I follow U.S. sports and sports hot-takeism in a scattershot fashion, but it
just seems like teams and companies covering the sports teams are overextended
financially and eating their own proverbial tales.
But this doesn't seem like a complete correction, or even an overcorrection,
given big deals extended to various football announcers and *some* of the
talking heads in this space. As for the talking heads, I'd be more forgiving
if the coverage was much more about the games and less about who said what
about whom.
And in the actual playing space, the arms race in both player salaries and
television/streaming rights deals strikes this observer as leading to a
scenario where an increasingly shrinking number of subscribers will be paying
more and more for product that is of inconsistent quality.
But absent a pay-per-view only Super Bowl or similar measure, I think this will
continue for some time. Because people seem to love watching a lot of lousy
sports games and paying top dollar for it.
Maybe I'd feel differently if my only experience in a four-sport TV market has
been Washington, D.C.
Best,David
On Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 07:34:56 PM PDT, PGage <[email protected]> wrote:
We know that Disney, like other media companies, is determined to cut costs.
But some of the big names involved here suggest to me more than just
economizing.
First, ESPN in particular is always likely to fire employees who threaten to
become bigger than the brand.
Second, this kind of feels in part like the cost of over paying for their MNF
talent (and of course you can see the argument that, whatever the future of
ESPN, the most important jewel in their crown will be a vibrant NFL foothold.)
Third, I wonder if they were trying to hide ongoing dissatisfaction with high
profile talent under the fig leaf of budget cutting. Here I am thinking of Jeff
Van Gundy. JVG’s act has gotten a bit frayed, and lots of NBA fans love to bash
him, but he remained a real signature presence, and was refreshing in that he
was willing to challenge NBA rules and initiatives. Even when his ideas were
absurd, it was nice to have a presence that punctured the almost fascist
devotion to PR that so often characterizes the Association. I wonder if someone
highly placed in the NBA let it be know that if ESPN was looking to cut talent
costs they would not be displeased if they started with JVG.
On Fri, 30 Jun 2023 at 11:47 AM Brad Beam <[email protected]> wrote:
Some 20 on-air names have been let go from da Woildwide Leader….
https://nypost.com/2023/06/30/max-kellerman-keyshawn-johnson-laid-off-as-espn-firings-continue/
Sent from my iPhone
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