ESPN and the Bursting of the Sports Bubble

[Switter]

In the past five years ESPN has lost 11,346,000 subscribers according to Nielsen data.

 

ESPN is losing 10,000 subscribers every day so far in 2017. In the past six years they have lost 13 million subscribers and that subscriber loss is escalating each year. That's billions of dollars in lost revenue.

 

Every year for the next five years ESPN is spending more and bringing in less. You don't have to be Warren Buffett to see that's a business problem.

 

https://mises.org/blog/espn-and-bursting-sports-bubble

[Warrick]

They are just horrific outside of anything but a live sporting event. It's all crap, lot of the anchor's suck, everyone has to have that "special" personality, or be the ******, and ask the "tough question".

 

They beat EVERYTHING to death. I very rarely watch now, and I remember when they first came on air, was brilliant.

[larrybud]

On top of lost viewership, they've gotten into horrible contracts with the NFL and MLB. They've watered down the NFL with far too many games (that might be NFL's fault, not sure how that works).

[Sixcat]

I cut all cable in October 2011 and haven't missed a thing!

 

ESPN grossly overpaid for NCAA football, basketball, NBA, MLB and NFL broadcast rights. For example, ESPN is paying more than double any other broadcast company for NFL rights and they only have Monday Night Football. For that $8.8 billion dollar contract, they get one game per week, one wildcard game, unlimited highlights and NO Super Bowl. CBS paid $3.73 billion and Fox paid $4.27 billion and they get playoff and Super Bowl rights as well as highlights. NBC has a similar deal with the NFL as ESPN but with a huge caveat; NBC gets a Super Bowl every third year and they only paid $3.6 billion dollars.

 

Check it out for yourself.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_on_television

[Switter]

One must wonder how their demise will effect the live broadcasting of PGA & LPGA Tournaments & the income the players will derive.

 

No doubt ALL contracts for the broadcasting rights to every broadcasted sporting event will be highly diminished, meaning big pay cuts for the top players, Caddies, PGA/LPGA/USGA, the courses, and all of the unseen & hidden support industries & personnell, etc..

 

This will also flow negatively into the manufacturing & retail industry for all sporting goods... golf, soccer, bb, fb, tennis, etc..

 

To much of a good thing is usually associated with bubble metrics. Two or three new drivers & iron releases per season is a sure sign of a dieing bubble as manufacturers try to cover legacy costs incurred at the pinnacle of the bubble.

 

Its all tied to the strong $ anti-deflation policy bubble that began with the 1999 "Committee to Save the World" (Greenspan, Reuben & Summers) & the financialization of the U.S. & global economy. Credit Deflation is the soup du jour of the day as the disequalibriums between the real & financial economy has become untenable. The real economy can no longer support the sucking sound of the financial economy.

 

Sorry but in the real world BB pitchers, FB Q-backs & Golf pros are not [over]paid $50+ millions annually to play their respective sports when their fans earn $20 per hour!

 

Same thing is ocurring in the automobile industry, you cannot pay a man $80+ per hour plus benefits to build a car thats intended to be sold to man earning $20 per hour. A mathematical impossibility. The spreads are to far apart!

 

"Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered"

[Kuz013]

They are just horrific outside of anything but a live sporting event. It's all crap, lot of the anchor's suck, everyone has to have that "special" personality, or be the ******, and ask the "tough question".

 

They beat EVERYTHING to death. I very rarely watch now, and I remember when they first came on air, was brilliant.

 

100% this, Sportscenter used to be must watch every morning, about ten years ago it turned into a bunch of hacks trying to do comedy or create taglines, just became unwatchable. Shame really, starting to go the way of MTV, moving away from what made them great

[moonshine]

Let us not forget what/who is driving the machine?! Dan Patrick called mgmt "a village of idiots" years ago when he left. I'm on the verge of dumping cable as well...and what "they" charge for internet is open handed slap to the face. Let's all pool our money and start Golfbook...by invite only.:)

[King_Slender]

I think Tebow was the tipping point and that mentality is still it's problem to this day - even a couple weeks ago they had this actual headline/story:

 

 

Tim Tebow boosts average to .246 with three hits, including tripl

 

 

There is NOBODY that cares what Tim Tebow is doing in the minor leagues - he's a circus act. I guess I technically still pay for ESPN since I have Playstation Vue, but I think the reason it's irrelevant now is the internet. Nobody is waiting for a highlight show when everything pops up on Twitter.

[SoCalTitleist]

all the morning talk shows are garage and unwatchable. Mike and Mike stretch a 30min shot to 4hrs of mindless babble. Give me old school sportscenter that's all I need.

 

Like King Slender , the beat topics too death like Tebow and Lebron it gets old real quick.

[mguhler]

ESPN turned sports into soap operas. And all the other networks went along with it.

