Toggle sidebar

Watched SportsCenter for the first time in about five years. What has happened to them?

Son_Of_Saul

Son_Of_Saul

Hall of Famer
Dec 7, 2007
45,672
100,838
113
Just as an experiment. I had some time to kill, so I wandered over to ESPN to see what they have now.

No lie, they showed World Cup highlights for less than 5 minutes, and then spent about 10 minutes on a WNBA segment regarding a meaningless game with 2nd tier players that no one cares about.

What has happened to them?
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, flacat22, JHR1932 and 6 others
Blue Jesus

Blue Jesus

Senior
Aug 24, 2013
527
788
93
Son_Of_Saul said:
Just as an experiment. I had some time to kill, so I wandered over to ESPN to see what they have now.

No lie, they showed World Cup highlights for less than 5 minutes, and then spent about 10 minutes on a WNBA segment regarding a meaningless game with 2nd tier players that no one cares about.

What has happened to them?
Click to expand...
I don’t have cable in general so I can’t really speak to the evolution of it, but in your particular scenario ESPN doesn’t have the rights to the World Cup so there are probably some limitations to what they can show to begin with. In the same vein they're probably not super inclined to promote and event that will send viewers elsewhere 🤷‍♂️

Random question but do they still do the SportsCenter Top 10?
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk* and GeraldV
MidseasonTweak

MidseasonTweak

Heisman
Mar 1, 2020
10,469
18,053
113
Unless it's MNF, CBB, CFB games, or tennis, I stay away from ESPN. Their production on the first three is bad, I still watch them because I love sports.

The day time talk ****... no thanks. The last talk show that I embarrassingly admit to liking came from FS1 with the now disbanded Undisputed with Skip and Shannon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, JHR1932, Cowtown Cat and 2 others
Son_Of_Saul

Son_Of_Saul

Hall of Famer
Dec 7, 2007
45,672
100,838
113
Blue Jesus said:
I don’t have cable in general so I can’t really speak to the evolution of it, but in your particular scenario ESPN doesn’t have the rights to the World Cup so there are probably some limitations to what they can show to begin with. In the same vein they're probably not super inclined to promote and event that will send viewers elsewhere 🤷‍♂️

Random question but do they still do the SportsCenter Top 10?
Click to expand...
Yes, they still have top 10.
JwUKFan11 said:
It's July 8th.
Click to expand...
Two of the best World Cup matches were played today and they might have had 4 minutes combined. Meanwhile the WNBA received about 8-10 minutes of consecutive attention. It made no sense from an actual fan perspective. For one, 42 million Americans watched the Cup today, not counting viewership overseas, while the average WNBA game draws about 700,000 viewers. Before Caitlin Clark, viewership was at around 350,000-400,000 per game.

But ESPN is all about equal time now, regardless of actual viewership.

It's garbage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, JHannibalSmith, chroix and 5 others
F

FactsOrOpinions

Junior
Jun 10, 2026
166
265
63
I remember I used to watch sports center as a past time. It was a good show. But I agree now it's pretty lame.

Do they even do top ten anymore? I haven't watched it in forever because it is so generic. No personality. Now inside the NBA is the only sports show I can watch all the way through and be entertained.
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, Cowtown Cat and jmw23712
Vek96

Vek96

All-American
Jul 4, 2025
2,771
5,844
113
If I were running Sportscenter I wouldn’t cover any Soccer or WNBA crap. To be honest, with instant access to scores and highlights on the internet, shows like Sportscenter are irrelevant now.

I haven’t watched Sportscenter since Dan Patrick was hosting it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, warrior-cat and BC_Wader
JwUKFan11

JwUKFan11

Heisman
Nov 11, 2011
7,593
15,721
113
Son_Of_Saul said:
Yes, they still have top 10.

Two of the best World Cup matches were played today and they might have had 4 minutes combined. Meanwhile the WNBA received about 8-10 minutes of consecutive attention. It made no sense from an actual fan perspective. For one, 42 million Americans watched the Cup today, not counting viewership overseas, while the average WNBA game draws about 700,000 viewers. Before Caitlin Clark, viewership was at around 350,000-400,000 per game.

But ESPN is all about equal time now, regardless of actual viewership.

It's garbage.
Click to expand...
So you took 14 minutes of the show and formed that opinion on July 8th? The world cup coverage has been non stop and I doubt they even have rights to show much of it with the way FIFA operates.
 
Ash Williams

Ash Williams

Heisman
Aug 3, 2022
8,443
26,785
113
Son_Of_Saul said:
Just as an experiment. I had some time to kill, so I wandered over to ESPN to see what they have now.

No lie, they showed World Cup highlights for less than 5 minutes, and then spent about 10 minutes on a WNBA segment regarding a meaningless game with 2nd tier players that no one cares about.

What has happened to them?
Click to expand...
ESPN owns and sponsors the WNBA TV rights. What more do you need to know.
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, gobigblue812_rivals29381, Cowtown Cat and 1 other person
G

gobigblue812_rivals29381

Heisman
Jun 11, 2012
15,318
16,124
113
Ash Williams said:
ESPN owns and sponsors the WNBA TV rights. What more do you need to know.
Click to expand...

They are going to hype and pump their own programming. They want you to watch their programming.

I watch it in the gym occasionally doing cardio and the Top 10 always has a WNBA mediocre play in there somewhere that doesn't belong. Go figure.
 
