More cuts: ESPNHS unit

[silvercharm]

It's making the rounds on Twitter today that ESPN.com is shuttering its high school site, laying off 75 writers/editors. Story on SBJ, but its behind a paywall.

A rough week gets worse, people.

 

[Alma]

It's making the rounds on Twitter today that ESPN.com is shuttering its high school site, laying off 75 writers/editors. Story on SBJ, but its behind a paywall.

A rough week gets worse, people.

Sad. When the NCAA shot down ESPN's little HS football jig with the Longhorn Network, I guess you could see this coming.

 

[DanOregon]

Always sad to see someone lose a gig. I do wonder though, was this the same part of ESPN that was hosting those 7-on-7 camps and tournaments?
Just seemed ripe for getting the network into some recruiting trouble by bringing together coaches, sponsors and athletes.

 

[podunk press]

A lot of really talented people are getting jettisoned in this.

I know a few. And even in this horrible environment, I never envisioned the likes of them being without work.

Four years ago, I banned myself from coming to this site because it depressed me too much. And starting tonight, I am reinstating that ban. Geesh.

 

[Alma]

I didn't write that to be flippant, either.

ESPN's model is built on securing contracts to broadcast sports. While ESPN is able to overpay/overbid for many of those contracts, you worry about the day when the NFL and collegiate conferences simply stage their own football broadcasts. I fear that whole editorial departments that lose money (in part out of big salaries for newspaper talent) will disappear, poof, in the night.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

I didn't write that to be flippant, either.

ESPN's model is built on securing contracts to broadcast sports. While ESPN is able to overpay/overbid for many of those contracts, you worry about the day when the NFL and collegiate conferences simply stage their own football broadcasts. I fear that whole editorial departments that lose money (in part out of big salaries for newspaper talent) will disappear, poof, in the night.

Based on what it takes to put together a legitimate broadcast of major-college football, I'm not sure ESPN will ever want for programming. The Big Ten Network pulls it off pretty well, but other conferences simply don't have the national following to justify staging game broadcasts at their own expense.

And why should they, when they can partner with the juggernaut that is ESPN and slap an "SEC Network!" logo on?

That said, I do agree that while the cable arm of ESPN is printing money, ESPN's online operation will not take advantage of this forever.

 

[Provonian]

As a newbie trudging through the high school sports writing scene for a few years, I got to know a few of the ESPNHS guys. Good reporters, solid writers, and definitely guys who will be moving up in the world.

If a mighty juggernaut like ESPN can't support a HS Web site, what does this mean for the rest of us who are trying to jump into the field? Is there a place for prep sports news in the media landscape of the future?

OK, so maybe that last one was a bit hyperbolic and excessively apocalyptic ... But I can't help but let my mind wander to what these cuts mean in a broader landscape.

Best wishes to the unlucky folks. But I'm confident they can bounce back, and even stronger (at least, the few that I met during AAU tournaments, etc).

 

[Alma]

As a newbie trudging through the high school sports writing scene for a few years, I got to know a few of the ESPNHS guys. Good reporters, solid writers, and definitely guys who will be moving up in the world.

If a mighty juggernaut like ESPN can't support a HS Web site, what does this mean for the rest of us who are trying to jump into the field? Is there a place for prep sports news in the media landscape of the future?

Yes, at the local TV/newspaper level Where it's always thrived quite a bit. You may read pushback on what I just wrote, but that pushback may be a meme.

 

[Mulligan]

If a mighty juggernaut like ESPN can't support a HS Web site, what does this mean for the rest of us who are trying to jump into the field? Is there a place for prep sports news in the media landscape of the future?

OK, so maybe that last one was a bit hyperbolic and excessively apocalyptic ... But I can't help but let my mind wander to what these cuts mean in a broader landscape.

I see this more a statement on the model ESPN took than anything. Over the past few years, it's high school coverage has become more and more inline with college or pros.

There's just not enough interest in national high school news to run a sustainable business. There's for sure no interest in game or event coverage, which is what that group did a lot of.

And the audience interested in that coverage is already consuming ESPN's recruiting content, so more or less ESPN was likely fighting for the same ad revenue.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I didn't write that to be flippant, either.

ESPN's model is built on securing contracts to broadcast sports. While ESPN is able to overpay/overbid for many of those contracts, you worry about the day when the NFL and collegiate conferences simply stage their own football broadcasts. I fear that whole editorial departments that lose money (in part out of big salaries for newspaper talent) will disappear, poof, in the night.

Based on what it takes to put together a legitimate broadcast of major-college football, I'm not sure ESPN will ever want for programming. The Big Ten Network pulls it off pretty well, but other conferences simply don't have the national following to justify staging game broadcasts at their own expense.

And why should they, when they can partner with the juggernaut that is ESPN and slap an "SEC Network!" logo on?

That said, I do agree that while the cable arm of ESPN is printing money, ESPN's online operation will not take advantage of this forever.

I remember talking to a friend at ESPN a year or so ago and he was telling me that the goal there was to have a beat writer/blogger for every major college, and every big four pro team.

I told him it was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard in my life and that if it lasted 2-3 years it would be a miracle.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

If a mighty juggernaut like ESPN can't support a HS Web site, what does this mean for the rest of us who are trying to jump into the field? Is there a place for prep sports news in the media landscape of the future?

OK, so maybe that last one was a bit hyperbolic and excessively apocalyptic ... But I can't help but let my mind wander to what these cuts mean in a broader landscape.

I see this more a statement on the model ESPN took than anything. Over the past few years, it's high school coverage has become more and more inline with college or pros.

