I do think this is just the beginning of ESPN, and other sports TV departments, drastically restructuring their salary costs. ESPN said as much in the announcement, that these cuts were part of a new salary philosophy that would also be informing future salary negotiations. Basic message here: when you send your agent to negotiate your next contract at ESPN, your reference should not be Aikman’s $90 Million, but Van Gundy’s pink slip.
The problem is that, at the same time ratings for linear TV are plummeting, and the cable model for ESPN unsustainable, live sports is becoming even more vital for the survival of linear TV. As a sports fan I would love it if the decline of linear TV meant draining sports of a big chunk of the excess money that has unbalanced traditional sporting values, but it seems that any sport whose live telecast can deliver reliable good to great ratings is actually going to be worth more to broadcast and cable networks in the future (at least as long as they survive). On Sun, 2 Jul 2023 at 8:32 PM 'David Bruggeman' via TVorNotTV < [email protected]> wrote: > 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 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/1113096032.899345.1688355154538%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/1113096032.899345.1688355154538%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYLnKHS1Q8k%2BaeOk1fkcYb3%2BKFv-XDVSvU%3DEbd122JGXJw%40mail.gmail.com.