UKGrad24

UKGrad24

All-American
Apr 2, 2024
3,024
7,526
100
one of my favorite things to do in the 90’s as a kid was grab some cool ranch Doritos and get ready for ESPN Baseball Tonight with Berm. Griffey and the mariners as a 90’s kid was all that mattered. I get Reds fans, but Griffey will always be a Mariner to 90’s kids. Never felt the same after he left. Playing ball with friends all summer and living in this baseball era was something I’ll treasure forever. And I think we all know what happened to ESPN. This was a great show that day. Pitino, The Wizard in STL, Griffey….the 90’s will never be touched.

 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: warrior-cat, jedwar, Delk4three and 3 others
S

SenseMaker_Cats

All-American
Jul 3, 2025
1,736
5,586
113
Son_Of_Saul said:
Yeah, because people want to watch WNBA games now, right?
Click to expand...
Not sure some remember what Sportscenter was. Didn’t matter if you were 12 or 80, if you were into sports, you were watching it. At one time Sportscenter was ESPN. They’ve obviously moved away from that which is their prerogative if they want but it doesn’t mean Sportscenter doesn’t suck now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, paulcalhoun_rivals397471, warrior-cat and 4 others
BC_Wader

BC_Wader

All-American
Aug 13, 2021
4,886
9,151
113
UKGrad24 said:
one of my favorite things to do in the 90’s as a kid was grab some cool ranch Doritos and get ready for ESPN Baseball Tonight with Berm. Griffey and the mariners as a 90’s kid was all that mattered. I get Reds fans, but Griffey will always be a Mariner to 90’s kids. Never felt the same after he left. Playing ball with friends all summer and living in this baseball era was something I’ll treasure forever. And I think we all know what happened to ESPN. This was a great show that day. Pitino, The Wizard in STL, Griffey….the 90’s will never be touched.

Click to expand...

Chris Berman was so good at ESPN. I miss all his nicknames for players or Coaches. A few I loved: Haywood Workman my way back to you babe, Mike your in good hands with Alstott, Jay Fiedler on the roof, Eddie eat drink and be Murray, and the Shane Matthews band.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, paulcalhoun_rivals397471, warrior-cat and 2 others
Cowtown Cat

Cowtown Cat

Heisman
Aug 23, 2015
24,272
55,228
100
UKGrad24 said:
one of my favorite things to do in the 90’s as a kid was grab some cool ranch Doritos and get ready for ESPN Baseball Tonight with Berm. Griffey and the mariners as a 90’s kid was all that mattered. I get Reds fans, but Griffey will always be a Mariner to 90’s kids. Never felt the same after he left. Playing ball with friends all summer and living in this baseball era was something I’ll treasure forever. And I think we all know what happened to ESPN. This was a great show that day. Pitino, The Wizard in STL, Griffey….the 90’s will never be touched.

Click to expand...

Those were the days! Wtf, Berm?! Jesse Jackson, Mr. November?! What in tarnation?! 🤣
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*
LineSkiCat14

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
39,456
62,080
113
Just not a lot of good hosts on ESPN. I much prefer Cowherd and then Nick Wright/Broussard/Wilds over on Fox.

Get Up isnt bad in the morning. But I think an underlooked problem is that ESPN has a few TOO many ex-athletes, who dont always make great radio/TV personalities. Too much of ESPNs shows glean more towards stats and a lot of basic sports talk. Thats why I like Cowherd, its a little more cerebral sports talk.

(Im also aware Cowherd has several of his own shortcomings, not saying hes perfect by any means).
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk* and BC_Wader
L

LongliveWildcatDon

Junior
Jun 23, 2026
122
250
43
LineSkiCat14 said:
Just not a lot of good hosts on ESPN. I much prefer Cowherd and then Nick Wright/Broussard/Wilds over on Fox.

Get Up isnt bad in the morning. But I think an underlooked problem is that ESPN has a few TOO many ex-athletes, who dont always make great radio/TV personalities. Too much of ESPNs shows glean more towards stats and a lot of basic sports talk. Thats why I like Cowherd, its a little more cerebral sports talk.

(Im also aware Cowherd has several of his own shortcomings, not saying hes perfect by any means
Click to expand...

ESPN host used to be cool and unique. Now its too many trying to be cool and unique and it comes across as lame. Also too many explayers that played but don't have a true knowledge of it or articulate it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: *Fox2Monk*, LineSkiCat14, paulcalhoun_rivals397471 and 1 other person
U

Ukbrassowtipin

Heisman
Aug 12, 2011
82,276
90,236
113
Because theres no reason for sportscenter as we all have phones and can pull up highlights whenever we want.

If they spend more time talking about the wnba its bc its one of their products and the world cup is licensed on fox.
 
S

SandyBell'sFaxMachine

All-Conference
Dec 3, 2020
1,518
2,435
113
Son_Of_Saul said:
Just as an experiment. I had some time to kill, so I wandered over to ESPN to see what they have now.

No lie, they showed World Cup highlights for less than 5 minutes, and then spent about 10 minutes on a WNBA segment regarding a meaningless game with 2nd tier players that no one cares about.

What has happened to them?
Click to expand...
Capitalism happened. The NBA wants to stop losing money with the WNBA. Soccer is the 5th largest sport in this country and one that's above them that have money to pay has paid to help build the brand. Money talks, this is America where everything has a price.

Sportscenter has been awful since Stuart Scott died. Well before the owners got tired of taking a loss on WNBA teams and aggressively tried to promote it. I wouldn't suggest watching it anymore, it's not the same as we remember.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cowtown Cat, *Fox2Monk* and warrior-cat
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom