OT: NFL Network Cutbacks

[Bill Lee]

Melissa Stark, Andrew Siciliano, James Palmer, and Will Selva are out at NFLN....

Four on-air personalities out at NFLN as paring down continues

NFL Network has been paring back costs in all sectors. The NFL has been in talks about selling the network and other NFL Media assets.

theathletic.com

NFLN is a mess. The NFL is making record profits but dumps talent left and right. They closed Good Morning Football in NYC to reduce spending, but now won't have a replacement up and running for months. They are throwing out the baby with the bath water, IMO.

 

[Ian]

I feel bad for Melissa Stark. She worked hard just to get herself back into a prominent role and I thought she did a good job.

 

[Steve102]

I feel bad for Melissa Stark. She worked hard just to get herself back into a prominent role and I thought she did a good job.

Yeah, I'll retweet that.

 

[farn]

I feel bad for Melissa Stark. She worked hard just to get herself back into a prominent role and I thought she did a good job.

Melissa Stark is excellent. Why she doesn’t have a bigger role is beyond me. Other networks should make offers. Big fan.

 

[203Pat]

I don't know why they created their own network if they seemingly don't want to invest in it. I knew TNF moving to Amazon would have ramifications but NFLN looks to be gutting a lot of the programming that actually worked.

 

[Bill Lee]

I don't know why they created their own network if they seemingly don't want to invest in it. I knew TNF moving to Amazon would have ramifications but NFLN looks to be gutting a lot of the programming that actually worked.

It's hard to figure out. The best I can do is to say creating your own network was a big thing when they started, but by now it's well-known they'd like to be rid of it but can't/won't admit failure.

Refer back to January when we had:

NFL in ‘advanced talks’ over taking equity stake in ESPN - SportsPro

Proposed deal would see ESPN take control of NFL Media, including NFL Network and NFL+ ahead of streaming launch.

www.sportspromedia.com

They've tried to sell it outright but had no decent offers.

Now it seems they have to bundle it with a big investment in ESPN to get rid of it.

There's more to the ESPN deal than just getting rid of NFLN, but it is an added bonus from the NFL's point of view.

It could very well be getting rid of the NY operation and cutting some senior talent is a part of making NFLN more acceptable to ESPN.

 

[Ivan]

I understand it completely. The NFL simply had no choice. Paying people to work for them is just too heavy of a lift. And I can’t imagine how they could afford a studio in NYC? The owners are going broke, my heart breaks for them.

 

[XLIX]

One major problem with the NFL Network is that, unlike the other sports leagues, it doesn't show any actual games. They tried doing Thursday nights exclusively on the NFLN, but quickly realized it was far more profitable to sell those games, first to Fox and then to Amazon.

ESPN has so much NFL coverage that the NFLN is redundant.

 

[203Pat]

It's hard to figure out. The best I can do is to say creating your own network was a big thing when they started, but by now it's well-known they'd like to be rid of it but can't/won't admit failure.

Refer back to January when we had:

NFL in ‘advanced talks’ over taking equity stake in ESPN - SportsPro

Proposed deal would see ESPN take control of NFL Media, including NFL Network and NFL+ ahead of streaming launch.

www.sportspromedia.com

They've tried to sell it outright but had no decent offers.

Now it seems they have to bundle it with a big investment in ESPN to get rid of it.

There's more to the ESPN deal than just getting rid of NFLN, but it is an added bonus from the NFL's point of view.

It could very well be getting rid of the NY operation and cutting some senior talent is a part of making NFLN more acceptable to ESPN.

They got into traditional media just before it started dying. With the rise of "cord cutting" and the endless streaming services there are a lot less people sitting down and watching traditional cable every night. Millennials and Gen Z are really going to throw thing for a loop in the next decade or so as the boomers start to exit.

