also realize that SportsCenter is an obsolete product you have to fill it back in with something.   What would you have them do?  30 for 30 all day?  Get the H&G property brothers to sell NFL players homes?  Fishing with TO? What?
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More analysis type shows (tape breakdowns, stat discussion, etc).  More fantasy sports programming.

We have networks dedicated to a single sport that put out better content than ESPN which has access to all of these sports at once.  It behooves these sports that ESPN stays successful (for rights fees), so I'm sure they'd be willing to help them out with some better programming.

I also think it makes sense to eliminate ESPNU except as a gameday alternate and show some of that daily programming on ESPN and ESPN2.

 
parasaurolophus said:
They need more fantasy sports programming for sure. They also should have a regional time block. I am in Wisconsin. I would definitely tune in to hear and see highlights of local teams. 

You dont need a sideline reporter to be at every event and have a camera crew. Just get the videos submitted. Tell the schools you need 6 highlights from the event and it needs to be edited together with commentary. You also need a box score and one quote from each coach. You tell them if the video footage is edited properly, it will be aired. If the commentary is good, it will be used. If it isnt good, then the regional host will do the commentary. Promise to give one person a job at the end of every season and whatever school he comes from a grant and/or a scholarship to award. Easily an hour a day there. 

You could also have premium content that you need to be a member to watch. I am not talking about a paid site. It would be free, but you could keep it exclusive. You could put footage of college practices on there. The people that watch this would basically give you a show. How cool would it be after the dust settles on bowl season to see practice footage of a play followed by the real footage? Your team gets a pick six in a big game and then there is corresponding practice footage where the scout team was running plays they thought the other team would run and the pass is picked off by the same guy in practice? Your premium content viewers would give you this road map to easily edit this. the comments section would be filled with stuff like this...

Wetbutt23: At 37:40 in this clip they are practicing the exact play they got the pick six against NC!

Katieperrysbootiehole: At 48:23 you can see where they practice the pick play that scored against FSU!

You see all these stupid next gen stats these days. Well what bout some actual cool stats? How about showing the data and decision making involved with shifting the infield one way and shifting the outfield another? The best part about this is you dont need ex-players. Overpaid windbags. 

There is a nation of kids that dont give a crap about production quality as they watch youtube all the time and they don't really care what some old defensive lineman has to say nor do they believe that he is some kind of authority(which lets be honest they often dont know squat) since they are used to a mindset of "I can just google it." Might as well embrace it and use it. 
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This post has better original content than most ESPN shows

 
They'll start showing e-games maybe to tap into the younger demographic. Less opinion or highlights in favor of Twitch style sports and their leagues. 

 
I still watch ESPN but not as much as I used to.

I'd say my active watching has dropped off mainly because as I get older I care less about non-football sports. Baseball isn't interesting enough to me anymore unless my team is thick in a title hunt. Even then just checking the score on the web is fine.  NBA I'm fine just getting the scores though may tune in for a game itself. College I just watch games, don't really follow highlights. Hockey they don't cover enough now to bother tuning in though I might have tuned for it. Now I go over to NHL Network or NBC Sports for that.

I still watch most any NFL show, though I don't watch fantasy shows as much. NFL Live I'll always tune in if I see it's on.  NFL Network has probably cut into my ESPN viewing.

I don't watch Sports Center much and haven't for years now.  Most of my sports news comes from the web.  I am generally fine just knowing the scores and stats and finishing catching up on news in 5 minutes instead of an hour. And if I want the video I'll click on it.

The only thing that has probably actively turned me away from viewing ESPN are the shows like First Take. I have no interest in them at all, and they are on all the sports networks now. In the past I might have left on something I didn't care about greatly like Around the Horn, but shows like First Take cause me to turn it even when the TV is just background noise.

 
TLEF316 said:
At the end of the day, the rise of twitter and other instant access platforms probably killed any chance of ESPN staying at their previous level.

But i just don't know who actually DOES enjoy their current program. I mean....are college students and others in their early-mid 20's just DYING to watch First Take every day? Again, my brothers are both younger than me (29 and 24) and neither one of them can stand that garbage either. And as far as I know, everyone they knew feels generally the same way.

It just sort of seems like they cast aside what used to be their core audience and came up with new ideas that NOBODY seems to like.

Their strategy is basically "Lets have people say dumb stuff so people click on our website". That's REALLY sad for an organization that is supposed to be (or at least used to be)  the top journalistic voice in their field.
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The Athletic seems to be thriving and that's a business model where people pay to READ long sports articles.  I don't disagree Twitter/YouTube has some to do with it, but The Athletic suggests there is a still a very strong market for good sports content if done correctly.

 
One of the best things about living on the West Coast is it makes it easy to avoid studio shows on sports networks.  They're broadcast when I'm at work.  The only time I ever stumbled upon SC6 was during a business trip this summer.  They were talking about possible off-season destinations for Carmelo Anthony.  Must have been a slow day.

