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ESPN layoffs

ESPN pulled the love letter to the cop killer written by the Kentucky professor.

But only because there were so many complaints across the country about it.

I'm no conservative, yet even I can't believe how tone deaf ESPN has become in recent years to who their audience is. They really couldn't have figured out before those complaints that it's not a good idea for the network to be celebrating someone who murdered a cop and then escaped justice by running off to Cuba?

Criminy, espn, do you not have any clue what the typical American sports fan looks like? Why do you keep seemingly trying to antagonize the customers you need most?
 
But only because there were so many complaints across the country about it.

I'm no conservative, yet even I can't believe how tone deaf ESPN has become in recent years to who their audience is. They really couldn't have figured out before those complaints that it's not a good idea for the network to be celebrating someone who murdered a cop and then escaped justice by running off to Cuba?

Criminy, espn, do you not have any clue what the typical American sports fan looks like? Why do you keep seemingly trying to antagonize the customers you need most?
Couldn't agree more.
I never watch that network unless there's a live game I can't see anywhere else.
 
nothing against some of these names but when ESPN says they are cutting the high paid on air talent, I don't think of Dana O' Neil

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Among those fired:

  • Ed Werder - NFL
  • Jeremy Crabtree - College Football Recruiting
  • Brett McMurphy - College Football
  • Austin Ward - Big Ten Football
  • Jesse Temple - Big Ten Football
  • Paul Kuharsky - Titans Writer (will be leaving in July)
  • Dana O'Neil - College Basketball
  • Eamonn Brennan - College Basketball
  • Mark Saxon - Baseball
  • Jim Bowden - MLB analyst
  • Scott Burnside - Hockey
  • Pierre LeBrun - Hockey
  • Joe McDonald- Hockey
  • Mike Goodman - Soccer
  • Brendan Fitzgerald - ESPNU Anchor
"The Hollywood Reporter" is reporting Ryen Russillo, Karl Ravech and Hannah Storm will have roles "significantly reduced."

I guess I was expecting names of guys on the SEC /Big 10/ Pac 12 channels that host gameday and such. Maybe they don't make much money

nothing against some of these names but when ESPN says they are cutting the high paid on air talent, I don't think of Dana O' Neil

-------------

Among those fired:

  • Ed Werder - NFL
  • Jeremy Crabtree - College Football Recruiting
  • Brett McMurphy - College Football
  • Austin Ward - Big Ten Football
  • Jesse Temple - Big Ten Football
  • Paul Kuharsky - Titans Writer (will be leaving in July)
  • Dana O'Neil - College Basketball
  • Eamonn Brennan - College Basketball
  • Mark Saxon - Baseball
  • Jim Bowden - MLB analyst
  • Scott Burnside - Hockey
  • Pierre LeBrun - Hockey
  • Joe McDonald- Hockey
  • Mike Goodman - Soccer
  • Brendan Fitzgerald - ESPNU Anchor
"The Hollywood Reporter" is reporting Ryen Russillo, Karl Ravech and Hannah Storm will have roles "significantly reduced."

I guess I was expecting names of guys on the SEC /Big 10/ Pac 12 channels that host gameday and such. Maybe they don't make much money
Hate to see Hannah Storm in a reduced role...we need to more of her!
 
A lot of what is said here is anecdotal evidence. The kind of stories that get huge, get that way because the public makes it that way, not because the producer of the story made them that way. These social justice stories get more than enough attention from the public who do want to hear them that it justifies the resources in producing them. If the company feels like there's money to be made, then that's what they're going with. I highly doubt the executives at ESPN are all sitting around thinking up ideas on how they can push the "liberal agenda."
I disagree. Pushing the leftist agenda is second nature to them...they don't have to consciously think about it. Perhaps ESPN feels there is money to be made, but obviously their bias is blinding them to the fact that not that many people agree with their narrative. The proof is in the ratings. Alienating 50% of your viewer base by pushing a political agenda down their throats is never good business.
 
It's almost as if the company consists of way more white people or something.

You guys can stretch as hard and far as you want to make this political, but you'll still be wrong. ESPN is struggling because they extended themselves to a billion networks/stations at a time when everything was growing and they didn't forsee the explosion of streaming services.

Now, people are cutting the cord (and keeping ESPN) but ESPN's contracts are structured to pay them through cable subscribers, not streaming customers.

The reason the product is so weak is because there isn't enough content to fill 24 hour days, 365 days a year, on 8 channels, with content. There just aren't that many games or sports. So you end up with poker and debate shows and fifty mock draft programs because *something* has to be on. Yes, that includes more time for social issues reporting.

Twenty years ago they didn't need to fill all that time, so things like that got pushed to the side more. We also live in an increasingly connected world, and ESPN would be stupid to pretend that people aren't aware of or discussing those issues.
Or just maybe sports folks want to tune in to see/hear sports on what they used to know as the sports leader. Sometimes we WAY over analyze things and it's never as complicated as some think. People it's easier to read what's going on if you just back your eyes from one inch from the paper and see the easy big picture.
 
Careful with that question. You'll trigger a lot of people to ask "Why is it always about race?"
He brought up race, I just dont care to always have to hear about everywhere I go.You didn't call nothing, you should have told him that. Nobody wants to hear about that crap leave it somewhere else Nostradamus.
 
What do sports news outlets do when the athletes become political or make some kind of political statement? Do they not report that story just so they can stick to no politics? C'mon now. Several political topics are going to surface on the network because they will matter to athletes.
They should down play it and stick to sports. Athletes should shut up and play
 
Fox Sports closing in.

