Everybody hates ESPN? sort of ...

#1

ToptheTerrible

Member & VFL
Joined
Sep 11, 2011
Messages
1,814
Likes
1,172
#1
I know us on the board love to say "ESPN hates us" but it appears the hate goes both ways (sort of).

An amazing factoid: between March and May of this year, ESPN lost 10,500 subscribers PER DAY!

Since 2013 they have lost 10 million subscribers at total cost to revenue estimated at $2.5 billion.

Of course the majority of this is people cutting the cable cord but man is it having an affect on the network. IMO there will come a time where you will buy ESPN just like Hulu, Netflix, etc. Perhaps there comes a time where we can buy the VolNetwork directly? Who knows....

If It Can Happen to ESPN, It Can Happen to Health Care | H&HN
 
#2
#2
I know us on the board love to say "ESPN hates us" but it appears the hate goes both ways (sort of).

An amazing factoid: between March and May of this year, ESPN lost 10,500 subscribers PER DAY!

Since 2013 they have lost 10 million subscribers at total cost to revenue estimated at $2.5 billion.

Of course the majority of this is people cutting the cable cord but man is it having an affect on the network. IMO there will come a time where you will buy ESPN just like Hulu, Netflix, etc. Perhaps there comes a time where we can buy the VolNetwork directly? Who knows....

If It Can Happen to ESPN, It Can Happen to Health Care | H&HN

This should be a thing already. And it will be if they continue to lose subscriptions.

But, I certainly don't love ESPN. I can't remember the last time I watched Sportscenter or programming on there. It has to have been at least 4 months. If it's not a game, then I don't care. There are better things to watch on TV. Besides, their network has become so political that it's annoying to turn on a sports network, my one escape from day-to-day life and have to be bombarded with opinions that have nothing to do with athletics.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 11 people
#3
#3
I haven't watched an episode of Sportscenter in about 6 years. It's not sports analysis anymore, it's entertainment and agenda-driven stories for casual fans.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#4
#4
No "sort of" to it for me. Wish I had alternatives to ESPN in terms of games....if I did, I'd never turn that crap on, ever. They're essentially MSNBC with NFL, NBA, MLB and college games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6 people
#5
#5
. . . Besides, their network has become so political that it's annoying to turn on a sports network, my one escape from day-to-day life and have to be bombarded with opinions that have nothing to do with athletics.

This, this, this!

I once was a diehard ESPN Radio listener. With commuting and other travel, I probably got a solid 8-10 hours a week of it.

Over past year, I have completely stopped listening to ESPN radio. They can hardly talk about anything without working left-wing, progressive politics into the conversation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people
#6
#6
I love the access to games I get with the ESPN family of networks. But besides that, I haven't watched anything on ESPN besides games in about 6 years (when I was still in high school)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#7
#7
I haven't watched an episode of Sportscenter in about 6 years. It's not sports analysis anymore, it's entertainment and agenda-driven stories for casual fans.

Its really just an extension of CNN anymore, they did a whole town hall the other night essentially blaming police for the problems in the inner cities
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 people
#8
#8
only thing i really watch is the college football games and gameday on saturday mornings....but thats about 12 days out of the yr when that show is on. ESPN is brutal now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#9
#9
This, this, this!

I once was a diehard ESPN Radio listener. With commuting and other travel, I probably got a solid 8-10 hours a week of it.

Over past year, I have completely stopped listening to ESPN radio. They can hardly talk about anything without working left-wing, progressive politics into the conversation.

The
"lee-a-tard" show is a total waste of time. I tune to public radio while it is on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#10
#10
I think viewership in general has really gone through a rollercoaster in years. As far as sports goes, I kind of view sports now as just another business... cheering for one college team (big business) over another now seems more like cheering for McDonald's over Burger King. All the political ads and commentating is pretty much not helping either, I mean I went to espn dot com one day and it looked like Hillary Clinton Network.

We basically cut the cord completely a few months back, generally, not really missing it. I have quite a few relatives and friends that cut the cord years ago, and plenty more lining up. Some of this is just a general trend but other things like ESPN getting into the political arena won't help. Many like myself view this (sports) as a corrupt business, and of course, not sure I really care too much about colleges in general, I mean all its becoming is a wussification of society, in general.

I will probably watch some games here and there(OTA and bar), but unless there is some huge changes don't really see myself adding back to the ESPN or cable networks any time soon.
 
#13
#13
They screwed up when they went for the quick dollar over building a relationship with new viewers. Instead of slowly building college ball as a base of new viewers they just tried to buy college ball and turn it into a professional sport for a quick buck. Then they aligned themselves with what ever fan base would buy in the fastest (salami). Fox has done a better job of football and sports for about three years or more anyway. I listen to fox sports and I am not a right wing republican. It's the only fox programming I do listen to.
 
#14
#14
This, this, this!

I once was a diehard ESPN Radio listener. With commuting and other travel, I probably got a solid 8-10 hours a week of it.

Over past year, I have completely stopped listening to ESPN radio. They can hardly talk about anything without working left-wing, progressive politics into the conversation.

Exactly. But of course when I express this opinion to some people I get called a racist or close-minded because I don't want to hear the hard truth. That is the furthest thing from the truth.

If I want to listen to racial tension debates, I would watch any of the plethora of political networks or I would go and read news articles, which I do quite often. Sports is my down-time and my escape from the real world for a few hours, and it isn't easy to escape anymore when every thing is plastered over cable TV now.

