Big layoffs at ESPN, including Hodger and my favorite, Dana O'Neil + Andy Katz

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Perhaps ESPN is paying way too much to broadcast some of these games (all sports).
 

BleedGopher said:
per Awful Announcing:

On Wednesday morning, the day that many at ESPN were dreading arrived. The expected layoffs at the company would begin, claiming upwards of 100 jobs.

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http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/confirmed-espn-layoffs-constantly-updated.html

Go Gophers!!
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Bleed, very confident O'Neil will land on her feet. Definitely ESPN's loss.

What's just as interesting to me is who ESPN will keep. Guessing most of the loud mouths and no-talents will be kept around a little longer. Gotta' keep all the "hot take" types!
 

I have heard from former and current Disney employees, that those TV contracts are really punishing the bottom line of the broadcast business, and some of them are just getting started (NBA).

it is a double edged sword for them as you can overpay to have rights to cover the game but still have to put out a quality product around it. I personally have watched less and less ESPN as they anchor themselves to the 'blue bloods' of the spots (Duke v UNC, Kentucky v. whoever, Yankees v Red Sox, LeBron v. whoever).
 

THE Chitown Gopher said:
It is a double edged sword for them as you can overpay to have rights to cover the game but still have to put out a quality product around it. I personally have watched less and less ESPN as they anchor themselves to the 'blue bloods' of the spots (Duke v UNC, Kentucky v. whoever, Yankees v Red Sox, LeBron v. whoever).
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You summed it up well. My distaste for ESPN grows with each passing year as they more & more kowtow to the name brands of the sports they cover. It's why I've been solidly in the camp the last couple years that the B1G should take a chance (yes, it would be a risk) and go all-in with FOX/FS1/BTN. Delany chose not to, I wish he would have.
 


SelectionSunday said:
Bleed, very confident O'Neil will land on her feet. Definitely ESPN's loss.

What's just as interesting to me is who ESPN will keep. Guessing most of the loud mouths and no-talents will be kept around a little longer. Gotta' keep all the "hot take" types!
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Myron stays, presumably?
 

SelectionSunday said:
You summed it up well. My distaste for ESPN grows with each passing year as they more & more kowtow to the name brands of the sports they cover. It's why I've been solidly in the camp the last couple years that the B1G should take a chance (yes, it would be a risk) and go all-in with FOX/FS1/BTN. Delany chose not to, I wish he would have.
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I was really excited when FS1 debuted, but they've been nothing short of disastrous thus far. So disappointing that they chose to recycle ESPN clowns like Cowherd, Bayless etc instead of taking a chance on some fresh talent.
 

Who is the Iowa a-hole guy at ESPN that always takes shots at the Gophers. Did he get the axe?
 

ESPN has been TMZ Sports for a decade. Pure trash.

These layoffs and programming changes will make it even worse. I watch nothing on ESPN anymore but actual games or drafts. The rest is complete crap.
 



They kept that hack Myron Medcalf, and got rid of O'Neil?

That sucks
 

SelectionSunday said:
You summed it up well. My distaste for ESPN grows with each passing year as they more & more kowtow to the name brands of the sports they cover. It's why I've been solidly in the camp the last couple years that the B1G should take a chance (yes, it would be a risk) and go all-in with FOX/FS1/BTN. Delany chose not to, I wish he would have.
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I agree with this SS. I too watch less & less ESPN for Sportscenter & programming. The only show I'd take time to watch was Rusillo & Kanell on my lunch breaks. Best National Radio Show they had and it seemingly is getting the axe as Kanell is out. Don't know on Rusillo yet.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
I was really excited when FS1 debuted, but they've been nothing short of disastrous thus far. So disappointing that they chose to recycle ESPN clowns like Cowherd, Bayless etc instead of taking a chance on some fresh talent.
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I believe ESPN offered him millions to try to get him to stay as well. His new show on FS1 has horrible ratings.
 




Obsessively watched ESPN from my youth, thru college and into my mid 20s. About 10 years ago I started a decline in the amount of ESPN I watched. I too now only watch games, NFL draft and GameDay. Everything else is just annoying to watch. Give me SportsCenter w/ just highlights over the crap programming they have now. Growing up, they had a 6am SportsCenter and then re-ran it until noon. Seems much more cost effective and was way more entertaining.
 

