This video is not new, but I figured this would find a receptive audience here:
The Decline of ESPN...What Happened?
- Thread starter RezClone
- Start date
Same as many companies out there. Let the short term profits dictate how to run the business and got away from the formula that made them what they were. They saw that they made more money from a few leagues and college conferences and started dropping or ignoring the less profitable ones. Eventually, they ended up with a smaller audience and are suffering once the rest of the country got options.
- Mar 27, 2006
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He's correct that a business model where 2/3 of your revenue comes from subscriptions in cable/satellite packages, is not as great as it once was. But he didn't mention Disney even once, and that's a huge reason why ESPN is still on basic cable, and will remain so for a long long time. Disney's clout is a massive negotiation tactic with cable companies. They're the elephant in the room that gives ESPN power, and for the narrator to not even mention it, is ignoring a massive component of the story.
There's likely a floor for cable/satellite subscriptions. And even the streaming services that many of these cord cutters are switching to like YouTube TV and Hulu live, still include ESPN.
Certainly the market is changing and will continue to change, but ESPN isn't going away, even though many of us might want it to. It might not be as profitable as it once was, but it's still profitable. And live sports are still going to be a big draw for eyeballs.
There's likely a floor for cable/satellite subscriptions. And even the streaming services that many of these cord cutters are switching to like YouTube TV and Hulu live, still include ESPN.
Certainly the market is changing and will continue to change, but ESPN isn't going away, even though many of us might want it to. It might not be as profitable as it once was, but it's still profitable. And live sports are still going to be a big draw for eyeballs.
I used to (as in 30 years ago) watch SportsCenter every day. I don't get to watch sports as often as I would like and loved seeing what happened yesterday. Now they refuse to tell me what happened yesterday and insist on telling me what is going to happen tomorrow and it comes courtesy of screaming personalities. No thanks.
I watch live sports on ESPN because that's where it is televised, but that's it.
I watch live sports on ESPN because that's where it is televised, but that's it.
Disney Parks have figured out since Covid that they can charge more and people keep coming. In fact they have realized that the people who buy season passes or just come on budget days do not buy merchadise, so their goal is to raise raise raise the prices so only upper middle class and above can afford to go to their parks and they will make the same amount of money if not more. Not sure how this is related to ESPN though, but their risk is the overall sports viewship goes down, which in my mind is a potential problem but not clear that it will happen in the short term.
I used to watch EVERYTHING. I mean I'd watch sportscenter back to back. I'd watch PTI. I'd watch all of Gameday. I haven't watched any of those things in a very, very long time.
I think a big part of it is social media (you get the highlights immediately) and stuff like that. My son wakes up the morning and watches highlights but he doesn't watch sportscenter, he just cycles through them in his CBS Sports app.
They've developed an elitist attitude that the blue bloods are the only ones people are really interested in, and that attitude shows in pretty much everything they do, and everything their talking heads say. It will be their downfall, IMO, as most people wouldn't give a rip about the blue bloods if their own teams weren't competing on the same level with them.
- Mar 27, 2006
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I don't know that COVID has anything to do with it. Their theme park prices have been growing steadily over the years
Just look at womens cycling, really an interesting sport, but the Dutch win everything, yet some unknown cyclicst from Austria Anna Kisenhoffer goes out and wins the Olympics Road Race in Tokyo, probably one of the top 10 greatest upsets in all of sports in the last 100 years, at least in my opinion, but Anna Kisenhoffer would never win regularly on the pro circuit, because they have radios and they would have all her tendencies figured out. This was an eye opener to me, the more the randomization is bred out of sports, the less interesting it is, and the only way to breed back in randomization is decentralization which is the exact opposite that ESPN is doing, which is centralization. This will come to head eventually.
I wonder if the persons per park limitations gave them some insight, and getting rid of fast pass because of covid gave them insight, rumours are they are now going to charge 15bucks + a ride for fast pass when before it was basically included with the park ticket but you had to do some work for it I guess, I really dont know havent been there in 30 years.
- Mar 27, 2006
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I agree they're focused on the big brands, but isn't that just business? If my company made widgets and widget A appealed to 10 million people and widget B appealed to 1 million people, wouldn't I want to spend more time marketing and developing widget A? Yes, I could spend money trying to grow the brand of widget B, but the ROI is going to be better with widget A. Broken down to base components, I understand what they're doing, and it not necessarily wrong from a business standpoint.
A horrible analogy but I see it just like Saturday Night Live. 25 years ago we would watch Sports Center every day then the main cast moved on and got relocated and they never replaced them adequately. I do not recall the last time I watched Sports Center.
7 years ago I use to love ESPN Sports Radio. I'm out driving around for work. Mike & Mike in the morning followed by Colin Cowherd and then followed by the Dan Patrick Show. Seriously that was great radio in any way you spin it. Now, the shows are junk.
They let their main cast who established their brand go, and have not adequately rehired cast to maintain their brand.
7 years ago I use to love ESPN Sports Radio. I'm out driving around for work. Mike & Mike in the morning followed by Colin Cowherd and then followed by the Dan Patrick Show. Seriously that was great radio in any way you spin it. Now, the shows are junk.
They let their main cast who established their brand go, and have not adequately rehired cast to maintain their brand.
I swear to god it is like someone needs an engineering degree just to figure out how to navigate Disney. I support that argument by giving examples of people who make a side business helping Disney Parks travelers figure out how to navigate the parks. The entire thing just seems stupid to me.
Yeah as a general sports fan especially with college football and basketball I won't be able to do this 'boycott unless ISU is playing' (and doubt me not viewing is going to have any affect).
But I really don't watch anything else. Their coverage of MNF et al is just hard to take.
"Go woke, go broke."
Their bread and butter is obviously live sports and highlights. SportsCenter couldn't fail with personalities like Stuart Scott.
But then, they gave on air talent (I won't name names but you know a couple) a platform to voice political opinions and it pushed many people away.
At the same time, they gave platforms to awesome shows. Those shows grew too big for their tight salary budgets and they ran off good talent. This has happened way too many times.
Their bread and butter is obviously live sports and highlights. SportsCenter couldn't fail with personalities like Stuart Scott.
But then, they gave on air talent (I won't name names but you know a couple) a platform to voice political opinions and it pushed many people away.
At the same time, they gave platforms to awesome shows. Those shows grew too big for their tight salary budgets and they ran off good talent. This has happened way too many times.
