News Article: ESPN layoffs

CrimsonNagus

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What is considered affordable? Ranger tickets must be high because I've been looking into Braves tickets (I'd like to check out the new stadium) and they have tickets that start out as low as $7 for some games. That's very affordable IMO.
 

The Ols

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Going to the new stadium tomorrow night!!! (Billy Joel...LOL, sorry, Non-Sports.)

What is considered affordable? Ranger tickets must be high because I've been looking into Braves tickets (I'd like to check out the new stadium) and they have tickets that start out as low as $7 for some games. That's very affordable IMO.
 

selmaborntidefan

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My boys want to go to a Texas Rangers game. My sister lives in the area and she sent me ticket prices. It would cost us dang near an arm and a leg to go. And that's just taking two of my boys. Lord knows how much it would be if I took all of them.
Define an arm and a leg. I sat right behind home plate last night for $39 at the Rangers-Twins game (row 17). If I got an upper deck seat it would have been about $10 after the fees.

Of course - it depends upon WHEN and OPPONENT, too. Let me know, maybe I can help you with some info.
 

selmaborntidefan

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What is considered affordable? Ranger tickets must be high because I've been looking into Braves tickets (I'd like to check out the new stadium) and they have tickets that start out as low as $7 for some games. That's very affordable IMO.
It depends on WHO they're playing and WHAT DAY of the week the game is.

I saw the KC Royals here on Sunday and sat behind the plate in row 29 for about $78. Last night I saw the Twins from row 17 behind the plate for $39. If I had sat up in the nosebleed seats (my usual horizon years ago), it would have been about $10 per ticket.
 

RollTide_HTTR

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On that topic, I can't get ESPN or any other streaming service to work with Google Chrome. I can do Netflix or Hulu just fine but those of course are apps. These other services just won't work well at all:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah baseball used to be affordable for anyone who wanted to take in a game but not so much anymore. It's really gotten crazy.
Baseball is way more affordable than NFL or NBA tickets. Unless you are going to a bad game Wizards tickets are pretty expensive and Redskins tickets are insane especially considering they haven't done anything in the past 20 years.
 

TideEngineer08

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CNN, Fox News, and others have done well copying the ESPN format over the last decade. I wouldn't bet on two people arguing over news items to disappear.
But I think that works for them because people tune into those networks to specifically see just that. I don't think sports fans tune into ESPN, anxious to see two or three bloviating talking heads.

Having said that though, it's true that ESPN took on WAY too much debt with the rights fees with the NFL/College Football/NBA/etc. This isn't over, I'm afraid. Because the cord-cutting is going to continue.

But one last comment/question. While we may not like the opinions of someone like Danny Kannell, he's not getting paid a TON. Who at ESPN made the decisions to spend so much money on rights fees and what is their salaries? And is that person/persons still employed? I bet they are.
 

4Q Basket Case

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On March 11, I posted this on another thread. It still holds:

Re: ESPN cutting on air jobs in latest effort to stop the bleeding.


Well, they did this to themselves, at both the network level and the individual level.

At the network level, it was hubris, pure and simple. Being the self-proclaimed "World Wide Leader," in sports programmin.g, they continually overpaid for content, knowing they could just pass it along in ever-increasing fees.

But they lost track of the fact that the free markets will work. Sometimes, they're a bit slow. Sometimes, as in this case, they need technological breakthroughs -- in no small measure incented by the profits to be made by undercutting prices that ESPN had artificially jacked up.

So they do work over the long haul. And now, the WWL is on the receiving end of that cycle.

At the individual level, the talent (to many of whom, the label applies only loosely) has the same hubris. Fueled by incredible contracts, which are in turn fueled by the self-destructive fees already mentioned, they honestly believe they are irreplaceable.

Then, the individuals took their hubris to a entirely different level, compounding their mistake by shoving their political beliefs down the throats of the audience. They re-compounded that mistake by being incredibly condescending to whoever disagreed with them. Slanted, one-sided pieces on the air, and on the other side of the camera, freezing out colleagues who don't toe the party line.

As a corollary to their belief of infallibility, they truly believe that people who don't see things their way are stupid. If those people are naive enough to state another view publicly, they're clearly so benighted as to be beneath contempt. And the "talent" is going to tell the world as much on their bully platform.

Both the corporation and the individuals were drunk on their feelings of invincibility. They honestly believed they were so incredibly good that they could say anything, do anything, and charge anything for their services, and there was not a blessed thing anybody could do about it.

In doing so, they alienated a whole segment of the political spectrum, as well as anybody -- liberal or conservative -- who doesn't like being gouged.

For a while, they could party on because their audience didn't have alternatives. Now it does, and the bill comes due. After decades of acting like drunk chimpanzees comes the whanging type of hangover where even your hair hurts.

I cry no tears for this crew.
 

RTR91

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But one last comment/question. While we may not like the opinions of someone like Danny Kannell, he's not getting paid a TON. Who at ESPN made the decisions to spend so much money on rights fees and what is their salaries? And is that person/persons still employed? I bet they are.
Saw a tweet on the reasoning the cuts were made about a changing climate. The person said "that falls on leadership. good leaders adapt to the changes."
 

RollTide_HTTR

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But I think that works for them because people tune into those networks to specifically see just that. I don't think sports fans tune into ESPN, anxious to see two or three bloviating talking heads.

Having said that though, it's true that ESPN took on WAY too much debt with the rights fees with the NFL/College Football/NBA/etc. This isn't over, I'm afraid. Because the cord-cutting is going to continue.

But one last comment/question. While we may not like the opinions of someone like Danny Kannell, he's not getting paid a TON. Who at ESPN made the decisions to spend so much money on rights fees and what is their salaries? And is that person/persons still employed? I bet they are.
This is a great post. I would love to know who made those decisions and how high up they are.