There a lot of ideas about what ESPN _should_ be broadcasting but I don't think many would have a better ratings/cost ratio than what they're doing now.  Studio shows are cheap to pump out on a day to day basis, which is why there are so many of them on cable.

 
tjnc09 said:
The Athletic seems to be thriving and that's a business model where people pay to READ long sports articles.  I don't disagree Twitter/YouTube has some to do with it, but The Athletic suggests there is a still a very strong market for good sports content if done correctly.
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I'm a big fan of long-form articles on almost any subject but I think the jury is still out on the success of outlets like The Athletic, Sports on Earth, The Ringer, etc.  They're helped now by the high number of seasoned, out of work journalists who can provide articles.  Subscriptions for premium web content aren't getting any easier to sell than cable carriage.

 
ChopMeat said:
Don't journalists have a responsibility to speaking out? 
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No

People in general just want sports coverage when they tune into sports media, and to leave everything else (including opinions, etc) out. Sports media outlets like ESPN editorialize and spin almost everything these days to stay relevant, and people are getting sick of it.

 
Eephus said:
I'm a big fan of long-form articles on almost any subject but I think the jury is still out on the success of outlets like The Athletic, Sports on Earth, The Ringer, etc.  They're helped now by the high number of seasoned, out of work journalists who can provide articles.  Subscriptions for premium web content aren't getting any easier to sell than cable carriage.
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Solid point.  I know they were hyping all of the new The Athletic sales for the Bay Area introduction so I could easily be blinded by that.  Championship teams like the Warriors will also garner a lot of attention whereas areas like Detroit not so much.  

 
I don't watch nearly as much because of family,  business and life.  Not necessarily anything they've done.  Ive enjoyed the 6 when I did catch it; I think they work well together. 

But whoever said it above is right,  it's not necessary viewing.  There isn't a game,  important highlight,  injury or important story I haven't seen or read about or gotten a notification on my phone from the 19 things that give me notifications for these things.  

As for their programming...... I know what I would love... some kind of mashup of MS3000 and experts talking over game tape of an entire game in various sports.  Take me inside the thinking of the players and coaches in football,  baseball,  hockey...etc. I'd enjoy that. 

 
Yankee23Fan said:
As for their programming...... I know what I would love... some kind of mashup of MS3000 and experts talking over game tape of an entire game in various sports.  Take me inside the thinking of the players and coaches in football,  baseball,  hockey...etc. I'd enjoy that. 
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I always DVR the "coaches film room" feed of the National Championship game and try to watch it within a few days of the actual game.

And every year, I make it about 10 mins being really intrigued, and then I'm back to my phone treating it like background noise.

 
tjnc09 said:
I do think a lot of people simply want sports things to only be about sports.  
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They've never been only about sports.  Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Curt Flood, etc are some of the most revered names in the history of sport.  They didn't 'stick to sports.' :shrug:  

 
TripItUp said:
why is it better?
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On these things I think it just comes down to.the interface you prefer. I like layout of theScore's app a lot. 

Also they have a lot more soccer content and it's organized in a much more logical manner. If you wanted to find the current WCQ standings in South America on the ESPN app, I imagine it'd be a lot more difficult than finding that same info on the score. 

 
rodg12 said:
They've never been only about sports.  Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Curt Flood, etc are some of the most revered names in the history of sport.  They didn't 'stick to sports.' :shrug:  
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So what % of all the athletes of the past 75 years does that list contain? The majority do and it's what the majority of fans prefer. 

 
GoBirds said:
So what % of all the athletes of the past 75 years does that list contain? The majority do and it's what the majority of fans prefer. 
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The number of athletes that have spoken about religion is super, super high.  How many thank God or the Lord after winning?

ETA:  Scooped by Ramsay!!!

ETA2:  What percentage do you think that speak about charitable endeavors?  That's not sports-related most of the time.  Just face it, you only want them to 'stick to sports' when they talk about something you disagree with or that makes you uncomfortable.

 
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rodg12 said:
The number of athletes that have spoken about religion is super, super high.  How many thank God or the Lord after winning?

ETA:  Scooped by Ramsay!!!
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Putting a Russell Wilson type thanking the Lord in the same conversation as a D level journalist like Jemelle Hill and her ignorance is not in the same ballpark but nice try.

 
rodg12 said:
They've never been only about sports.  Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Curt Flood, etc are some of the most revered names in the history of sport.  They didn't 'stick to sports.' :shrug:  
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People have a million different things at their disposal today to consume their time as alternatives.  

The coverage then was also a fraction of what it is today.

 
tjnc09 said:
People have a million different things at their disposal today to consume their time as alternatives.  

The coverage then was also a fraction of what it is today.
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You admonishing Steve Kerr for not sticking to sports?  Gregg Popovich?

Let me see the links in the basketball thread to you calling them out...

 
GoBirds said:
So what % of all the athletes of the past 75 years does that list contain? The majority do and it's what the majority of fans prefer. 
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What majority of fans are you referring to? Old bitter white dudes? I agree. That's about it. 

 
rodg12 said:
You said those people were all from olden times and not relevant.  Kerr and Popovich didn't stick to sports last season.
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I didn't say they weren't relevant.  It was a different era for sports fans.

I don't think people really want to hear their political opinions either.  

 
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