ESPN Death Spiral

[SlowGettingUp]

ESPN has lost 1.7 million subscribers in the last two months. The cable death spiral will undoubtedly impact all sports - the days of the ever-rising TV fees will clearly end come renewal time. Their $1.9 billion a year for MNF is as unsustainable as is their near $1.5 billion for the NBA.

ESPN Loses Another 555,000 Subscribers Per Nielsen

Note that the current broadcast TV fees are also unsustainable - over-saturation of games and ads within each game mean their total renewal fees will likely drop too. The Super Bowl might remain an exception though - always going to be fierce competition for that.

NFL has had ever-rising revenues for a long time now - once they start dropping it will require quite an adjustment. Look for them to try to squeeze players in the next negotiations. And dumping Goodell should save some money too...

 

[SalemPats]

ESPN has lost 1.7 million subscribers in the last two months. The cable death spiral will undoubtedly impact all sports - the days of the ever-rising TV fees will clearly end come renewal time. Their $1.9 billion a year for MNF is as unsustainable as is their near $1.5 billion for the NBA.

ESPN Loses Another 555,000 Subscribers Per Nielsen

Note that the current broadcast TV fees are also unsustainable - over-saturation of games and ads within each game mean their total renewal fees will likely drop too. The Super Bowl might remain an exception though - always going to be fierce competition for that.

NFL has had ever-rising revenues for a long time now - once they start dropping it will require quite an adjustment. Look for them to try to squeeze players in the next negotiations. And dumping Goodell should save some money too...

ESPN is a rumor reporting site, journalism has fallen wayward. All they care about is clicks (Lebron, Manziel and Tebow artitcles everyday) which in the short term is fine, but in the long-term has hurt their credibility.

 

[The Boston Patriot]

Be still my heart...

At the best, an ugly, backstabbing, screaming, painful, horrible death.

At the worst, my imagination runs amok.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

And Martellus Bennett has some perceptive tweets on the problem:

Martellus Bennett went on an awesome rant about oversaturation of the NFL

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

If Cable and Satellite offered a standard package without ESPN, about 60-75% of the people who now have that service would change and ESPN would tank in no time.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Got to assume MNF might also get the axe.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

NFL has had ever-rising revenues for a long time now - once they start dropping it will require quite an adjustment. Look for them to try to squeeze players in the next negotiations. And dumping Goodell should save some money too...

So it should be a matter of time before revenue loss lowers the salary cap - can you imagine what that ripple effect that is going to have?

 

[Bill Lee]

And Martellus Bennett has some perceptive tweets on the problem:

Martellus Bennett went on an awesome rant about oversaturation of the NFL

I love the mental image I get of Marty B listening to a game being broadcast by Morse Code!

He is spot on, though:

“If the Walking Dead came on Monday. Thursday and Sunday. Could you really keep up with a full season? It’s a great product. The game of football that is. But myspace was once a great social media platform. Hahaha.”

 

[upstater1]

One reason why this is happening has little to do with ESPN (mind you, I hate them). There has been consolidation in the industry in the last year. I don't even know who my provider is anymore, Time Warner? Charter? Spectrum? All I know is that they raised prices obscenely on us in the last few months. And as in the old days when you could cut a deal? Doesn't seem to exist anymore. Doesn't happen.

I am getting rid of cable soon.

 

[NormZauchin]

It would be nice if they were to cover their own crisis with the same sort of distortions, exaggerations, and innuendo that they brought to Deflategate.

 

[BradyFTW!]

One reason why this is happening has little to do with ESPN (mind you, I hate them). There has been consolidation in the industry in the last year. I don't even know who my provider is anymore, Time Warner? Charter? Spectrum? All I know is that they raised prices obscenely on us in the last few months. And as in the old days when you could cut a deal? Doesn't seem to exist anymore. Doesn't happen.

I am getting rid of cable soon.

Same here, DirecTV has become even worse ever since AT&T bought them. My contract ends soon, and when it does I'm ditching cable/satellite entirely. Sunday Ticket was the only reason I agreed to the contract in the first place, and I axed that pretty much immediately after the Wells Report, so now there's no reason at all to stick with them.

 

[Wheelman]

ESPN Loses Another 555,000 Subscribers Per Nielsen

This article is so delicious! After BSPN's contract is over and they've imploded they will directly impact how much revenue the NYJFL* can generate.

I wonder what damage this will do to cities who have recently put new public funding into NYJFL* projects. At least the city of San Diego is doing the right thing. Although it's really close.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

credibility

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

It would be nice if they were to cover their own crisis with the same sort of distortions, exaggerations, and innuendo that they brought to Deflategate.

Wait, this "crisis" is real, not made up.

That is, they suck, and people choose not to waste their time watching.

 

[AtomicDawg]

I won't be satisfied until they've lost every last possible viewer under the sun.

 

[patfanken]

The "golden age" of the financial success of the NFL is going to end in 2020. No network is going to pay the kind of money they are paying now for an audience that is decreasing at an alarming rate. I would not be surprised if the TV money drops by 20%. In fact I'll be surprised if they can keep the drop to 20%. I'll also be surprise if the NFL isn't strong armed into doing something for the networks before that 2020 date if the audience losses continue into 2017.

The days of the NFL dictating to the networks are over. They "just aren't goint to take it anymore". And that makes me very, very happy.

BTW- Not that I give much of s **** about what will happen in 2020, Don't be surprised to see the best run teams start to make plans for a drop in the cap number, like making sure that any new contract they sign will keep that in mind for years going beyond 2020

 

[oldrover]

ESPN death spiral

 

[MitchKumstein]

The "golden age" of the financial success of the NFL is going to end in 2020. No network is going to pay the kind of money they are paying now for an audience that is decreasing at an alarming rate. I would not be surprised if the TV money drops by 20%. In fact I'll be surprised if they can keep the drop to 20%. I'll also be surprise if the NFL isn't strong armed into doing something for the networks before that 2020 date if the audience losses continue into 2017.

The days of the NFL dictating to the networks are over. They "just aren't goint to take it anymore". And that makes me very, very happy.

BTW- Not that I give much of s **** about what will happen in 2020, Don't be surprised to see the best run teams start to make plans for a drop in the cap number, like making sure that any new contract they sign will keep that in mind for years going beyond 2020

From your mouth to God's ears

And if the NFL does see it's revenues continue to drop, I would certainly hope that the ginger haired Patriot-hating ex-jets employee commissioner gets S-canned as a result. If the owners want to give him all the credit when they're making money hand over foot, they should also hold him responsible for any drop in profits

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

What little I've seen of the channel if I watch a game, is the same old tired act that was tired 15 years ago except you now have a bunch of 60 year olds pathetically trying to be hip. Throw in two aholes arguing predermined sides of a pointless question and I can see why. Does anyone find this even remotely entertaining?

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

It's not the death of ESPN as much as the death of cable. I can't wait to ditch it and embrace 'over the top' subscription channels to my Apple TV. Unfortunately the Sunday ticket is too good for me to pass up.