There's just not enough interest in national high school news to run a sustainable business. There's for sure no interest in game or event coverage, which is what that group did a lot of.

And the audience interested in that coverage is already consuming ESPN's recruiting content, so more or less ESPN was likely fighting for the same ad revenue.

Pretty much what I was revving up to post.

The five major stories on the ESPNHS front are as follows: national softball player of the year, preseason top 50 runup feature on one of the schools expected to be ranked (which I read because the school is within a mile of where my ma lives), a story comparing a HS point guard to Tyreke Evans, a water polo player feature and a 400 runner from Dallas hoping to make the Olympic cut. The only story that has anything other than local/specialized interest is the point guard story, and that's coverable in recruiting coverage. Who reads the story about the softball player of the year other than people in the community and hardcore softball fans? And that's just theoretical audience, presuming that everyone knows ESPNHS exists.

All politics and all high school sports interest is local. Having a national HS presence answers a question that nobody is asking. They would have better luck signing a couple of permanent employees and hiring stringers (either double-dippers from local newspapers or true freelancers) to do low-budget but ESPN-branded state/local sites. But I'm guessing they're in no mood to dip into the HS coverage bin again past football/basketball.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

Seems like there's a high schools section of every ESPN local site.....Boston Dallas NY etc. That's where the HS coverage belongs and can thrive, not on the national level.

 

[Mark2010]

As a newbie trudging through the high school sports writing scene for a few years, I got to know a few of the ESPNHS guys. Good reporters, solid writers, and definitely guys who will be moving up in the world.

If a mighty juggernaut like ESPN can't support a HS Web site, what does this mean for the rest of us who are trying to jump into the field? Is there a place for prep sports news in the media landscape of the future?

OK, so maybe that last one was a bit hyperbolic and excessively apocalyptic ... But I can't help but let my mind wander to what these cuts mean in a broader landscape.

Best wishes to the unlucky folks. But I'm confident they can bounce back, and even stronger (at least, the few that I met during AAU tournaments, etc).

High school sports, even more than colleges, are a LOCAL property. Outside of the occasional recruiting person who lives, eats and breathes this stuff 24/7, there isn't going to be much of an audience in, say, Michigan, for Texas high school sports news.

Honestly, it's the same for small colleges. I worked in a market with an NAIA juggernaut. You would think it would draw some interest outside the city limits. Nope. Virtually ALL the stuff ever written was from our staff (even the school website reprinted our stuff). If you wanted news on the school, you had to go to our site (or the school stuff, which ran our stuff).

If some person/company wants to start a journalism business, there is certainly fertile ground to do so by building a website dedicated to local high school sports.... big city or small town. But it seems like every venture I have ever heard that tried this bled red ink. Then again, more and more I think, journalism and profit are at odds with one another.

 

[JJHHI]

A good friend is there. I feel awful for everyone losing their jobs unexpectedly. The only silver lining is they aren't shutting down until Sept. 14, so it gives everyone a chance to get their ducks in a row. Hope everyone lands on their feet.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

A good friend is there. I feel awful for everyone losing their jobs unexpectedly. The only silver lining is they aren't shutting down until Sept. 14, so it gives everyone a chance to get their ducks in a row. Hope everyone lands on their feet.

Odd timing. They'll be a few weeks into football season when they close shop.

 

[playthrough]

As a newbie trudging through the high school sports writing scene for a few years, I got to know a few of the ESPNHS guys. Good reporters, solid writers, and definitely guys who will be moving up in the world.

If a mighty juggernaut like ESPN can't support a HS Web site, what does this mean for the rest of us who are trying to jump into the field? Is there a place for prep sports news in the media landscape of the future?

OK, so maybe that last one was a bit hyperbolic and excessively apocalyptic ... But I can't help but let my mind wander to what these cuts mean in a broader landscape.

Best wishes to the unlucky folks. But I'm confident they can bounce back, and even stronger (at least, the few that I met during AAU tournaments, etc).

The place for prep sports news will always be in local papers, and nowhere else. And the smaller the paper the better, since they're more likely to blow out the coverage and give mom something for the scrapbook.

If someone thinks they can make a large-scale prep website work, good luck. A lot have come through the boards here, leaving a lot of people high and dry.

 

[jr/shotglass]

One of the biggest reasons why I have always had my doubts about national high school sports coverage is that, by necessity, it's dealing almost completely with the best and the brightest, the elite athlete. That's very limiting.

Where small newspapers have the advantage is that it can cover more of a community, especially young people who won't have 10-15 years of seeing their name in print on a regular basis.

One of the more successful "national" ventures is the Milesplit franchise for track & field. And why does that seem to have some success? Because it's split into 50 "mini-sites," and as a result, can dig deeper into the rank and file of high school athletes. Also, they are able to keep pretty accurate statistics, leader lists, etc., when they're dealing with just one state.

 

[HanSenSE]

I've seen ESPN's national ratings, as well as the ones from Maxpreps, but never put much stock in them. I know in a lot of state, AP or one of the larger papers would run a state poll, but that was never the case in California. Which is a cause for concern, since the firm that has done them historically was bought a few years ago by ... ESPN.

 

[Mark2010]

Never understood how anyone could hope to rank teams or athletes from, say, California with others from thousands of miles away. It's interesting sports bar debate fodder, but with no real measuring criteria except in, say, track and swimming where you can compare times.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Yes, but if you shy away from the high school competition end of it and spent all your time talking about recruiting and All-Americans ... you're Scout.com.