[BoogieThumper]

I'll watch ESPN again if they get rid of Stephen A Smith.............Im joking but getting rid of him would be an improvement.

[cvhookem63]

In the golden age of the internet that we are in, we have already seen all of the highlights that we want to see well before the 10pm sportscenter airs. I only watch espn for live sports now. I use Barstool Sports for everything else.

[masamitsu]

Reminds me when MTv first came out. I loved it, they showed all kind of music videos etc. Now it's just garbage! ESPN is following on the same track.....

[smashdn]

When they stopped being a sports highlights network they lost me. They also let the fact that they didn't have the rights to the live event sway their coverage.

 

For instance, they don't do live NHL so they rarely give it time of day save for the playoffs.

 

If they would just do live sports and a late sportscenter that would work for me. They could kill about 75% of the NFL shows they have and still cover it more than any other league as well.

 

Golf channel has a really good balance I believe of live events and studio shows. I like watching European Tour and the LPGA events they have. Wish they did more college and Walker Cup/Crump Cup/AM events too.

[masamitsu]

If I could stream the Golf Channel, I'd probably get rid of DirecTv.

[BoogieThumper]

If I could stream the Golf Channel, I'd probably get rid of DirecTv.

I know this is off topic but you should take a look at Directvnow................never going back to traditional cable.

[airjammer]

When I was on night shift I really liked watching First Take that is all I watched because every show after that was just the same topics talked about by different people. Sorry, there is no reason for Sportcenter anymore because you can find highlights of any event instantly from many other sources and not have to watch futbol highlights just to get to what you want to see. The day of reckoning is coming for all tv networks...we want to watch and pay for things that only apply to us. Unfortunately, it won't have us any money to do so because they have a monopoly on how the content is distributed.

[TheGulag]

Like other have said ESPN used to be on all the time for me, when I woke up while getting ready or when I got home. The orginal greats for me: Chis Bermen, Stuart Scott(RIP), Dan Patrick, Linda Cone and a few others I know im leaving out were the reason I enjoyed watching. They had personality that didnt seem forced and brought the sports and thats it. Once ESPN and even Sportscenter turned into asports version of celbrity news I was done with watching it.

[darredondo09]

In all fairness the numbers probably also reflect a trend of getting rid of cable. I know if it wasn't included in my rent I wouldn't purchase it separately when it runs $70-$100 for a basic option. I could pick up Netflix, Hulu, PGATour Live and HBO Go subscriptions for about $45-50 and stream most of the shows I want to watch and save some money.

 

But also ESPN is a dumpster fire.

[kmbean]

They are just horrific outside of anything but a live sporting event. It's all crap, lot of the anchor's suck, everyone has to have that "special" personality, or be the ******, and ask the "tough question".

 

They beat EVERYTHING to death. I very rarely watch now, and I remember when they first came on air, was brilliant.

 

Hit the NAIL on the HEAD.

[davechen]

In all fairness the numbers probably also reflect a trend of getting rid of cable. I know if it wasn't included in my rent I wouldn't purchase it separately when it runs $70-$100 for a basic option. I could pick up Netflix, Hulu, PGATour Live and HBO Go subscriptions for about $45-50 and stream most of the shows I want to watch and save some money.

 

But also ESPN is a dumpster fire.

 

Yeah, regardless of the quality of ESPN's content, the fundamentals of the market going against them. Used to be everyone had cable, and every cable subscriber was subsidizing their content, whether they were sports fans or not. But more and more non-sportsfans are willing to pay for ESPN or cable, so their base is eroding.

 

Also they're locked into these ridiculous contracts for sports: NFL, NBA, etc.

[PixlPutterman]

They cant even make a decent Sports Center Commercial anymore............

[SilverBullets]

Yeah I don't really see this as a programming issue as much as I see it as a trend in the entire cable TV industry. People are cutting the cord. Cable costs have become way too expensive and there are cheaper ways to view TV programming now. Pair that with the immediate 24 hour news coverage via social media and highlight shows are now pointless.

 

The drop in subscribers isn't solely because 'ESPN Sucks' and their programming is a joke. It's because people are cutting the cord. ESPN was making a significant portion of their revenue on people whom weren't even sports fans or were very casual sports fans. They were doing this because they forced cable companies to include them in all of their cable packages. Most of these subscribers didn't cut ESPN specifically, they cut cable.

 

There are really only 2 reasons to have cable today. 1 - It's easier to use right now than cutting the cord (having to have multiple subscriptions to get all the programming you want through different apps). 2 - To be able to view live events (Sports, News, and that's really it).

