This is not about politics. It's about sports. For 30+ years ESPN billed itself as "the worldwide leader in sports" except now from commercials on Fox at least this is no longer true. ESPN has been dethroned by Fox's relatively new FS1 network.
This isn't unexpected. I read an article somewhere a few months ago about growing problems at ESPN. A big part of it is viewership is down while they shelled out far too much money for properties like Monday Night Football. This is probably behind the recent talent drain that saw commentators Bill Simmons, Skip Bayless, and Colin Cowherd exit along with Monday Night Football broadcaster Mike Tirico. And of course all those people landed at competing networks: Simmons on HBO, Bayless & Cowherd on FS1, and Tirico on NBC.
Like a lot of brick-and-mortar stores like Sears, KMart, Barnes & Noble, and Best Buy it seems ESPN is getting left behind as the world around it changes. Let's face it, now that you can check scores, news, and highlights on your phone, people don't need "SportsCenter" like they used to; it's pretty much as antiquated as it made your local sports page. It has become another crumbling institution. It's kind of sad. I wouldn't be surprised if they start to lose some of their properties like Monday Night Football or the college football playoffs to rival networks in a few years. Typically what you see with these institutions is a slow downward spiral that is all but impossible to pull out of, at least never to the previous heights.
1 comment:
people don't need "SportsCenter" (playing every hour, the exact same pre-taped show, for 15 of 24 hours of the broadcast day) like they used to
FIXED!!! lol :)
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