More Cuts at ESPN

[Doc Holliday]

Looks like ESPN will cut a good number of bloggers, reporters, script writers and some on-air talent, although no names are given. Not a place I would want to be employed right now ...

Report: ESPN's next round of layoffs is going to include on-air personalities

 

[Vombatus]

SAS. Please please please!

 

[HanSenSE]

SAS. Please please please!

We could only dream. But maybe they'll get back to covering news instead of making it? Alas, probably means more mid-major games called from the studio.

 

[Moderator1]

We're actually hoping someone loses a job? Yeesh.

 

[CD Boogie]

We're actually hoping someone loses a job? Yeesh.

Here's hoping they make some of the "personalities" take a pay cut so that the hoi palloi who actually put out valuable content can remain in their roles.

 

[TexasVet]

ESPN is doing to sports the same thing MTV did to music

 

[CD Boogie]

ESPN is doing to sports the same thing MTV did to music

MTV did a lot of good for music. Exposed people to a lot of artists they might not have otherwise heard. Sure, they turned some artists into videographers over songwriters, but you'd be hard-pressed to argue that MTV wasn't an overall boon to music. Hasn't ESPN done the same in many ways? Exposed people to sports and players who might otherwise have been marginalized? I guess at a certain point there is oversaturation. And also, there are competing providers -- Napster, most prominently in music; cord-cutters with ESPN -- that undermine the near monopoly on content providing.

I can see the relation of ESPN to MTV in that regard. MTV is now a shell of itself, and to listen to the likes of Clay Travis, ESPN is following suit. So yup, I can see the analogy.

 

[QYFW]

We're actually hoping someone loses a job? Yeesh.

Yeah. Not cool.

 

[Vombatus]

We're actually hoping someone loses a job? Yeesh.

Well, I figure he'll land somewhere else and maybe change his act a bit. He did follow Czaban on radio once, and the ratings went down the tubes.

I couldn't stand Bayless either, and he landed nicely (and onto a channel I rarely watch). Didn't he also get paid more?

Slightly changing subjects - if this trend at ESPN continues, I imagine TV rights payments might go down, and athletes eventually get paid less too?

 

[cjericho]

I like SAS most times, he can be overbearing but usually like listening to him. If he is let go by the WWL he should be OK, unless he took investing advice from Len Dykstra or Mike Tyson.

 

[justgladtobehere]

I've heard SAS be entirely reasonable and somewhat charming in interviews with other sports radio hosts. My opinion of him was entirely the opposite of what I felt watching him on TV.

 

[HanSenSE]

So what do I have to do to be among the cool kids again ?

 

[Vombatus]

So what do I have to do to be among the cool kids again ?

Buy a tiger and get a bit part in Hangover 4.

I'd skip the facial tattoo stuff though.

 

[Alma]

This is going to be sad, because some really good people will be out of work.

ESPN got way too big. It just did, and it threw money at people and projects that were and are more larks than they are solid, sustainable, important journalism.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Will SAS take over for Rusillo and Kanell nationally? Seems like an easy cost saving, not that I am advocating for it.

ESPN's CFB and NFL coverage always seemed bloated. They have cut back recently, but it's still an area that seems ripe for some trimming.

 

[Steak Snabler]

MTV did a lot of good for music. Exposed people to a lot of artists they might not have otherwise heard. Sure, they turned some artists into videographers over songwriters, but you'd be hard-pressed to argue that MTV wasn't an overall boon to music. Hasn't ESPN done the same in many ways? Exposed people to sports and players who might otherwise have been marginalized? I guess at a certain point there is oversaturation. And also, there are competing providers -- Napster, most prominently in music; cord-cutters with ESPN -- that undermine the near monopoly on content providing.

I can see the relation of ESPN to MTV in that regard. MTV is now a shell of itself, and to listen to the likes of Clay Travis, ESPN is following suit. So yup, I can see the analogy.

I say this every time it comes up, but Clay Travis works for Fox and has a vested interest in ESPN's failure. Where are all his 800-word treatises on Fox Sports 1's ****ty ratings?

 

[CD Boogie]

I say this every time it comes up, but Clay Travis works for Fox and has a vested interest in ESPN's failure. Where are all his 800-word treatises on Fox Sports 1's ****ty ratings?

right below **** Deitsch's expose on The Cauldron's fallout with Sports Illustrated.

 

[Mr. Mediocre]

I say this every time it comes up, but Clay Travis works for Fox and has a vested interest in ESPN's failure. Where are all his 800-word treatises on Fox Sports 1's ****ty ratings?

Well, you see, Clay Travis is a hacky carnival barker and snake oil salesman.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

Hate to see anyone lose their job. Lots of people I disagree with or just don't like in this biz. But this always sucks.

It's just a reminder no place is safe.

 

[MisterCreosote]

We're actually hoping someone loses a job? Yeesh.

Maybe Stephen A. Smith should look at the elements of provocation that cause people to hope he loses his job.