I only watch the live events/highlights on ESPN and I listen to Lebatard show only on ESPN. Everything else is trash.

They are fully investing into the personalities drive the content, view for the opinion of the anchor, not the highlights. The anchored Sportcenters are the first move of that. You also see a shift in how they are handling major events with all of the channels moved to differing views and versions of the games. I think thats interesting and is reflective of them trying to get more exposure for the game and maximum replayability/sponsor dollars to cover the HUGE spike in cost of getting those games.

I have no clue if they are right or wrong with these stylistic changes. All I know is I want to here about 0 more takes on the mt rushmore of xyz sport. I want a channel that just shows highlights, on demand, with no insight from the talking head. Thank God there is the thing called the internet.
 

e.bigelow said:
I agree with this SS. I too watch less & less ESPN for Sportscenter & programming. The only show I'd take time to watch was Rusillo & Kanell on my lunch breaks. Best National Radio Show they had and it seemingly is getting the axe as Kanell is out. Don't know on Rusillo yet.
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SVP and Rusillo was an outstanding show, it's a shame that one got broken up because of Van Pelt's (well deserved) promotion.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
SVP and Rusillo was an outstanding show, it's a shame that one got broken up because of Van Pelt's (well deserved) promotion.
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Oh I agree. I LOVED SVP and Rusillo. It was a sad day to see that one go. And Outsider Mike with it. Although, he was occasionally on Rusillo and Kanell which I enjoyed almost as much, but it was still my favorite current ESPN National Show. Being in my early 30's, those two shows fit what I think a good sports radio talk show should be for me. At least one I enjoy the most anyways. Not a lot of #HOTTAEKS, good content on issues/games/etc. and a good amount of pop-culture/general stupid stuff mixed in. Give me that over Lebatard and Mike & Mike who are just giant windbags and provide hardly any content worthwhile.
 

As annoying as ESPN often is, this has nothing to do with their content, or even with how many people are watching, but with their subscriber count. Non-sports fans who used to be subscribers are cutting the cord or getting smaller cable bundles that cut ESPN out of the deal while still allowing them to watch shark documentaries or whatever the **** it is they like. Given the fact that ESPN still has to pay the NFL umpteen billion dollars for broadcasting rights, cord-cutting is hitting them harder than it is other cable channels.

The live sports market has been due for a correction for some time. It's only a matter of time before the over-the-air networks start to feel it too. I suspect some big labor disputes in the pro leagues about who eats the loss.
 

Len Elmore got cut. I hope BTN can pick him up with his Marlyand connection.
 

BBQ Platypus said:
As annoying as ESPN often is, this has nothing to do with their content, or even with how many people are watching, but with their subscriber count. Non-sports fans who used to be subscribers are cutting the cord or getting smaller cable bundles that cut ESPN out of the deal while still allowing them to watch shark documentaries or whatever the **** it is they like. Given the fact that ESPN still has to pay the NFL umpteen billion dollars for broadcasting rights, cord-cutting is hitting them harder than it is other cable channels.

The live sports market has been due for a correction for some time. It's only a matter of time before the over-the-air networks start to feel it too. I suspect some big labor disputes in the pro leagues about who eats the loss.
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Maybe but it's obvious they want to continue in the same direction they've been going with who they cut.
 

e.bigelow said:
Oh I agree. I LOVED SVP and Rusillo. It was a sad day to see that one go. And Outsider Mike with it. Although, he was occasionally on Rusillo and Kanell which I enjoyed almost as much, but it was still my favorite current ESPN National Show. Being in my early 30's, those two shows fit what I think a good sports radio talk show should be for me. At least one I enjoy the most anyways. Not a lot of #HOTTAEKS, good content on issues/games/etc. and a good amount of pop-culture/general stupid stuff mixed in. Give me that over Lebatard and Mike & Mike who are just giant windbags and provide hardly any content worthwhile.
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I think Lebatard is far from a giant windbag, at least on sports things like Mike and Mike. Those two shows should never be mentioned in the same breath because they couldn't be farther apart, in fact Lebatard is the ANTI Mike and Mike and practically makes fun of that show at every moment.

That said, he's not for everyone, I personally podcast Lebatard religiously and it's about the most enjoyable portion of my day during my commutes and yard work.
 

