More on ESPN's Financial Troubles

[vhcat70]

Don't know how this can be good for SEC sports revenue.

"The simple truth of the matter is this — ESPN spent way too much on sports rights just as its cable and satellite subscriptions began to collapse. On track for $8 billion in programming costs in 2017, ESPN will rack up its 15 millionth lost subscriber since 2011. Every single day so far in 2017 over 10,000 people have left ESPN. The numbers are astonishing and the collapse is rapid. All those lost subscribers add up to big money — that’s over $1.3 billion a year in money that comes off ESPN’s books every year. And ESPN is on the hook for billions and billions a year for all the years ahead. That’s guaranteed payments to leagues that ESPN can’t escape no matter how many employees it fires.

As I’ve written before, if the current subscriber loss trajectory keeps up ESPN will begin losing money by 2021. And if the subscriber losses accelerate it will happen even sooner than that."

http://thefederalist.com/2017/04/26/the-real-story-behind-espns-wednesday-massacre/

 

[ukalumni00]

Another case of how eventually the sports bubble is going to burst. Coaches and athletes better load up their contracts now because I can see a time where the money won't be there like it has been in the past. Many fans are tired of paying ridiculous prices for tickets and concessions, dealing with obnoxious fans around them, high cable bills, etc.

 

[dallasg23]

They have like 20,000 channels. And lost subscribers?!? Everybody I know has at least 2 espn channel. Crazy stuff

 

[K_TIME]

Another case of how eventually the sports bubble is going to burst. Coaches and athletes better load up their contracts now because I can see a time where the money won't be there like it has been in the past. Many fans are tired of paying ridiculous prices for tickets and concessions, dealing with obnoxious fans around them, high cable bills, etc.

Agreed...the days of SEC contracts split amongst 14 schools is not going to be luxurious the next round...same of pro baseball, pro basketball, etc... About the only sport that may not be knocked so much is NFL. Their numbers are still crazy good and they lean moreso on non Cable networks which aren't experiencing the same declines in viewership.

 

[ukalumni00]

The "sport" I am glad I am not in charge of is NASCAR. Ratings have dropped bigly in the last 10 years and now you are losing your biggest star. Going to take a special person to turn that mess around.

 

[JDHoss]

The "sport" I am glad I am not in charge of is NASCAR. Ratings have dropped bigly in the last 10 years and now you are losing your biggest star. Going to take a special person to turn that mess around.

When their current TV deal runs out (in 2024 IIRC) NASCAR may be left sitting in the garage area and loading up their equipment just hoping they can make next week's race. I would think that right now it's the sport that's by far in the biggest trouble.

 

[KintuckyWildCayuts]

The "sport" I am glad I am not in charge of is NASCAR. Ratings have dropped bigly in the last 10 years and now you are losing your biggest star. Going to take a special person to turn that mess around.

I can't take you seriously using the word bigly. Was it sarcastic?

 

[ukalumni00]

I can't take you seriously using the word bigly. Was it sarcastic?

Yes

 

[Tskware]

Another case of how eventually the sports bubble is going to burst. Coaches and athletes better load up their contracts now because I can see a time where the money won't be there like it has been in the past. Many fans are tired of paying ridiculous prices for tickets and concessions, dealing with obnoxious fans around them, high cable bills, etc.

Been saying that for years. Another problem is people like me that DVR at least 50% of what I watch meaning I almost never see the ads that are paying the freight.

No one thinks that MLB, college football, pro golf, etc. are going the way of boxing or horse racing (to a lesser extent than boxing), but at some point there will be a top down implosion, meaning coaches, ADs, backup shortstops, etc., will have to come back to realistic salaries, ticket prices have already reached the absolute upper limit, IMO.

 

[football follies]

It's the younger generation that is cutting the cord. That means they won't likely sign up in the future either. I don't watch sportscenter anymore because it's not even about the games.

 

[PhattyJ4UK]

Been saying that for years. Another problem is people like me that DVR at least 50% of what I watch meaning I almost never see the ads that are paying the freight.

No one thinks that MLB, college football, pro golf, etc. are going the way of boxing or horse racing (to a lesser extent than boxing), but at some point there will be a top down implosion, meaning coaches, ADs, backup shortstops, etc., will have to come back to realistic salaries, ticket prices have already reached the absolute upper limit, IMO.

May be mistaken but pretty sure those that DVR get counted as long as it's viewed within a certain time frame.

 

[ukalum1988]

It's the younger generation that is cutting the cord. That means they won't likely sign up in the future either. I don't watch sportscenter anymore because it's not even about the games.