Listen, I understand athletes wanting to use their status and exposure to help bring equality issues to light, but at the same time, it doesn't mean I want to hear about it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#15
#15
They screwed up when they went for the quick dollar over building a relationship with new viewers. Instead of slowly building college ball as a base of new viewers they just tried to buy college ball and turn it into a professional sport for a quick buck. Then they aligned themselves with what ever fan base would buy in the fastest (salami). Fox has done a better job of football and sports for about three years or more anyway. I listen to fox sports and I am not a right wing republican. It's the only fox programming I do listen to.

Yeah, but it's just unfortunate that Fox Sports doesn't really cover a lot of the biggest games. For example, you will never see them cover any SEC games because they don't have the rights to. You have to listen to ESPN for that.

I definitely enjoy the analysis over at Fox Sports more, but ESPN is slowly monopolizing college football. They already own the rights to the SEC and have a network, and soon they will have a network with the ACC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#16
#16
. . . Sports is my down-time and my escape from the real world for a few hours, and it isn't easy to escape anymore when every thing is plastered over cable TV now. . .

Again, I absolutely agree.

To me, the beauty of sports is that it transcends many of the things that divide us as a country. A great play at Neyland or Busch stadium stirs the entire crowd. I cannot begin to speak of the number of times I have shared a high-five with a perfect stranger at a sporting event. We may not believe the in same god, share the same values or even agree on how our cities, states and country ought to be governed. But in that moment, we were fully aligned, without regard to skin color, background or socio-economic class.

Surely, there's enough room for political discourse to leave it out of sports. But, I guess not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#17
#17
Yeah, but it's just unfortunate that Fox Sports doesn't really cover a lot of the biggest games. For example, you will never see them cover any SEC games because they don't have the rights to. You have to listen to ESPN for that.

I definitely enjoy the analysis over at Fox Sports more, but ESPN is slowly monopolizing college football. They already own the rights to the SEC and have a network, and soon they will have a network with the ACC.

yep, as soon as you rely on them for content they will start making you pay for it. a la carte' programming. They have no interest in the sport or you as a costumer, they are after as many pennies as they can grab as fast as they can grab it. I understand that it's business and that it's expensive business, but they are only living in the here/now and not building for the future in an almost china like isolationist way. people have options now. It's a new world. These guys want to attempt to cut you off from your options.
 
#19
#19
IMO, they have become the Yellow Journalism and liberal media of the sports industry. Too many pundits giving worthless analysis just to sell ads. They over-analyze everything, overly critical. It's not just their bias to UT.

Glad to see that people are voting with their feet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#20
#20
This should be a thing already. And it will be if they continue to lose subscriptions.

But, I certainly don't love ESPN. I can't remember the last time I watched Sportscenter or programming on there. It has to have been at least 4 months. If it's not a game, then I don't care. There are better things to watch on TV. Besides, their network has become so political that it's annoying to turn on a sports network, my one escape from day-to-day life and have to be bombarded with opinions that have nothing to do with athletics.

Well stated my friend:good!:
 
#21
#21
I quit watching ESPN commentary years ago. I used to turn on Gameday almost every Sat. Now MAYBE once or twice a season. Just stopped being entertaining.

I mostly roll my eyes when people get bent out of shape over something said on ESPN. Just don't give them your ears and eyeballs and you will eliminate senseless stress from your life.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#22
#22
I think my issue with "cord cutting" is that I'd still have to deal with the cable company for internet anyways. It's like $60 or somethin for internet or $100 for cable AND internet. It's worth the $40 to me to have SEC Network (now that we're getting coverage).

As far as ESPN is concerned, I can't stand the channel. All they're ever talking about is the NFL or the MLB. I think because most of the major conferences have their own networks now, they're pushing people to buy those. They literally never talk about college football.
 
#23
#23
Once they decided to honor Bruce Jenner for becoming a girl I had kind of had my fill of it. Also, any network that would give Stephen A Smith a job isn't worth watching.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#24
#24
This, this, this!

I once was a diehard ESPN Radio listener. With commuting and other travel, I probably got a solid 8-10 hours a week of it.

Over past year, I have completely stopped listening to ESPN radio. They can hardly talk about anything without working left-wing, progressive politics into the conversation.

ESPN Radio is almost pure garbage. Russillo and Kanell is good - it is actual analysis and discussion of games. Mike & Mike is pure fluff and LeBatard can't go 30 seconds without inserting some political grievance or drawing some sweeping political or social conclusion about a sentence that some figure in the sports world said. So many people on their network over-analyze everything and usually insert some kind of left-wing political narrative. Bomani Jones in particular is irritating.

The fact is that nobody needs ESPN's non-live sports programming anymore.
 
#25
#25
Again, I absolutely agree.

To me, the beauty of sports is that it transcends many of the things that divide us as a country. A great play at Neyland or Busch stadium stirs the entire crowd. I cannot begin to speak of the number of times I have shared a high-five with a perfect stranger at a sporting event. We may not believe the in same god, share the same values or even agree on how our cities, states and country ought to be governed. But in that moment, we were fully aligned, without regard to skin color, background or socio-economic class.

Surely, there's enough room for political discourse to leave it out of sports. But, I guess not.

I'm with you 100%
 

VN Store



Back
Top