ESPN Laying Off Additional On-Air Personalities

[knowlesjam]

Looks like the 4-letter sports network is tightening the belt further...more evidence that they have overspent for contracts and that cable cutters are having an impact on the bottom line. It makes me wonder if we have hit the peak for football conference TV contracts...how can the networks continue to pay conferences the $'s that they are in the future...

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/26/media/espn-layoffs-on-air-talent/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

 

[enisthemenace]

 

[rholtgraves]

They should get rid of stephen A. Smith.

 

[3TrueFans]

I don't even watch ESPN but please let Stephen A. Smith be one of the ones that gets canned.

 

[Mr Janny]

Looks like the 4-letter sports network is tightening the belt further...more evidence that they have overspent for contracts and that cable cutters are having an impact on the bottom line. It makes me wonder if we have hit the peak for football conference TV contracts...how can the networks continue to pay conferences the $'s that they are in the future...

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/26/media/espn-layoffs-on-air-talent/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom

I think ESPN is especially affected because of their business model. Over the air networks don't have the same problem, or at least not nearly to the same degree. And other networks that aren't 100% sports based have different revenue models as well.

 

[CYdTracked]

They should get rid of stephen A. Smith.

I think many woukd welcome that but I bet he survives the cuts. Even as unpopular as he may be he still gets clicks and eyeballs which is all they care about when it comes to the bottom line.

Hopefully Hassel is not one of the cuts today

 

[Rabbuk]

Please be Stephen A and Le Betard

 

[3TrueFans]

Fire every sideline reporter. Is any job more useless than sports sideline reporter?

 

[Clark]

ESPN had way too much on-air staff to begin with. Take Ed Werder for example. What value did he really bring to a company that already had Mortenson and Schefter?

What this looks like to me is a company that was used to being able to throw money around wherever it wanted realizing that money tree has gotten a lot smaller, so it's getting rid of unnecessary or overpriced talent. Even a guy like Cowherd isn't really missed at ESPN, they just plug someone else in his slot and still get big ratings.

 

[carvers4math]

The writers are probably a bigger loss than the on-air personalities.

 

[Mr Janny]

ESPN had way too much on-air staff to begin with. Take Ed Werder for example. What value did he really bring to a company that already had Mortenson and Schefter?

What this looks like to me is a company that was used to being able to throw money around wherever it wanted realizing that money tree has gotten a lot smaller, so it's getting rid of unnecessary or overpriced talent. Even a guy like Cowherd isn't really missed at ESPN, they just plug someone else in his slot and still get big ratings.

This. ESPN had redundancies upon redundancies. There was a ton of fat to trim.

 

[3TrueFans]

Damn **** ESPN. He was a good reporter.

What did he do though? Report from the stadium before games? Why is that a necessary thing? 1 guy in front of a green screen could fill the role of every person they send to each game every week.

 

[CloneinWDSM]

Can they cut The Six while they're at it?

 

[Rabbuk]

Can they cut The Six while they're at it?

My African American friends find this show offensive.

 

[3TrueFans]

My African American friends find this show offensive.

My asian american friends are indifferent to this show.

 

[Dandy]

I find it naive that John Skipper blames the consumers rather than blaming themselves for getting into the situation in the first place.

ESPN declined to comment on the job cuts. In a note to employees, however, ESPN president John Skipper mentioned the changing habits of viewers.
"These decisions impact talented people who have done great work for our company," he wrote. "I would like to thank all of them for their efforts and their many contributions to ESPN."

 

[Diggame]

My African American friends find this show offensive.

????

 

[carvers4math]

Dan Patrick actually seemed quite upset for the people losing their jobs. He and others who bailed earlier had the right idea.

 

[Dandy]

Can they cut The Six while they're at it?

The Six is so bad. No idea how it has lasted this long.

 

[3TrueFans]

Fire every sideline reporter. Is any job more useless than sports sideline reporter?

Guys, I get it, if you're not getting any a cute sideline reporter might be the best part of your day, but that doesn't make it a real job.