True. My 17 & 14 year old sons don't have near the interest in watching sports on TV that I did growing up.

 

[KintuckyWildCayuts]

May be mistaken but pretty sure those that DVR get counted as long as it's viewed within a certain time frame.

I don't know whether that is correct or not, but I can for sure tell you that when I DVR, I fast forward past all advertisements. Can't imagine I get counted, or if I do, the stats are incorrect.

 

[redbudman]

The Sportcenter at 6:00 p.m. EST is an absolute joke! It is a bad variety show!

 

[CB3UK]

Streaming viewer focused content is the future. ESPN upped its contract ante when it should have been focused on fixing ESPN3 and eliminating its terrible shows.

 

[Soupbean]

Another case of how eventually the sports bubble is going to burst. Coaches and athletes better load up their contracts now because I can see a time where the money won't be there like it has been in the past. Many fans are tired of paying ridiculous prices for tickets and concessions, dealing with obnoxious fans around them, high cable bills, etc.

Everytime I would hear about the cost of a new broadcast package I would ask, "How do they expect to make that up?". Said the same when I heard about players contracts getting bigger and bigger. My logic was how can companies and advertisers keep ponying up that kind of money when the economy is not growing. Did they really not understand that in order to pay that much the revenue has to start with the consumer buying more and more and more to pay for it? There's not a magic bucket of money out there it all starts with people buying more of advertisers stuff and that hasn't been happening for a long time. Blows my mind.

 

[childe]

ESPN started out showing PKA Full Contact Karate, Australian Rules Football, bowling and rodeos. From there, they have bought prime access to every US pro sport, a huge chunk of college sports, and for the most part they control the Bowls.

Instead of carefully selecting what areas they wanted to specialize in, they wanted it all no matter the cost to outbid CBS, NBC, Fox and regionals. They created their own bubble with huge subscriber fees and it's coming back to destroy them.

 

[Cats78]

I thought that ESPN was failing because they spew too much liberal political correctness and were offending conservative folks?

 

[childe]

It doesn't have to be an either/or. Everything thing ESPN is doing nowadays is adding kerosene to the fire.

 

[Oak_Hill]

I thought that ESPN was failing because they spew too much liberal political correctness and were offending conservative folks?

That is part of it lol

 

[dckala2]

I think this hits on wealth inequality in America as well. All these salaries have become so inflated yet "ordinary" people are seeing the same pay grade for the past 50 years.

I love sports, but when a baseball player started making 200 mill for ten years I had to stop caring.

 

[jauk11]

I think this hits on wealth inequality in America as well. All these salaries have become so inflated yet "ordinary" people are seeing the same pay grade for the past 50 years.

I love sports, but when a baseball player started making 200 mill for ten years I had to stop caring.

Yeah, that's when I gave up the ghost, and I think ARod's $200,000,000 contract was almost 20 years ago. Don't watch the pros in football, my first love, unless a UK player is playing, and then he has to be a star, Cobb about the only one right now. Warford doing great, but not enough action for me.

But hey, how about UK's baseball AND softball teams, both doing great, watched the baseball team win (on ESPN's SEC network, naturally) yesterday (three of four from top ten teams, and they CRUSHED #2 Transfer U) and followed the softball teams victory (top 20) on the Official UK Sports network, (broadcast on WLAP)..

 

[ukalum1988]

The Sportcenter at 6:00 p.m. EST is an absolute joke! It is a bad variety show!

Agreed. It's completely unwatchable.

 

[mrschwump]

I thought that ESPN was failing because they spew too much liberal political correctness and were offending conservative folks?

I thought ESPN took this action because of a failed business product and overpaying a bunch of talking heads. But actually it was because the people terminated were too liberal, not conservative enough? Or were they not liberal enough, too conservative? Just curious

 

[JasonS.]

ESPN has made their big steaming bet on MLBAMTech and pivoting to streaming focus later this year. That's when things will get really interesting.

Doesn't change the fact they've overpaid for content and profit margins will likely narrow, but Disney/ESPN/MLB is going to dominate OTT sports streaming.

 

[Cats78]

I thought ESPN took this action because of a failed business product and overpaying a bunch of talking heads. But actually it was because the people terminated were too liberal, not conservative enough? Or were they not liberal enough, too conservative? Just curious

I was saying that according to this board and many others, ESPN took action because good, honest, conservative people like us were fed up with their politics and left leaning BS, so we quit watching and they lost tons of viewers. They should have just stuck to sports, right?

That said, the more I think about it....I'm curious too, but I bet you are right. The conservative folks are the real victims here. If you look at the 100+ people that got fired, they were all clearly too conservative and not liberal enough. Time to make room for ultra libtards!! Ugh!