 

The market for the NFL, College Football, etc. drove those cost. I don't believe ESPN necessarily overpaid for them, it's what the market drove. ESPN has to pay those figures to get as much good live event programming as they can. Otherwise, there really is no reason to watch. If Amazon, or Twitter, or Hulu got rights to stream all of those live sporting events, not only would ESPN crumble, but cable companies in the US would be in serious jeopardy.

 

Ultimately, yes, I agree, ESPN has crap programming and crap commentators right now. They are staying afloat because of their live sports programming (which is really what we want to see). But, their subscription numbers aren't directly correlated with their programming and talent. It's correlated with cord cutters. ESPN needs to a take a long, hard, look at their business. It's got to be close to time for them offer a ESPN subscription service for cord cutters to be able to stream live sporting events. Even if that subscription is expensive, it's probably worth it at this point.

[ZAP]

Cancelled cable a while ago. Thought the only thing I might miss is sports.

I don't.

[MtlJeff]

There's probably a couple of reasons for it as mentioned, people going away from cable being one.

 

But also as mentioned, ESPN is absolutely terrible. Their opinion pieces on their site are usually garbage and often political, and their talking heads are insufferable.

 

If Zach Lowe didn't write for them I'd never go there

[airjammer]

Yeah I don't really see this as a programming issue as much as I see it as a trend in the entire cable TV industry. People are cutting the cord. Cable costs have become way too expensive and there are cheaper ways to view TV programming now. Pair that with the immediate 24 hour news coverage via social media and highlight shows are now pointless.

 

The drop in subscribers isn't solely because 'ESPN Sucks' and their programming is a joke. It's because people are cutting the cord. ESPN was making a significant portion of their revenue on people whom weren't even sports fans or were very casual sports fans. They were doing this because they forced cable companies to include them in all of their cable packages. Most of these subscribers didn't cut ESPN specifically, they cut cable.

 

There are really only 2 reasons to have cable today. 1 - It's easier to use right now than cutting the cord (having to have multiple subscriptions to get all the programming you want through different apps). 2 - To be able to view live events (Sports, News, and that's really it).

 

The market for the NFL, College Football, etc. drove those cost. I don't believe ESPN necessarily overpaid for them, it's what the market drove. ESPN has to pay those figures to get as much good live event programming as they can. Otherwise, there really is no reason to watch. If Amazon, or Twitter, or Hulu got rights to stream all of those live sporting events, not only would ESPN crumble, but cable companies in the US would be in serious jeopardy.

 

Ultimately, yes, I agree, ESPN has crap programming and crap commentators right now. They are staying afloat because of their live sports programming (which is really what we want to see). But, their subscription numbers aren't directly correlated with their programming and talent. It's correlated with cord cutters. ESPN needs to a take a long, hard, look at their business. It's got to be close to time for them offer a ESPN subscription service for cord cutters to be able to stream live sporting events. Even if that subscription is expensive, it's probably worth it at this point.

 

Amazing that I can have essentially a super computer that I can talk to people and get gps directions from in my pocket at all times and with a couple of gigs of data a month I pay $85 a month. Comcast and other cable companies want to charge me almost $200 a month just to watch Tv on four different sets in my house.. ridiculous

[GHIN n Juice]

The thing that turned me off to ESPN was the constant SEC football coverage. I get it, they're a great conference but damn! Watching the NASCAR hick interview all the SEC coaches and players in their lavish offices and locker rooms was gawd awful.

 

The constant NFL coverage is a bit much as well. They have what, 5 shows devoted just to the NFL.

 

Honestly, besides Baseball Tonight and the rare game here and there ESPN doesn't have a spot in my favorite channels.

[golfandfishing]

TLDR, but I stopped watching Sportscenter maybe 10 years ago. I want to see homeruns, diving catches, 60 yard TD runs and the like. This was the mighty sportscenter that you could watch 3x in a row. It became a recap of the days social media posts and other gossip. G'bye.

[Cajunmike]

I rarely watch anymore and their website is now littered with political garbage..along with their messaging. Can't we just watch sports? It's nauseating.

[CWilliams]

A little more traditional view from me why I dont watch ESPN anymore.

 

1) Michael Sam Courage award. Because he came out of the closet? Who cares if you are gay, he was a mediocre player at best who isn't even in the league anymore. They want to make such a big deal about treating a person for what they do and how they act and not their sexual orientation, but they gave him an award for the exact opposite reason of what they seek?

 

2) Bruce Jenner gets the same award. Its hard to watch a sports award show and explain this one to your 9yr old son. "Yes son, they are honoring him because he was a man, and now he's had surgeries to become a woman."

 

3) The constant coverage of Colin K. and people who are kneeling during the National Anthem instead of actually showing the flag and people who are respecting the country that we live in. They would concentrate on the "kneelers" the whole pre-game and occasionally show the flag and the person singing, just to spark more controversy and ratings. Sickening.