ESPN - Percentage of the Industry

Anyone want to throw out a guess as to what percentage of folks in the industry (and we'll call the industry "sports media") works fulltime for, contributes to, or contracts out to ESPN? This includes .com, the magazine, TV, ABC, radio, etc. etc.

I don't know, I'm just wondering.

Are we heading toward a 50-50 scenario?

 

I think you're onto something, Luggy, as far as major events go. You couldn't take two steps at the World Series before bumping into someone from ESPN, espn.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Radio or ESPN The Ocho.

 

Using the six-degrees-of-separation theory, we probably all are in ESPN's tentacles...
But in real terms, it's tiny....there are tens of thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio stations., teevee networks, o & o's, indies....

 

As ubiquitous as the WWL seems, this is probably the accurate answer.

 

"Pepper needs new shorts!"

 

Yeah, something to remember.

There are a bunch of other websites, big and small, many of whom are direct competitors to ESPN.

There are a bunch of newspapers and other publications who probably have rules about appearing on ESPN, although I'd wager that number is dwindling.

On the other hand, as I sit here, a few of our number have at least appeared on ESPN TV or radio shows of some kind, and if that figures into "contributor" status, well, there you go.

 

I guess it's higher if you include all the 10-watt "ESPN affililiates" scattered around the country

Cracks me up when I get phone calls from little small-town radio stations that happen to carry a few hours of syndicated ESPN programming and call themselves "ESPN Radio"

"Hey, Write - This is Scott Lange, producer at ESPN Radio, our wacky morning drive guys want to have you on LIVE with us tomorrow morning."

"OK, where are you guys located?"

"Umm .... Missoula, Montana ...."

 

The number will go up, up until cable television wins the fee war. Then the number will go down, down.

ESPN tried on "entertainment" for awhile; didn't much work, so now it wants play Citizen Kane. Good for it. We'll see how this land grab all plays out.

Me? I think it's dumb. If money's what you want, go find ten more idiot Erin Andrews to wear project runway outfits and kiss football players. I really have no idea what value all this "journalism" will have.

Personally, I think it's a straight fucking ego thing. ESPN's tired of getting knocked around for its credibility, so they're gonna swipe the punchers.

 

Alma, you've been big on this "cable will win the fee war" thing. Is there really a war?

I see wars between cable and the NFL Network. (Comcast is pissed it didn't get the Thurs. package, so it's refusing to carry.) Cable vs. The Big 10 Network. (Almost all operators are refusing to carry.) Cable vs. SNY (Even though Comcast owns part of SNY, it is not carried on many Comcast systems - explain that one. It's Comcast vs. itself!)

It's as if the cable operators are willing to pony up for ESPN and its cousins... like... "We'll pay for the cache of ESPN, but get this Big 10 Network crap outta here. Forget it."

So, in a way, that further feeds the dominance of ESPN, no?

 

I've said on other threads it's about 5/10 years away.