 

[T-Bickle]

I don't know whether that is correct or not, but I can for sure tell you that when I DVR, I fast forward past all advertisements. Can't imagine I get counted, or if I do, the stats are incorrect.

I'm the same way, fast forward through all commercials.

If they were smart they'd start filming all their commercials in super slo-mo so that when you fast forward it plays in normal speed.

 

[mrschwump]

I was saying that according to this board and many others, ESPN took action because good, honest, conservative people like us were fed up with their politics and left leaning BS, so we quit watching and they lost tons of viewers. They should have just stuck to sports, right?

That said, the more I think about it....I'm curious too, but I bet you are right. The conservative folks are the real victims here. If you look at the 100+ people that got fired, they were all clearly too conservative and not liberal enough. Time to make room for ultra libtards!! Ugh!

The poor conservative has been the victim since the beginning of time. Whoa is the conservative!

 

[law1127]

Maybe the liberals can bail out ESPN with an obamacare for the network,no matter the viewership numbers!

 

[mrschwump]

Maybe the liberals can bail out ESPN with an obamacare for the network,no matter the viewership numbers!

Maybe they'll build a wall around the World Wide Leader to keep the libs out....or keep the conservatives in.

 

[RV2]

The simple truth is ESPN got too political and more to the point, another lefty opinion outlet.

 

[Tskware]

The simple truth is ESPN got too political and more to the point, another lefty opinion outlet.

Honestly, political content on ESPN has nothing to do with it, more like about 100 other reasons for its decline.

I wonder if they could stream ads in the bottom of the screen or in the lower 1/4 of the screen, so guys like me can't use DVR to avoid ads?

 

[Cats78]

The simple truth is ESPN got too political and more to the point, another lefty opinion outlet.

That's what I've been saying! You're such an intelligent person! It's the damn liberals that run ESPN and they didn't stick to sports and that is why they are failing! Yay! Yay to lost jobs and yay to the lefty stuff failing! Wahoo!

 

[truebluewildcat]

This is why SEC needs to start hedging by strategically adding programs that will bring the fans, alumni bases, and overall viewership.

As I stated in another post and will continue to state, the SEC needs to finish off their westward expansion and conquer the east texas triangle of Houston, SMU, and Baylor. That little slice of pie is one of the more populated regions in the country and growing. Those 3 programs have large alumni bases and the people of Texas are rabid sports fans. Bringing those schools into the fold will ensure that the SEC gets a premium on TV deals.

ESPN may not want or be able to pay that premium, but somebody will.

I would agree with the sports bubble conversation as well. However, I do think that it will effect pro sports to a greater degree than college sports and that may actually help drive up the price for the best and most competitive upper ranks of college athletics. SEC is going to be able to go to espn or whomever with some leverage due to the pro product not being quite as profitable but the collegiate game being maybe even more popular than ever before. Which is why Football needs to hurry up on expanding the playoffs, which will increase it's value even more.

 

[kev69]

I thought that ESPN was failing because they spew too much liberal political correctness and were offending conservative folks?

Definitely a big part of it.

Leave politics out of sports. I don't care what their views are.

 

[Cats78]

Definitely a big part of it.

Leave politics out of sports. I don't care what their views are.

What are "their views"? Does ESPN talk about politics a lot? And yeah, you do care what their views are. You perceive them to be not your views, and that's why you have a problem with it. It's ok to admit that.

That said...I'm the same way my man! I don't like that lefty PC crap and I hate it when Matt Jones forces his political stuff and I hate it that ESPN tried to push its political beliefs on everyone and they should fail! Long live good conservative folks like us! If ESPN was pushing right wing conservatism I would have just as much problem with it, just like I'm sure you would!!

 

[hmt5000]

Sports should be like the bar... no politics, no religion. I don't know one person who watches ESPN for anything but live games and 30 for 30. And I know die hard sports fans.

 

[football follies]

I don't watch any of their stupid arguing talk shows. Just show sports.

 

[southindycat]

I think this hits on wealth inequality in America as well. All these salaries have become so inflated yet "ordinary" people are seeing the same pay grade for the past 50 years.

I love sports, but when a baseball player started making 200 mill for ten years I had to stop caring.

Need to make professional sports franchises state owned/run affairs, control player salaries, and turn profits to the public treasury... kind of like state lotteries. Yeah, I'm just a crazy Commie.

 

[jauk11]

I'm the same way, fast forward through all commercials.

If they were smart they'd start filming all their commercials in super slo-mo so that when you fast forward it plays in normal speed.

Dang, don't give them any ideas.