Rise and Fall of ESPN

[MullinMayhem]

It's been a bit quiet on the college hoops front, so I figured this would be an interesting discussion. It's amazing how quickly ESPN went from beloved and sports-focused to more of a TMZ rag hated by most sports fans. If you read the comments sections on most ESPN headlines on social media, they routinely get torn apart for focusing on politics and social issues rather than sports. When ESPN was mostly about Sports Center, they were beloved. It wasn't that long ago really. Most recently what really raised my eyebrows was how they have been condemning McGregor and Mayweather for talking trash to each other before...you guessed it...a fight! They have really gone off the deep end with the virtue signalling. When you can't even let men be men competing and talking trash anymore, you have lost it. They seem hellbent on infusing estrogen into a very macho sport. I can only imagine modern day ESPN covering Roman gladiator battles if they can't handle trash talk before a fight. ESPN has completely lost its base. This shift is actually good for FS1 IMO, as they leave the virtue signalling and social issues out. They just give you sports. More eyeballs away from ESPN means more eyeballs on FS1 I would think. Time to take advantage of this.

[stever20]

It's been a bit quiet on the college hoops front, so I figured this would be an interesting discussion. It's amazing how quickly ESPN went from beloved and sports-focused to more of a TMZ rag hated by most sports fans. If you read the comments sections on most ESPN headlines on social media, they routinely get torn apart for focusing on politics and social issues rather than sports. When ESPN was mostly about Sports Center, they were beloved. It wasn't that long ago really. Most recently what really raised my eyebrows was how they have been condemning McGregor and Mayweather for talking trash to each other before...you guessed it...a fight! They have really gone off the deep end with the virtue signalling. When you can't even let men be men competing and talking trash anymore, you have lost it. They seem hellbent on infusing estrogen into a very macho sport. I can only imagine modern day ESPN covering Roman gladiator battles if they can't handle trash talk before a fight. ESPN has completely lost its base. This shift is actually good for FS1 IMO, as they leave the virtue signalling and social issues out. They just give you sports. More eyeballs away from ESPN means more eyeballs on FS1 I would think. Time to take advantage of this.

Um, I heard a lot of FS1 commentators railing against the McGregor/Mayweather stuff.

And biggest news this week was Michael Vick on FS1 saying that Kaepernick needs to cut his hair.

[DudeAnon]

It's been a bit quiet on the college hoops front, so I figured this would be an interesting discussion. It's amazing how quickly ESPN went from beloved and sports-focused to more of a TMZ rag hated by most sports fans. If you read the comments sections on most ESPN headlines on social media, they routinely get torn apart for focusing on politics and social issues rather than sports. When ESPN was mostly about Sports Center, they were beloved. It wasn't that long ago really. Most recently what really raised my eyebrows was how they have been condemning McGregor and Mayweather for talking trash to each other before...you guessed it...a fight! They have really gone off the deep end with the virtue signalling. When you can't even let men be men competing and talking trash anymore, you have lost it. They seem hellbent on infusing estrogen into a very macho sport. I can only imagine modern day ESPN covering Roman gladiator battles if they can't handle trash talk before a fight. ESPN has completely lost its base. This shift is actually good for FS1 IMO, as they leave the virtue signalling and social issues out. They just give you sports. More eyeballs away from ESPN means more eyeballs on FS1 I would think. Time to take advantage of this.

You realize FS1 literally has a show called "TMZ Sports" right?

[MullinMayhem]

Actually didn't realize that...bad idea for FS1 IMO. But at least FS1 will come out and call it "TMZ Sports". ESPN will serve you sports with an undercurrent of virtue signalling and social issues. If it happens on FS1, it's not nearly at the same level. ESPN is taking the course of MTV going from music videos to social justice content. ESPN has seemingly promoted 4-5 prominent articles on the Mayweather V. McGregor fight about how "mean" they are to each other. Haven't seen 1 from FS1.

[stever20]

Actually didn't realize that...bad idea for FS1 IMO. But at least FS1 will come out and call it "TMZ Sports". ESPN will serve you sports with an undercurrent of virtue signalling and social issues. If it happens on FS1, it's not nearly at the same level. ESPN is taking the course of MTV going from music videos to social justice content. ESPN has seemingly promoted 4-5 prominent articles on the Mayweather V. McGregor fight about how "mean" they are to each other. Haven't seen 1 from FS1.

That's because FS1 fired their writing staff before Horowitz got fired himself.

And you must not listen to any of the talking heads on FS1. Because they've been all over the Mayweather/McGregor fight.....

[MUBoxer]

I don't know what you mean by one of the most macho sports, most fighters are incredibly humble unless they're called out specifically about fighting. Football and rugby players are much more obsessed with being overly "macho" than fighters. In fact most press conferences are incredibly dull because more people are the Joe Frazier's of the world rather than the Ali, Mayweather Mcgregor types. I think a lot of this post comes from the public projecting what they wish every fighter was like after not having seen a fight in 30yrs if ever (mayweather vs PAC not counting) and not getting what they want.

[ArmyVet]

I read that Disney (and therefore, ESPN) bought a streaming company for over a billion dollars. It will be interesting to see what changes for the delivery of sports in the future.

[DeltaV]

Supposedly, Disney will be going to their own streaming platform, and that is where you will have to go to stream Disney products (no more Netflix, Amazon, or wherever they had stuff).

Makes sense, and will make things easier I would think; you can sign up for Disney streaming for the 8 years that kids watch it, and then not have to keep paying for it when they've outgrown it.

Think ESPN would do something similar? A dedicated ESPN streaming platform? I would be ok with paying $10-$15/month for the 4 months of basketball season, instead of it being bundled into cable for $7-8/month 12 months of the year. Fox Sports could do something similar, with all of their baseball/football/CBB properties.

[gtmoBlue]

Streaming companies Amazon, Youtube, now Facebook, and others primarily get their revenues from advertisers, not subscribers...Nexflix and a couple others are the exception.

BEDN, Disney will get revenues from said advertising. ESpn , if it participates in streaming at all, will have a small sampling. If they attempt to switch full bore to streaming (and forego their subscriber base) they will implode. Facebook streaming will be free with news, movies, shows, sports, etc. BEDN streaming will be free with multilevel sports. Amazon and Youtube are free. Why pay a Disney, ESPN, or Netflix, when you can get the content free elsewhere.

The platforms and programming schematics are changing...stay tuned.

[ArmyVet]

Disney shares getting crushed today after releasing guidance which is scaring investors. Not just Disney as the same is happening with Comcast. Pretty evident that the loss of cable customers is accelerating and one has to wonder at what point do the major programmers stop paying obscene rights fees.