ESPN's 32% ratings crash - layoffs happening

[Prison Bitch]

I watch it quite a bit because I love college basketball and watch the MLB during the summer. Also I think the 30-For-30 movies are all quite good. So I'm watching more than I ever have, but apparently nobody else is:



http://deadspin.com/espns-ratings-ar...atte-722030528

[Brock]

Almost never watch it. i used to begin every sunday with NFL gameday and end each sunday with the Berman recaps. There's only so long you can listen to that guy doing the same schtick. It was funny 20 years ago. Plus the NFL kind of sucks now.

[FlaChief58]

I go to the Web for scores, highlights etc because I can skip the garbage and see what I want when I want. Espn is so early 90s

[NJChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by Tombstone RJ

The fans drove the Tebow coverage. Period. End of story. The MEDIA drove the Sam story. Big difference. Huge difference. Say what you want about Tebow, he's a polarizing character, but ESPN covered him because they knew people followed Tebow and whatever he was doing in the NFL.

I gotta disagree. Both came about and where driven the same way. Tebow didn't just become the story it was because of the fans and then ESPN just happened to follow along. There was a day that ESPN did a count and Tebow was said on the network like 65 times in an hour.

You can't have watched ESPN during the Tebow hype and not seen that ESPN was loving it and pushing it as hard as possible.

[Tombstone RJ]

Originally Posted by Marco Polo

I respectfully disagree slightly with you on this one. I think ESPN drove both stories. I honestly don't know one person who likes Tebow and I have lived throughout the Midwest, South, and West during his time as an athlete. I understand the social/cultural importance of Sam and enjoyed the feel good of breaking a barrier but was turned off pretty quickly with the over coverage. Ultimately there was wayyyy too much coverage on both guys who couldn't land a roster spot in the NFL.

I hear what you are saying. Was Sam a story? Yes. Did anyone really care about the Sam story? Did you care about it? Honestly, who here really gave a crap about the Sam story other than he was the first openly gay player to go into the NFL? My contention is that the NFL was basically forced to draft Sam, regardless of if Sam was really a good player for the NFL. The media basically cornered the NFL into making Sam an NFL caliber player when the reality was, he was a "tweener" (not really a defensive lineman and not really a linebacker) who had a good college career, but did nothing in the combine to set himself apart.

Tebow, OTOH, was always going to get drafted, but he was not (arguably) a first round talent and when the Broncos took him in the first round, welp, the media exposure went through the ruff. Then, because Orton sucked so bad, and many Broncos fans wanted to see what Tebow could do (remember the fans in Denver who put up billboards calling for TT?), Tebow got into the Broncos starting lineup and the Broncos ended up winning enough games to go to the playoffs. The Tebow games were also very exciting to watch because of some of the amazing finishes to games. Even I admit that the year TT came in and the Broncos started winning, it was fun to watch. Then the playoff win and the whole Elway/Tebow story and how all of that panned out (with the Broncos ultimately getting Manning and trading Tebow away) was a big circus.

Two very different stories, one fan driven, the other media driven. Both were stories, but the Tebow story was a legitimate circus full of actual NFL games that were played, while the Sam story was a forced issue that most (I'd guess 99%) football fans really didn't care about and once Sam was drafted, the story should have been over.

[Dayze]

Have any of you guys seen that show First Take?

Good lord, what a ****ing shit show. But it's been on for a while now. And I've even seen them try the exact same format but with different hosts. ****ing Stephen a smith and that skip Bayliss jerkoff are horrible.


And when did it become a good idea to have like 7 mother****ers at a desk for pre game. How many people do you need. Lol. I used to love watching game day then the wrap up show at night. I can't even stomach it now. I don't watch any preface on any network.

[Tombstone RJ]

Originally Posted by NJChiefsFan

I gotta disagree. Both came about and where driven the same way. Tebow didn't just become the story it was because of the fans and then ESPN just happened to follow along. There was a day that ESPN did a count and Tebow was said on the network like 65 times in an hour.

You can't have watched ESPN during the Tebow hype and not seen that ESPN was loving it and pushing it as hard as possible.

No one would have known about Sam had the media not made a big deal about him being the first openly gay player to go into the NFL. Tebow, arguably, is one of the best known college football players of all time. He won 2 national championships and was in contention for the Heisman trophy (which he won) every year he played. Tebow was a big football story.

[RunKC]

when you have great talents like Stuart Scott, Kenny Mayne, Rich Eisen and Dan Patrick leave and replace them with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless, this is what happens.

Even Jim Rome and Colin Cowherd had a big following and that following has left when they did.

The only potentially great talent left there is Scott Van Pelt. I only watch his show from time to time

[Mennonite]

^^^I hate every one of those people you mentioned. Just a bunch of hacks doing the same lame shtick for decades.

[MMXcalibur]

Originally Posted by RunKC

when you have great talents like Stuart Scott, Kenny Mayne, Rich Eisen and Dan Patrick leave and replace them with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless, this is what happens.

Even Jim Rome and Colin Cowherd had a big following and that following has left when they did.

The only potentially great talent left there is Scott Van Pelt. I only watch his show from time to time

This.

SVP is the only one I turn on, and that's mainly for background noise while I'm working on something else. After that's over, I switch over to NHL Network.

[Gonzo]

I wish someone would nuke Mike and Mike from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by L.A. Chieffan

It's only going to keep going down. People are cutting the cord and accessing almost everything online now. If it wasn't for live sports I would've done it a long time ago

IF they have good shows i will watch it. I love watching intentional talk. I watch it almost every day during the MLB season. I dont touch espn anymore outside of live sports.

ESPN went to much TMZ for me. Once that started happening with Favre and Tebow, i was out.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by RunKC

when you have great talents like Stuart Scott, Kenny Mayne, Rich Eisen and Dan Patrick leave and replace them with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless, this is what happens.

Even Jim Rome and Colin Cowherd had a big following and that following has left when they did.

The only potentially great talent left there is Scott Van Pelt. I only watch his show from time to time

Yep.

I bet that their radio shows are tanking, too. SVP and Russillo were awesome together, and that ended. Russillo and Kannell are decent, but nothing like before. Bomani Jones takes over at 3 central, and it's a complete abortion.

They also replaced Cowherd with Lebetard....... Just terrible.

[GloryDayz]

ESPN is still on? Who knew?

In all seriousness, their programming has become very terrible and politically driven. Hard to watch...

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

The New England market has to factor into that decline.

ok

[Prison Bitch]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

The New England market has to factor into that decline.

The decline also happened before your team cheated. So that makes no sense.