YouTube: The Rise and Fall of ESPN

[StickierBuns]

This is a video by Michael Girdley, he's an entrepreneur and investor who talks about why some companies fail and why others make it. Interesting guy that has a lot of insight, I suggest you search out more YouTube videos of his. Has a nice, easy going style...good story teller. This is about how ESPN got popular, but more interestingly, why they are failing now. How its dummied down with cuts to staff, how they helped raise the cost of your cable bill, how they let 'intelligent' journalists go in favor of dipshits like Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless (who aren't reporters at all). Also how its not your imagination, the network and all of its shows focus on the larger markets on purpose and barely discuss the mid-tier city's teams. And why they sold 10% of the company to the NFL. 

[Chuckf]

This is a video by Michael Girdley, he's an entrepreneur and investor who talks about why some companies fail and why others make it. Interesting guy that has a lot of insight, I suggest you search out more YouTube videos of his. Has a nice, easy going style...good story teller. This is about how ESPN got popular, but more interestingly, why they are failing now. How its dummied down with cuts to staff, how they helped raise the cost of your cable bill, how they let 'intelligent' journalists go in favor of dipshits like Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless (who aren't reporters at all). Also how its not your imagination, the network and all of its shows focus on the larger markets on purpose and barely discuss the mid-tier city's teams. And why they sold 10% of the company to the NFL. 

The downfall of ESPN is twofold:  #1 On air talent drain and getting political.  Don't care what side of the spectrum you are on most people want the escape sports provides they don't want to be preached at.

[medaille]

Outside of Mina Kimes, who’s a gem, when I think of ESPN, I think of professional yellers shouting hot takes that contradict whatever they said last week. The OG ragebaiters and the same thing everyone hates about the modern day internet. I haven’t thought about something like sportscenter in a long time, but there’s not that often that I find myself wanting an endless stream of people talking about sports in general. Podcasts that niche down are much more compelling of an option. After cutting the cord a billion years ago, all the sports that are only on cable or satellite kind of withered away. I just don’t have much of a need for people talking about what happened in basketball or baseball or whatever.

[hogjowlsjohnny]

Outside of Mina Kimes, who’s a gem, when I think of ESPN, I think of professional yellers shouting hot takes that contradict whatever they said last week.  The OG ragebaiters and the same thing everyone hates about the modern day internet.  I haven’t thought about something like sportscenter in a long time, but there’s not that often that I find myself wanting an endless stream of people talking about sports in general.  Podcasts that niche down are much more compelling of an option.  After cutting the cord a billion years ago, all the sports that are only on cable or satellite kind of withered away.  I just don’t have much of a need for people talking about what happened in basketball or baseball or whatever.

I love Mina and would hire her as a GM, but she would have to take a pay cut!
I also love gourmet food and like to cook, so I used to watch the food network some. They went from hiring real chefs to hiring celebrities and I stopped watching.
ESPN stopped hiring reporters in favor of celebrities, clowns, and beauty queens in some instances, and the content has suffered.
I do watch NFL Live some as I think the content is good most of the time. But I hate it when everybody talks at the same time. When was that considered good TV?

[Still Hurtn]

ESPN? Start with Disney who owns it. Simply put.. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree (Disney) cannot bear good fruit. Progressives ruin everything the control. Change my mind.

[JustInTime]

ESPN? Start with Disney who owns it. Simply put.. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree (Disney) cannot bear good fruit. Progressives ruin everything the control. Change my mind.

Interesting comment during a government shutdown.

[StickierBuns]

ESPN? Start with Disney who owns it. Simply put.. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree (Disney) cannot bear good fruit. Progressives ruin everything the control. Change my mind.

Sigh. Can't we just keep politics out of a thread like this? Its has zero to do with what happened to ESPN. ZERO. The guy explained what happened and none of it were the dreaded 'progressives'.

[comet52]

I've been watching Girdley's vids for a few months now.  Entertaining and informative.