Can we also just say that its probably good for society if Disney isn't the leader in sports media :)
 

deliveryman35

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imo, this is typical of a large originally growing corporation, expanding with bigger contracts, and having to pay long time employees, retirement, benefits, and raises. there are many jocks out there that will take less money and be a comedy on espn. they payment to major sports is killing them with the drop of subscribers. maybe they ought to set term limits for employees. the amount of knowledge and personality is really dropping.
Actually their cost for hiring and retaining on-air talent is considerably less than their cost that they pay for broadcasting rights. THAT is ultimately going to be their downfall because it's a failed business model in the current environment. Espn at some point made the bet that by gobbling up all the major broadcasting rights that it would insulate them from competition--instead they vastly overcommitted and are basically drowning in debt. The only way I see how they can survive is if they can get out from under their NFL and NBA commitments.
 
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cuda.1973

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TBF, several of them are writers, not TV personalities.
Instead, they will get others to contribute free content, like this:

http://www.espn.com/espnw/voices/article/19201723/five-poets-new-feminism

Those hoping they will lay off the SJW nonsense, and other political crap, may be disappointed.

(I am assuming it is "free" content. If not, all the money they saved sacking all the hockey writers can surely cover that stuff.)

I'm going to naively hope they turn to real sports analysis and not double down on the canned, manufactured two guys argue the opposite sides of an issue just because approach that's gotten them here.
See above. Besides, who doesn't like to watch a good train wreck, every now and again? Folks love to watch carnage. How else do you explain folks watching NASCAR? (Or, as it is known around here: wrasslin' on wheels.)
 

cuda.1973

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But one last comment/question. While we may not like the opinions of someone like Danny Kannell, he's not getting paid a TON. Who at ESPN made the decisions to spend so much money on rights fees and what is their salaries? And is that person/persons still employed? I bet they are.
Probably the same type of "leaders" that decide the way to help the bottom line is to do away the R&D dept.

First step on the way to irrelevancy and bankruptcy. (Yes, I speak from experience!)

BTW, wanna bet Kannell made more money here, than any of us? (Excludes NYBF, since he is no longer "here". He is probably everywhere, at the same time, just not here.)

Anyone who does lose their job can do the same thing the rest of us have done, when our job vanished: do something else. OK, granted, it is more likely than not something not nearly as good, which pays a lot less. Deal with it, bub. We all did.

Don't see anyone crying for us. Including us: we are too busy trying to keep going.

The cost of hubris is steep. Tough garbanzo beans.
 

lowend

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Actually their cost for hiring and retaining on-air talent is considerably less than their cost that they pay for broadcasting rights. THAT is ultimately going to be their downfall because it's a failed business model in the current environment.
And what's going to happen to all of these universities that went into debt on facilities upgrades when the networks stop offering so much for the broadcast rights? It's not going to be good at all.
 

cuda.1973

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And what's going to happen to all of these universities that went into debt on facilities upgrades when the networks stop offering so much for the broadcast rights? It's not going to be good at all.

That is an entirely different problem. The mass spending spree, in higher education, extends far beyond just the sports world.

Submitted for your approval: the housing bubble.

(And guess what all bubbles eventually do. Wonder who will pay the piper? Hint: the usual fall guy.)
 

deliveryman35

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Clay Travis( I know, he's an idiot when it comes to a lot of things) made an interesting point: only 4 guys have ever made $30 million/yr( inflation -adj.) to play basketball--Jordan, K Bryant, L James, and....Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies. How is it possible that a guy like Conley gets that kind of money? The NBA's very generous contract with espn.
 

theballguy

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Am I to understand there is a serious sports and entertainment bubble? Are these guys finally going to realize that they are not worth what they've getting paid? Today is a day I am glad I do work in a non-sexy segment of IT -- content and document management. Man, it is so unexciting but it's necessary at so many companies. I would like to see what a lot of these guys are now going to do to put food on the table. If DK moved to Connecticutt, I know it's not cheap. Hope he didn't buy a mansion. At any rate, it's not all bad. I've been laid off 6 times in my professional career. Each time, I was able to find something better. I don't feel bad for them.
 

CrimsonForce

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Clay Travis( I know, he's an idiot when it comes to a lot of things) made an interesting point: only 4 guys have ever made $30 million/yr( inflation -adj.) to play basketball--Jordan, K Bryant, L James, and....Mike Conley of the Memphis Grizzlies. How is it possible that a guy like Conley gets that kind of money? The NBA's very generous contract with espn.
It's because Conley resigned with the team that drafted him which enables him to make more money over a longer period of time. The NBA allows this to discourage all the good free agents to team up together (see Miami heat big 3 w/Lebron, Bosh and Wade). So, essentially a player gets rewarded for resigning with the team that drafted him. Most players don't do that though. The one's you mentioned - Conley, Bryant and LeBron did.

IIRC, a free agent leaving the team that drafted him can get a max deal of 4 years/$80 million. However, a player signing with the team that drafted him can get 6 years/$180 million. Also, this isn't like NFL contracts. NBA contracts are fully guaranteed..
 
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RTR91

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It's because Conley resigned with the team that drafted him which enables him to make more money over a longer period of time. The NBA allows this to discourage all the good free agents to team up together (see Miamai heat big 3 w/Lebron, Bosh and Wade). So, essentially a player gets rewarded for resigning with the team that drafted him. Most players don't do that though. The one's you mentioned - Conley, Bryant and LeBron did..
This plus teams have to spend the money. I've seen/heard some say this is why guys end up getting over paid. Teams are punished if they don't spend a certain amount.
 

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