I am a millennial that used to watch Sportscaster and NFLN religiously but now if I want to see a score or highlights it is easier just to pull up YouTube or an app and get the specific game/score I am looking for without hearing about 12 minutes of whether Lebron can still carry a team. Gen Z has an even lower tolerance (attention span?) for waiting on information than millennials and basically consumes their whole world through 30 second Tik Tok videos. ESPN has been trying to figure out how to adapt for about 10 years now and they have twice the experience in the media world that NFLN does and still they don't have an answer. Wouldn't be surprised if NFLN bites the bullet and takes whatever offer ESPN, or some other network, is willing to put forth and gets out altogether.

 

[Pape]

don't understand how the NFLN can be such a ****show... oh wait... meddling...

the nfl needs to step back and just let the network run as a network should, without the interference... so many times an impactful story breaks and they are the last to report on it, if ever... stop that ****, and they might catch more eyes...

 

[Ivan]

Bob Kraft sank 180 million into buying the Patriots, and now they are only worth a paltry 6.4 Billion. What a waste, he should have just bought stock in Coca Cola or Pepsi.

Maybe they can go to just one reporter to cover the league, that shouldn’t hurt them too bad. I’ll bet they could get Mike Mutnansky, to do it for free.

I guess I just have a cold cold heart. Heartless even.

 

[Vindicate]

Melissa Stark, Andrew Siciliano, James Palmer, and Will Selva are out at NFLN....

Four on-air personalities out at NFLN as paring down continues

NFL Network has been paring back costs in all sectors. The NFL has been in talks about selling the network and other NFL Media assets.

theathletic.com

NFLN is a mess. The NFL is making record profits but dumps talent left and right. They closed Good Morning Football in NYC to reduce spending, but now won't have a replacement up and running for months. They are throwing out the baby with the bath water, IMO.

Profits made and rate of profit are two separate things. Feels like a lot of these mergers or guttings are pointing towards a drop in the rate of profit.

 

[Bill Lee]

I am a millennial that used to watch Sportscaster and NFLN religiously but now if I want to see a score or highlights it is easier just to pull up YouTube or an app and get the specific game/score I am looking for without hearing about 12 minutes of whether Lebron can still carry a team. Gen Z has an even lower tolerance (attention span?) for waiting on information than millennials and basically consumes their whole world through 30 second Tik Tok videos. ESPN has been trying to figure out how to adapt for about 10 years now and they have twice the experience in the media world that NFLN does and still they don't have an answer. Wouldn't be surprised if NFLN bites the bullet and takes whatever offer ESPN, or some other network, is willing to put forth and gets out altogether.

I'm a tail-end boomer but my media consumption habits have always been a bit different than my peers.

I bought a first generation TiVo in the early/mid 90s and have had one ever since. Why? Because my time is valuable so I hate to sit through ads.

I bought a first generation WiFi setup connected to an early router that dialed a modem on demand so I always had Internet when I wanted it.

These days I have Youtube Premium so I don't see Youtube's ads and I skip through ads that creators add to their videos.

I don't fixate on Tik Tok or 'shorts' or 'clips' or whatever each platform calls their short videos, but my viewing habits favor creators that get to the point.

When I scan through the u2b timeline I always look at the time of each video and ask myself, "is this topic worth that much time?".

So often the answer is no, but over time I've gotten pretty good at weeding out creators that waste my time.

So, upon reflection, I agree that NFLN is not going to make much if any money in this kind of environment.

 

[Bill Lee]

Profits made and rate of profit are two separate things. Feels like a lot of these mergers or guttings are pointing towards a drop in the rate of profit.

The thing that seems different to me is that in my mind NFLN is not supposed to be a stand-alone profit center, but NFL treats it as one.

In my mind NFLN is supposed to be a promotion for their sport and it's fine if it's not a money spinner.

But of course I don't have access to the financials or the engagement figures either.

I suppose if NFL Inc reaches the conclusion that it's just not reaching enough eyeballs to be worth the cost it will get dumped.

Yet I do wonder if they focus on social media if they will have enough influence to make sure their content gets eyeballs.

Presumably such control is a part of why they wanted to create NFLN in the first place.

Maybe they think they retain such control by buying into ESPN, but it seems its other media "partners" are not fond of that idea.