But think about how tone deaf espn is...look at Turner broadcasting even, like inside the nba. That's a damn good show, better than any analysis, panel show espn has. You have ppl that know what their talking about and it's entertaining.
 
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"I hate ESPN" isn't a particularly recent opinion. ESPN specialized in mindless, repetitive drivel going back decades now. The leftist gobbledygook was a last ditch effort to draw in viewers, especially cord cutting Millennials, in order to save themselves from massive contracts with NBA, NFL, and other leagues on a diminishing platform. Their failure to adjust to an evolving market doomed them.
 
He brought up race, I just don't care to always have to hear about it everywhere I go.You didn't call anything. You should have told him that. Nobody wants to hear about that crap. Leave it somewhere else, Nostradamus.

I totally called it. As soon as someone mentions race, someone else will always respond with asking "why is it always about race?" And then it happened like clockwork. I don't see what the big deal is that someone postulates that race could possibly be a factor in a situation without other people automatically being put off by the mere mention of it.
 
They should down play it and stick to sports. Athletes should shut up and play

Should we have told the same thing to Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jackie Robinson, and Bill Russell?

What about Tim Tebow, Curt Schilling, or Tony Dungy?
 
Should we have told the same thing to Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jackie Robinson, and Bill Russell?

What about Tim Tebow, Curt Schilling, or Tony Dungy?

Personally, I don't care what any of their political views are. I watch sports for sports, not politics, social commentary or religion. Just my opinion though.
 
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Personally, I don't care what any of their political views are. I watch sports for sports, not politics, social commentary or religion. Just my opinion though.

Same with me, social issues are very low on my priority list and once politics invaded my happy place of sports, I pretty much quit watching. I don't think I watched any NFL games (maybe one or two), maybe only a few times on ESPN if there was a Kentucky game on. I guess they are realizing people can just turn the channel while sitting in their living room no matter how much they tried to shove political views down our throats.
 
I have no problem with them enforcing a non compete if they pay the remainder of my contract.

Now if they let me go with no contract payout, I wouldn't think twice about breaking a non-compete to pay the bills.
 
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Some of the former employees might have to wait as long as 5 years before they can work at another network.
 
It gets even worse for some current and former employees. Many current employees have had to agree to new contracts worth a fraction of their old contracts in order to keep their jobs. And many former employees will find that they're under non-compete clauses for some time to come, blocking them from working elsewhere.

http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2017/05/01/Media/ESPN.aspx?
First part of that piece:

"In the weeks before ESPN laid off 100 anchors, reporters and analysts, one anchor renegotiated a salary that paid one-fourth of the previous deal. The hope was that a smaller salary would keep the anchor from being laid off. It worked.

In March, more than a month before the layoffs were announced, a talent agent approached a rival network executive to see if there were any openings for his client. The agent said ESPN was looking to cut his client’s salary by more than 60 percent."


That's pretty much wow. 75% pay cut, 60% pay cut.....And the column makes a good point, the market has changed, no one besides ESPN (except FS1) really needs a full time MLB Reporter, for example, so there's really no place for a lot of these guys to go. One more example of an ironic twist of fate pulling the rug right out from under ya. A generation ago, newspapers and sports reporters had to face a hard new reality: there really wasn't much a need for people to wait for the morning paper when they could simply get the score and watch the highlights on television (mostly, ESPN). An industry that had been on solid footing for a century was suddenly very vulnerable. Now, a mere 20 years later or so, the guys at ESPN suddenly have to face a hard new reality: there really isn't much need for people to wait for SportsCenter to give the particular score or highlight they are interested in when they can simply go to their smartphone and see it now. And a network that had been on very solid footing even 5 years ago is suddenly very vulnerable......
 
Totally get that they're getting paid. And ESPN should because they're obligated to do so.

What I'm saying is some of these people are going to have an even harder time finding work elsewhere because they will be kept off screen for a long time until their contracts end and could become forgotten.
 
So, consistent with one of the themes of this thread, just went to espn.com. First piece is about female athletes struggling with their own femininity, and right below it - a "Body Image Feature from ESPNW" - is a piece about a the struggles of a former gymnast (not as an athlete, presumably, but from a 'body image' perspective). Right below that is a feature piece from The Undefeated, a personal account of Draymond Green about being called the N word.....

Does that bother me? No, I may roll my eyes a bit, but I don't click on it, so I don't care. But that's what people are talking about when they say "Just give us the sports, and leave the social commentary out of it."......I wonder if they did a front page feature piece on athletes falsely accused of sexual harassment/battery due to the unconstitutional aspects of some parts of Title IX administration, how that would go over.....I wouldn't read that either, but my guess is a lot of folks who don't really care about ESPN's politics might suddenly decide they do care.
 
Some of the former employees might have to wait as long as 5 years before they can work at another network.
If said employees are getting paid for those five years then I can see it. If they were fired or laid off and have that in their contracts they need a new lawyer or agent. I can't believe they can't go to another network if they aren't getting paid by ESPN!
 
In an effort to stay consistent, ESPN's new reorganization focus is: ONE DUKE/UNC nation - only Duke and UNC alums are allowed to retain their jobs or be considered for future employment.
 
If said employees are getting paid for those five years then I can see it. If they were fired or laid off and have that in their contracts they need a new lawyer or agent. I can't believe they can't go to another network if they aren't getting paid by ESPN!
Non competes aren't worth the ink they're printed with.
 
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