ESPN layoffs

[gunnarthor]

Longtime MLB writer Jayson Stark was among the many fired by ESPN.  Bummer, I liked Stark.

[bluechipper]

Jim Bowden was let go too. It's a sad day for someone who's watched a ton of espn over the years.

[KirbyDome89]

Wow...just read about it. RIP Russillo & Kanell podcast for me. 

[The Wise One]

ESPN bet on football and the nba. They lost. They are losing subscribers. Less revenue and increased expense means someone else gets cut and someone else gets to do a lot more work

[HitInAPinch]

If this is about money, ESPN would have been better off by reducing some of those excessive channels. 

[WiesbadenDAN]

I was hoping to see Stephen A. Smith on this list, one of the main reason I hate ESPN.  That and the insider content.  At least Skip Bayless is long gone to Fox.

[JustinCB]

Jim Bowden was let go too. It's a sad day for someone who's watched a ton of espn over the years.

 

Jim Bowden was a terrible GM, worse commentator, and a complete moron. Also - that hair looked like something you'd see on a 1930's newsboy who was doubling as a 1300's monk.

[jimmer]

Should take Stark about five minutes to get a new job. Three of those five minutes is him logging into his computer and sending out his resume :-)

[Pardon My Dinger]

The living will envy the dead.

[Vanimal46]

Some of the big names like Stark and Ed Werder shouldn't have issues finding a new gig. Others, like the niche college football conference bloggers will have some issues. 

 

The market is going to be chaotic... Lots of sports media people hitting the open market at the same time, and not a lot of places to go. 

[beckmt]

It will not be as hard as you would think for most of the on air personalities to find jobs.  The national exposure if they linger on the market you will start finding higher local stations making room for them at the expense of the lesser local talent.

Main issue will be TV has become a younger person game and many of these commentators are older.  Some will have problems finding there next decent paying gig.

[MN_ExPat]

Wasn't most of Starks stuff non-"ESPN Insider" (may "Insider" burn in the fires of the Seventh Circle of Hell).

 

Yes... my hatred of it is immensely irrational and childish.

[Taildragger8791]

Looks like they just cut the whole hockey department too, doubling down that bet on football and basketball.

 

They should just rename it "E!spn" since their time is increasingly spent reporting on tweets, debating drama that they themselves manufactured, and offering up superficial analysis like "which team wanted it more".

 

Half the time I turn it on it's just Screamin' A. Smith yelling at me for some reason. I still haven't figured out what he's so angry about so I just turn it off as soon as I see his dumb face spraying slobber at the camera.

[zenser]

I miss the good old days when they would actually show highlights.  Now it is either Barry Melrose talking about hockey or Steven A Smith rambling.  If i wanted to hear rants like that I would just sit down with my wife. 

 

I rarely watch sports center anymore.  I really only watch ESPN for MNF and their live baseball games.

[Loosey]

I don't watch much ESPN anymore, but one thing I have noticed over the last few years were there attempts to create "mornings shows" that are on all morning and afternoon.  I have attempted to watch them while working out over lunch and they are not very good at all.  Maybe those shows get high ratings, I don't know but it would seem to have been much more cost effective if they continued their old format of just re-running SportsCenter from 6am until mid-day and then update with another SportsCenter or air an event that isn't highly watched like until the evening sports begin.  

 

I hate to see people lose their jobs and think the people who are for some reason celebrating these people losing theirs are messed up.  That being said, hopefully some good can come of this and ESPN can begin moving back to the days when they produced good content that was worth watching.  Which may mean less content but more insightful.  

 

I also see they laid off their entire hockey staff.  So will the NHL section of ESPN just go away?

[Mike Sixel]

As I said in the Sports Bar thread on this, I'm surprised by some of the names.

[Vanimal46]

 

I also see they laid off their entire hockey staff.  So will the NHL section of ESPN just go away?

 

Probably. But let's be honest, ESPN hasn't cared about hockey in a long, long time. On a typical December day, they show maybe 30 seconds of highlights, maybe a quick minute with Melrose, then it's back to talking hoopzzzz and hot taeks. 

[gil4]

 

Longtime MLB writer Jayson Stark was among the many fired by ESPN.  Bummer, I liked Stark.

 

Jim Bowden was let go too. It's a sad day for someone who's watched a ton of espn over the years.

Hare to see Stark go, but I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere.  I hope Bowden either retires or gets hired by the Yankees. (You know the saying "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy"?  I would.)

[bluechipper]

More big names let go today too. Britt McHenry, Andy Katz, Doug Glanville, Dallas Braden, and Raul Ibanez.

 

Also interesting is that Intentional Talk will air on both MLB Network and ESPN2 starting May 1. I wonder how they worked that out.

[jimmer]

 

More big names let go today too. Britt McHenry, Andy Katz, Doug Glanville, Dallas Braden, and Raul Ibanez.

 

Also interesting is that Intentional Talk will air on both MLB Network and ESPN2 starting May 1. I wonder how they worked that out.

I love Intentional Talk.

[Pardon My Dinger]

ESPN hockey co-captains Scott Burnside and Pierre Lebrun: both gone. Wondering where content's going to come from, but those guys are set. One of them's still working with TSN, the other is the president of the hockey writers' association, if memory serves.

[Shaitan]

And they announce this as they dedicate a week of coverage to the NFL draft.

[drivlikejehu]

ESPN's problems are pretty substantial. Their costly broadcast contracts are fixed and fairly long-term. Presumably they'll do everything they can to promote the particular sports they are invested in, hence why baseball is practically being eliminated from their programming, beyond basic SC highlights and some marginal stuff.

 

The bottom line though is that their business model is obsolete, and it's really just a matter of how fast the decline proceeds.

[Mike Sixel]

 

ESPN's problems are pretty substantial. Their costly broadcast contracts are fixed and fairly long-term. Presumably they'll do everything they can to promote the particular sports they are invested in, hence why baseball is practically being eliminated from their programming, beyond basic SC highlights and some marginal stuff.

 

The bottom line though is that their business model is obsolete, and it's really just a matter of how fast the decline proceeds.

 

correct. Until they figure out how to change the model, they are in trouble. W/o them, my Disney stock would look a lot better....

[SwainZag]

 

correct. Until they figure out how to change the model, they are in trouble. W/o them, my Disney stock would look a lot better....

 

It's funny how much can change in 20 years isn't it?  When they bought ESPN it helped their stock substantially as everyone wanted the ESPN was THE cable channel you had to have.  Fast forward with everyone cutting the cords.....for someone who grew up on ESPN, it's sad....but understandable.  People say they haven't watched Sportscenter or that Sportscenter isn't as good as it use to be, when the true fact is....why watch an hour long show, when you can see more in depth highlights you want to see on your phone/tablet/laptop/pc in a fraction of that time?  What's really killing ESPN is the gigantic contracts they have with the leagues.  They were always losing money on them, but got people to watch the channel.  It will be interesting to see how they rebound because obviously they were not prepared for what has happened in the last few years.