ESPN no longer a desirable workplace?

[cosmo_kramer]

Once upon a time everyone in sports broadcasting aspired to work for ESPN. Apparently not anymore, quite the opposite. Defections started a couple of years ago and the trickle is turning into a flood. Numerous on-air personalities have left or announced they are leaving with Skip Bayless (good riddance) and Mike Tirico the latest but less obvious is the defection of very high ranking, long term, executives. George Bodenheimer (33 yrs) and John Wildhack (36 yrs) are the latest to leave. Now if John Skipper would take a hike maybe, just maybe, new leadership could turn the slowly sinking ship around, but Skipper has to go before that can happen. Statistics show between 2013 and 2016 ESPN has lost nearly 10 million subscribers which translates to approx $2 billion in lost income. That lost income combined with the huge amount of money they keep spending for those ridiculously ugly studio sets, not to mention the ill-conceived International Soccer TV agreement, is really digging a hole. Don't be surprised if, for instance, the Los Angeles facility shuts down and maybe even ESPN3 and/or ESPNews disappear. One thing's for certain, Disney is not going to keep dumping money down the ESPN toilet forever.

Where did Bodenheimer go? Didnt he retire? 33 year career at ESPN, starting in the mailroom.

ESPN offered Bayless $4m per year, FS1 offered him $5.5m. Cowherd left ESPN for a FS1 payday and no one has seen him since. Same will happen with Bayless.

Wildhack is a Syracuse alum and the AD job there is a dream job. Can't fault him for taking it.


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[Radioguy41]

I think you completely missed the point on people leaving. They're leaving because ESPN has lost so much money they can't afford to retain them (whether you or I like them is irrelevant). The mass layoffs last year after Disney expressed concern about the bottom line should be a clue. As so many companies do when the financial dragon rears it's head, ESPN has chosen to cut staff, either through firings or attrition, rather than improve the product.

ESPN completely covers whatever sports/leagues they have broadcast rights with. Definitely makes sense from a business perspective and all of that extra programming is built into those contracts.

How does it make sense if they've lost 10 million subscribers and billions in revenue?

 

[WiCkeDuDe]

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how as a society we allow ESPN to pay Stephen a and Bayliss that much each year for acting like complete idiot drama queens....


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[Bodo Fenrirsson]

I miss the good old days of Australian Rules Football, CFL football, USFL football, & other obscure sports that they used to show back in 1983-84, not to mention 3 hours every Monday through Friday mornings of financial news. I remember watching Australian Rules Football for the first time ever in my life back then & wondering, "What the hell?"

 

[harshness]

ESPN completely covers whatever sports/leagues they have broadcast rights with.

I'm pretty sure someone just lamented how thin the coverage of the CFL was.

 

[DWS44]

I'm pretty sure someone just lamented how thin the coverage of the CFL was.

Probably the more accurate way to have said what cosmo said would be "ESPN completely covers whatever sports/leagues they have broadcast rights with, heavily weighted based on the amount paid to broadcast said sport/league." Obviously much more would have been spent (and promised) to acquire NBA vs. CFL.

 

[DWS44]

Another good example of coverage is how much less NASCAR coverage you get from ESPN overall, since they lost their broadcast rights for the send half of the season to NBC last year.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

I think you completely missed the point on people leaving. They're leaving because ESPN has lost so much money they can't afford to retain them (whether you or I like them is irrelevant). The mass layoffs last year after Disney expressed concern about the bottom line should be a clue. As so many companies do when the financial dragon rears it's head, ESPN has chosen to cut staff, either through firings or attrition, rather than improve the product.

They're leaving for many reasons: retirement, dream jobs as AD of their alma mater, and chasing the ridiculous amounts of money FS1 is doling out. Why is it wrong for ESPN management to decide how much their talent is worth, and to not overpay them by huge percentages over that?? Happens in business all the time. If I told my boss another company offered me a 50% raise, guess what? He'd wish me luck at the new company.

How does it make sense if they've lost 10 million subscribers and billions in revenue?

So, the answer of regaining subs and lost revenue is to spend excessive amounts of money on talent?

It's safe to say that the losses are not due to the lack of coverage of certain sports. No one stopped watching ESPN because Barry Melrose is their only hockey analyst and they prop him up on SC for a few months a year.....

 

[Derwin0]

When I said, Something wrong with baseball, I was referring to espn guys talking about it.

Problem with ESPN and Baseball, is that baseball is more a local sports so to speak. It's best done by local (ie, biased) announcers. Otherwise the broadcasting is just boring, as there are mostly lulls in the sport.

 

[Jimbo]

Problem with ESPN and Baseball, is that baseball is more a local sports so to speak. It's best done by local (ie, biased) announcers. Otherwise the broadcasting is just boring, as there are mostly lulls in the sport.

I agree .... sadly ESPN thinks they belong to the yankees.

 

[Tampa8]

The thread went into two different ways, people are leaving/undesirable workplace and what's wrong with ESPN. Those two things can have an intersection and listening to local sports talk shows that intersection is ESPN purging people who have a different view than the company one or those people leaving on their own. As an example at least a couple of the executives who left and it's thought more were very much against the winner of the courage Espy award last year. They felt strongly it was a nothing more than ratings pick, that there were far more deserving people who overcame to excel in Sports. It had nothing to do with the person's change of Gender but were felt to make it seem like that was the only reason they were against it. There are more examples, including how ESPN leaves incorrect information on the website even after more information is available, again because the original story is more sensational than what was the actual facts after.

As others have posted they have become much more a social commentary or social guide to what is right and wrong than actually reporting sports. I rarely watch ESPN, I used to watch Sportscenter but it had become often unwatchable. They have some specials and shows that I understand and agree are meant to have some social comment. I like PTI and they surprise me sometimes by being a little more even handed, but even my other favorite ATH seems to have become non tolerant of any varying view of certain things.

 

[Ramy]

I agree .... sadly ESPN thinks they belong to the yankees.

They play the Red Sox/Yankees games every time they play it seems.

 

[harshness]

The thread went into two different ways, people are leaving/undesirable workplace and what's wrong with ESPN.

I submit that the intersection is relatively all-encompassing. You have to respect your employer and there needs to be a sense of pride in who you work for. With ESPN the big claim could be that they were the most expensive pay TV suite (when you consider that they advertise as heavily as any).

I also have a bad taste about their chasing of technology over talent.

 

[Jimbo]

They play the Red Sox/Yankees games every time they play it seems.

No it Seams, they DO.

 

[Rey]

 

[harshness]

Got that one all sewed up.