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News Article: ESPN layoffs

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alwayshavebeen

alwayshavebeen

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ESPN kind of reminds me of Sears. Growing up Sears was a giant in the retail world and then they decided to be all things to all people and forgot their bread and butter that was Craftsman and Kenmore. That didn't end so well.
Lately ESPN has decided that covering sports isn't enough, and that they have an obligation to teach us who we should admire and respect regardless of class and character. I don't think that will end well either.
 
rgw

rgw

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alwayshavebeen said:
ESPN kind of reminds me of Sears. Growing up Sears was a giant in the retail world and then they decided to be all things to all people and forgot their bread and butter that was Craftsman and Kenmore. That didn't end so well.
Lately ESPN has decided that covering sports isn't enough, and that they have an obligation to teach us who we should admire and respect regardless of class and character. I don't think that will end well either.
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In generalities you're right, but I think it is more of them just out-stripping their capacity for original content. They lost touch with the fact that their "stickiness" was due to their live sports contracts and when the money got tighter they had to shed things that weren't related to a good live sports product.

This is only the beginning. The over-the-top streaming future will be one without even a once-nightly Sportscenter much less daily shouting contests over the prior day's headlines. ESPN-as-an-app will be all about serving live sports and documentaries about sports (so they have a back catalogue that may entice people to not cancel during their personal "down season").

The vast majority of the commentators and analysts will be gone. They're only going to need pregame/halftime/postgame studio crews and the usual play-by-play+color+sideline combo for live sports. All of the beat reporters who can't fit into a spot for a crew's sideline/courtside reporter will be gone. They will probably end up going to a freelancer model for filling in their low-rent crews on a regional basis. Maybe Kevin Scarbinsky will get to do an Auburn game some day!
 
TIDE-HSV

TIDE-HSV

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rgw said:
In generalities you're right, but I think it is more of them just out-stripping their capacity for original content. They lost touch with the fact that their "stickiness" was due to their live sports contracts and when the money got tighter they had to shed things that weren't related to a good live sports product.

This is only the beginning. The over-the-top streaming future will be one without even a once-nightly Sportscenter much less daily shouting contests over the prior day's headlines. ESPN-as-an-app will be all about serving live sports and documentaries about sports (so they have a back catalogue that may entice people to not cancel during their personal "down season").

The vast majority of the commentators and analysts will be gone. They're only going to need pregame/halftime/postgame studio crews and the usual play-by-play+color+sideline combo for live sports. All of the beat reporters who can't fit into a spot for a crew's sideline/courtside reporter will be gone. They will probably end up going to a freelancer model for filling in their low-rent crews on a regional basis. Maybe Kevin Scarbinsky will get to do an Auburn game some day!
Click to expand...
I think you're pretty close to their new model...
 
TideMom2Boys

TideMom2Boys

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With the cutbacks...I wonder if they will make College Gameday shorter this year. I pretty much stopped watching it in the past couple years. I would rather watch SEC Nation.
 
L

LA4Bama

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CrimsonProf said:
Speaking of philosophy and empathy, there's a new book out by a Yale philosophy prof discussing how empathy is a bad thing. I'm eager to read it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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B1GTide said:
I heard about this - remember that he is a philosophy professor, so his job is really to get other interested in ideas. I doubt that he really believes what he is proposing. The #1 implication of a world without empathy is that the world is then populated by sociopaths. Now, we won't all turn into psychopaths because we become sociopaths - our conscience would prohibit that in most of us - but our society would crumble.

Also remember that empathy does not create action. We can see those starving children in commercials, feel terrible, and do nothing. Most do exactly that - nothing. Compassion and passion drive action - not empathy. Empathy is essential to humanity - it makes us human. Compassion and passion drive people to do things without considering the consequences.

Compassion and empathy are not the same thing.
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Bloom is a psychology prof. He is serious, but I haven't studied the book so I'm not exactly sure how he defines empathy either. Relative to the Danny kanell case, I'd say someone can be glad he was fired (because he did a bad job, or even just because they didn't enjoy watching him) while also having empathy for how that makes him and his family feel. If that's a fair account then someone could be glad he was fired without necessarily lacking empathy. It's different if someone is glad he is hurting.
 
B1GTide

B1GTide

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rgw said:
In generalities you're right, but I think it is more of them just out-stripping their capacity for original content. They lost touch with the fact that their "stickiness" was due to their live sports contracts and when the money got tighter they had to shed things that weren't related to a good live sports product.

This is only the beginning. The over-the-top streaming future will be one without even a once-nightly Sportscenter much less daily shouting contests over the prior day's headlines. ESPN-as-an-app will be all about serving live sports and documentaries about sports (so they have a back catalogue that may entice people to not cancel during their personal "down season").

The vast majority of the commentators and analysts will be gone. They're only going to need pregame/halftime/postgame studio crews and the usual play-by-play+color+sideline combo for live sports. All of the beat reporters who can't fit into a spot for a crew's sideline/courtside reporter will be gone. They will probably end up going to a freelancer model for filling in their low-rent crews on a regional basis. Maybe Kevin Scarbinsky will get to do an Auburn game some day!
Click to expand...
I would love for this to be true, but I doubt it will play out this way. Right now ESPN Inc. is seeing revenues decrease, but they are still profitable. They bought BamTech to help them develop a platform for delivering their product without the need for a cable subscription. But they continue to believe in their content, and that content is more op-ed than core sports.

IMO, they will have to actually become unprofitable for the board to step in and force content changes. They might actually choose to sell or spin off ESPN Inc. if it reaches that point. I assume that the day will come when this happens, but ESPN isn't going to fix this until they are forced to do so. By then it might be too late - depends on what their competitors do.
 
rgw

rgw

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B1GTide said:
I would love for this to be true, but I doubt it will play out this way. Right now ESPN Inc. is seeing revenues decrease, but they are still profitable. They bought BamTech to help them develop a platform for delivering their product without the need for a cable subscription. But they continue to believe in their content, and that content is more op-ed than core sports.

IMO, they will have to actually become unprofitable for the board to step in and force content changes. They might actually choose to sell or spin off ESPN Inc. if it reaches that point. I assume that the day will come when this happens, but ESPN isn't going to fix this until they are forced to do so. By then it might be too late - depends on what their competitors do.
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They may try but I think they're gonna find not many people are gonna load the app to watch First Take when the content has such a short shelf life.
 
4

4Q Basket Case

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TideMom2Boys said:
Looks like Mark May is out too. :mad2: He was one of my favorite analysts.
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Mark May is one of the guys whose opinions actually affect my thinking. While we don't always agree, I have huge respect for his thoughts and experience. Gotta love a guy who loves the linemen.

I'll actually follow him wherever he goes.
 
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