I'd also add that however they administered that layoff per the link (maybe there are examples of the contrary) they must have done it with the class as those tweets are far from negative towards ESPN. Either they've got some incentive to not tarnish the ESPN image, a chunk of cash for leaving, or they were truly a great place to work and they all felt they got their time.

That's pretty unusal in today's world, to have that kind of "personalities" being let go and very little backlash. Also to consider the way the country is responding to "the man" lately, this is really extrodinary.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I only watch the live events/highlights on ESPN and I listen to Lebatard show only on ESPN. Everything else is trash.

They are fully investing into the personalities drive the content, view for the opinion of the anchor, not the highlights. The anchored Sportcenters are the first move of that. You also see a shift in how they are handling major events with all of the channels moved to differing views and versions of the games. I think thats interesting and is reflective of them trying to get more exposure for the game and maximum replayability/sponsor dollars to cover the HUGE spike in cost of getting those games.

I have no clue if they are right or wrong with these stylistic changes. All I know is I want to here about 0 more takes on the mt rushmore of xyz sport. I want a channel that just shows highlights, on demand, with no insight from the talking head. Thank God there is the thing called the internet.
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The only ESPN channel I ever watched much outside of live games was ESPNNews. It used to be a half hour no BS version of Sports Center. It was great. They even ruined that for the most part. Most times if I flip to it, its re-running one of ESPN's talking head shows.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I think Lebatard is far from a giant windbag, at least on sports things like Mike and Mike. Those two shows should never be mentioned in the same breath because they couldn't be farther apart, in fact Lebatard is the ANTI Mike and Mike and practically makes fun of that show at every moment.

That said, he's not for everyone, I personally podcast Lebatard religiously and it's about the most enjoyable portion of my day during my commutes and yard work.
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Fair enough. Mike & Mike and Lebatard are just not my type of radio/TV shows. I'm a SVP/Russillo/Kanell guy. But, as is apparent, they probably didn't garner enough ratings to warrant them sticking around. Kamel, I mean.


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If you want to know how NY and Boston teams are doing, tune in to ESPN. I used to watch the network religiously but I haven't watched that crappy network for over 4 years unless one of the local teams is broadcasted on it.


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Winasota Gopher said:
I think Lebatard is far from a giant windbag, at least on sports things like Mike and Mike. Those two shows should never be mentioned in the same breath because they couldn't be farther apart, in fact Lebatard is the ANTI Mike and Mike and practically makes fun of that show at every moment.

That said, he's not for everyone, I personally podcast Lebatard religiously and it's about the most enjoyable portion of my day during my commutes and yard work.
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Yep, 100%. LeBatard's show is barely even 50% sports, it's about the furthest things from Mike & Mike. I'm with you...been listening to that show religiously for about 7 years now, long before they went national. I don't even particularly like Dan, but the rest of the crew/shipping container plus the setup and premise? Absolutely hilarious.
 

Andy Katz got the pink slip

That one shocks me. One of the best employees they had.
 

Hope BTN scoops up some of these guys, especially someone like Andy Katz. Katz doing B1G basketball would be fantastic.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
I only watch the live events/highlights on ESPN and I listen to Lebatard show only on ESPN. Everything else is trash.

They are fully investing into the personalities drive the content, view for the opinion of the anchor, not the highlights. The anchored Sportcenters are the first move of that. You also see a shift in how they are handling major events with all of the channels moved to differing views and versions of the games. I think thats interesting and is reflective of them trying to get more exposure for the game and maximum replayability/sponsor dollars to cover the HUGE spike in cost of getting those games.

I have no clue if they are right or wrong with these stylistic changes. All I know is I want to here about 0 more takes on the mt rushmore of xyz sport. I want a channel that just shows highlights, on demand, with no insight from the talking head. Thank God there is the thing called the internet.
Click to expand...

YOU GET THE SHOWWWWWW!!!!


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Zeppelin Gopher said:
Yep, 100%. LeBatard's show is barely even 50% sports, it's about the furthest things from Mike & Mike. I'm with you...been listening to that show religiously for about 7 years now, long before they went national. I don't even particularly like Dan, but the rest of the crew/shipping container plus the setup and premise? Absolutely hilarious.
Click to expand...

YOU GET THE SHOWWWWW!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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