ESPN not immune

[Moderator1]

From The Pipeline:

Word has come down the totem pole here in Bristol that 60 people have lost/will lose their jobs today. Mostly TV-side production folks.

 

[Rockbottom]

I know some peeps up there -- and hope they emerge untouched. A tough time all around ...

RB

 

[BYH]

Moddy, you wrote an incomplete sentence.

It should have read "ESPN not immune from exploiting economy in order to save money."

 

[LongTimeListener]

What do you figure, Rick Reilly's salary would save three dozen of those jobs? I know. He's under contract and I'm not even trying to say he should fall on the sword. Just underscores the dumb-ass corporate decisions they've been making lately; if "Kobe Doin' Work" is any indication, that new upgraded movie studio is going to prove a similarly worthless drag on the bottom line.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Mostly TV-side production folks.

Just a question -- I have no idea. Isn't the "TV-side" the part that, well, brings in most of the money?

 

[SF_Express]

Mostly TV-side production folks.

Just a question -- I have no idea. Isn't the "TV-side" the part that, well, brings in most of the money?

Probably, Frank, but that doesn't preclude their being bloated on that side....I'm not saying they are, I'm just saying it doesn't preclude it.

 

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

Anyone seen Tom Jackson lately?

Just sayin'

 

[DanOregon]

I'd bag the fake football and baseball fields and animation departments.

 

[Sneed]

I hate to say it because, like a lot of us on these boards, I grew up an avid Reilly reader, but he's just not worth $2 mil a year. I think that's what he's getting paid. His stuff is just lackluster lately. His latest column about the boringness of baseball just did me in as far as being a Reilly fan. I like his old stuff, but he's just....I don't know, something's gone missing with him. I wonder what happened.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

I wonder if they should just let him cover golf, every week until the season is over (it's not, right?), and see if that brings back some of his mojo.

 

[podunk press]

I saw the headline for his last column, figured it would just **** me off and passed.

Horse racing isn't exactly the most exciting crap on Earth, either, Rick.

 

[pressboxramblings07]

I hate to say it because, like a lot of us on these boards, I grew up an avid Reilly reader, but he's just not worth $2 mil a year. I think that's what he's getting paid.

I think it was more than $3 million if I remember right ... something like five years, $17 million.

 

[DanOregon]

His latest on the long-suffering Nuggets fans wasn't terrible, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for Denver fans after two Super Bowls and a couple of Stanley Cups in the last 15 years.
And how do you write about the Nuggets history and not mention David Thompson?

 

[steveu]

I wonder if they should just let him cover golf, every week until the season is over (it's not, right?), and see if that brings back some of his mojo.

Have him do basketball full time. It's the only sport he truly cares about.

 

[Mark2010]

I hate to say it because, like a lot of us on these boards, I grew up an avid Reilly reader, but he's just not worth $2 mil a year. I think that's what he's getting paid.

I think it was more than $3 million if I remember right ... something like five years, $17 million.

Sorry, ain't NOBODY on the planet worth that kind of money. Not Obama. Not Alex Rodriguez. Not David Beckham. Not Al Gore. Not Bernard Madoff. Certainly no reporter or writer. Ridiculous.

 

[DanOregon]

The craziest thing about the deal is that it wasn't like ESPN was in some big bidding war. If ESPN only offered 5 years at $10 million, was someone going to offer more?

 

[Thirsty And Vacant]

Kobe Doin' Work = brutal. I wonder where it ranks among Spike Lee joints such as "Malcolm X" and "Jungle Fever.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

I saw the headline for his last column, figured it would just **** me off and passed.

Horse racing isn't exactly the most exciting crap on Earth, either, Rick.

It's like any other sport . . . it is, if it's quality, and you understand it.

Carry on.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Maybe they got rid of all those people who were moving when Berman was trying to do his show, which caused him to throw that big fit on youtube.

 

[Sneed]

The craziest thing about the deal is that it wasn't like ESPN was in some big bidding war. If ESPN only offered 5 years at $10 million, was someone going to offer more?

I think -- not positive, but I think -- SI offered him a million a year. According to his farewell column, "he had an itch he needed to scratch" or something, which is why he left for ESPN. Part of me thinks that itch was television stuff.

Part of me thinks it was something on his ass which could only be scratched by $100 bills.