ESPN Cut 300 Jobs

#3
#3
I would say the reasons are right, but neither are a mistake. Both are just the current cable market. Maybe their mistake was getting too fat right when the gravy train is ending. Cable television as it is now is doomed. Live sports is the only thing holding it together, that and cable company restrictions and bundling due to lack of internet providers. Because live sports was so essential, ESPN was able to charge high fees while also being extorted by the leagues. But people are growing tired and cutting the cord anyways.
 
#4
#4
I suppose ESPN is contractually restricted from offering stand-alone streaming services?
 
#11
#11
Idiots should have stuck to just MLB and College sports -- screw the NFL and NBA ---- College alone is the bread and butter
 
#14
#14
More like Grantland shut them down, LOL

ESPN became the evil empire. Dan Patrick has been saying it for 10 years, but I thought he was just butt hurt.
 
#17
#17
Didn't sink low enough to meet ESPN's incredibly low standards.

Grantland was finished because everybody good was leaving after Simmons got canned. It's a smart move at this point to shut it down, IMO. Can't go back and fix their past blunders.
 
#20
#20
ESPN doesn't want to hear it but I would also blame part of their problems on them trying to be too into politics and entertainment.

I mean why the heck am I seeing stories on ESPN.com talking about the GOP debates and what happened on Game of Thrones?
 
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#21
#21
ESPN doesn't want to hear it but I would also blame part of their problems on them trying to be too into politics and entertainment.

I mean why the heck am I seeing stories on ESPN.com talking about the GOP debates and what happened on Game of Thrones?

Well, I believe those were typically Grantland articles, and Grantland was wildly popular (though I doubt those articles appealed to the typical sports fan, but possibly brought in a wide audience?).
 
#22
#22
Grantland was a vanity project that wasn't profitable. Publicly owned companies have to make money. And ESPN is bleeding for the reasons mentioned in the original post.
 
#23
#23
ESPN shuts down Grantland: Revealing Q&A with Chris Connelly - More Sports - SI.com

RD: On the subject of the Bill Barnwell/Robert Mays NFL podcast. I don’t want to mischaracterize you here but from my understanding: Your thought process based on what ESPN said was that you liked the notion the podcasters were thanking their departing colleagues but you did not want the podcast division to become a place for that. Clearly, Barnwell and Mays appeared ticked off by the editing of that part of their podcast. From where you sit, can you give me a sense of how you saw them thanking their departing colleagues on their podcast.

CC: Everything they said was entirely appropriate. They did not do anything wrong. The things that they said were incredibly warm and generous and none of them were mean-spirited. What they said about their departing colleagues would make you think better of the guys who said it. It was a really classy thing. I thought the thoughts were wonderful and very much in keeping in what I said in our morning meeting in terms of honoring those people. We needed to honor those people. They had given four years of heart and soul to the place. I just didn’t want it going out on a Grantland platform … The important thing to remember is Bill Barnwell is a giant in the history of Grantland and he is a really classy guy. I talked to him before this, during this and after this and he is a top-notch individual. He gave everything for Grantland and I respect Bill Barnwell from here to the moon.

RD: Grantland had its own unique culture and part of that culture, I think it’s fair to say, was an “us versus them” with them being ESPN in Bristol. When you took over, from your estimation, how much of that culture became an us (Bill Simmons loyalists) versus them (Chris Connelly people)

CC: I can’t say that people opposed me personally. Perhaps they did. But they were very gracious in terms of how they interacted with me. They listened to what I was saying even if they regarded it with skepticism. I was able to express my thoughts and have them heard, and when people wanted to push back, they would do that. You have to have come respecting that people had worked for Bill for a long time and worked without Bill for an extended time. I tried to not be a jerk and I can’t say I ever felt people were specifically nasty to me or did not want to hear me out.

Let's be real here. We all liked Grantland, but there was a certain arrogance to the site, which no doubt started with the boss Bill Simmons. Loyalty is great, but there's a line between loyalty and professionalism. This is a business. And you need to respect your employer or expect to not get paid. And when the site isn't making money, ESPN is losing money, the office is toxic, and you have a bunch of employees that don't realize that ESPN was losing money to keep you employed, it was probably a no brainer of a decision to close it down.

I guess this is what happens when you employee a bunch of socialist millennials that have no clue about business, employment, and making money to stay in business.
 
#24
#24
ESPN shuts down Grantland: Revealing Q&A with Chris Connelly - More Sports - SI.com

Let's be real here. We all liked Grantland, but there was a certain arrogance to the site, which no doubt started with the boss Bill Simmons. Loyalty is great, but there's a line between loyalty and professionalism. This is a business. And you need to respect your employer or expect to not get paid. And when the site isn't making money, ESPN is losing money, the office is toxic, and you have a bunch of employees that don't realize that ESPN was losing money to keep you employed, it was probably a no brainer of a decision to close it down.

I guess this is what happens when you employee a bunch of socialist millennials that have no clue about business, employment, and making money to stay in business.

Not sure how you concluded all that based on the quoted from CC. I usually take up for the side of management in these things, but I don't know enough the details. I don't agree that you need to respect your employer, necessarily. Especially if the employer is preventing journalists from saying what's on their mind about the NFL.

Was Grantland losing money when Simmons was there?
 
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#25
#25
ESPN is bleeding money because they no longer care about sports, they only care about making a Hollywood drama about things that don't take place within the sports arena.

The writing was on the wall well before the Simmons debacle. They lost an alarming large number of their premiere and up and coming reporters, none of which spoke highly of the company upon leaving, but also didnt' go out like Simmons either to other networks, sometimes much, much smaller networks. Simmons was just arrogant and brash enough to light the fuse.
 
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