Exactly...Katz is an actual journalist who reports what he finds after working his sources without favor and baby blue/blue and white poms poms. Such an individual is not welcome in Bristol!
ESPN layoffs
- Thread starter Untouchables96
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Slightly off topic. I met Katz once. He always seemed like a little guy on TV. I'm 6'5'' 220. He's got to be 6'3'' and a portly 235.
Almost everyone I've met after seeing them on TV was smaller than I thought. He was larger.
Almost everyone I've met after seeing them on TV was smaller than I thought. He was larger.
Met Andy during the 2002 NCAA regionals in Rupp (the one when Indiana beat Duke and Kent State to win the region). Nice guy. Good writer and journalist. But, he doesn't bring enough attention to himself, and, therefore ESPN....so he is let go.
I'm sure a lot of their decisions were salary based. Katz I imagine made more than Goodman so they kept the cheap guy. Doesn't make it a good decision but I imagine some bean counter made the call. Whoever here made the statement about the network execs trying to impress their liberal friends at the cocktail parties was spot on. Gonna be the downfall of these and other networks. That's not their consumer base.
Agree with this, generally - in fact, I made the point early in this thread. But there is a danger of over-stating it. The economics of cord cutting is the main driver here, yes. But ask yourself, why are so many people cutting the cord? There are many reasons. But I think it's pretty plain one reason many people no longer watch ESPN like they used to is the perception that it's actively liberal in its politics. An alien not knowing anything of American sports or culture would have thought Michael Sam was not only a very important football player but also a national hero, based on the way ESPN covered that story. One example. The perception of ESPN's politics isn't the main thing there. But it's a thing.
So you get rid of actual reporters in Katz and O'Neal but keep ex jocks with no journalism background and with zero ability to write content? You keep talking heads but get rid of people who can actually provide website content?
Careful with that question. You'll trigger a lot of people to ask "Why is it always about race?"
This is timely.
Yesterday, ESPN published a poem in honor of a cop killer, penned by a University of Kentucky professor(!)
http://thefederalist.com/2017/04/27/espn-poetry-tribute-fugitive-cop-killer/
http://www.espn.com/espnw/voices/article/19201723/five-poets-new-feminism
Yesterday, ESPN published a poem in honor of a cop killer, penned by a University of Kentucky professor(!)
http://thefederalist.com/2017/04/27/espn-poetry-tribute-fugitive-cop-killer/
http://www.espn.com/espnw/voices/article/19201723/five-poets-new-feminism
I think in a lot of cases, employees were offered to stay for a pay cut; many (most) refused, and are gone.
This is where we are at now. It's not about being talented anymore. It's about being loud, obnoxious and controversial.
Journalism is exactly like this now and it has gone the way of reality contest shows. My wife made it a couple of rounds on a national television talent show but didn't have some sob story and drama for ratings and didn't get past some way less talented folks.
That's what Katz is right now. He's not a douche like Stephen A. Smith so he's axed.
ESPN is only going to double down on it's strategy of becoming the CNN of sports. I feel bad for many of the people that work there but I hope they fail... and most likely, with that strategy and the seemingly incompetent management they currently have, they will.
What do sports news outlets do when the athletes become political or make some kind of political statement? Do they not report that story just so they can stick to no politics? C'mon now. Several political topics are going to surface on the network because they will matter to athletes.
I hate to get on a soapbox and sound like I'm preaching or smarter than the next guy. But some of you are missing the obvious point. This isn't about who is "better" in some sense of the word. It's not about your opinion as to who you'd rather see on television.
We can all agree we'd rather see Katz talking college basketball rather than, say, Steven A Smith scream about some nonsense. But Smith gets ratings! Apparently, hard as it is to understand, people like Cowherd and Smith and Skip what's his name make people so mad that they watch, and they watch in higher numbers than other people. More viewers equals being able to charge more to advertisers equals higher revenues for ESPN.
It's like all the complaints I see about ESPN devoting so much time to the NFL. The NFL is far and away the most popular sport in this country. Would be stupid for them not to give people what they want......
We can all agree we'd rather see Katz talking college basketball rather than, say, Steven A Smith scream about some nonsense. But Smith gets ratings! Apparently, hard as it is to understand, people like Cowherd and Smith and Skip what's his name make people so mad that they watch, and they watch in higher numbers than other people. More viewers equals being able to charge more to advertisers equals higher revenues for ESPN.
It's like all the complaints I see about ESPN devoting so much time to the NFL. The NFL is far and away the most popular sport in this country. Would be stupid for them not to give people what they want......
Without going through each one, I'd say the majority of people who lost their jobs have been white.
First Take's ratings have been plummeting. They had to try and move it to ESPN from ESPN2 to save it. People have more options, they're tired of listening to blowhards like SAS, and they're sick of academic liberals talking down to them and telling them Colin Kaepernick is a hero.
They're doubling down on a losing strategy. ESPN is done.
Katz was by far their best college basketball "reporter", its a shame they're letting him go. I'm sure he'll get picked up by CBS though.
I never watched it, because I hated Skip Clueless. I checked it out a couple times recently because he was gone, but I don't like Max either. I used to like him when he was on Around the Horn, but he is very strident now and I often don't agree with his opinions too.
There you go, no question this is one screwed up network. Goodman still on the payroll? SAS still on the payroll? I will continue not watching.
Josina Anderson hasn't been let go yet, has she?! Because the world needs another interview on what Michael Sam does in the shower. :grimace:
First Take's ratings are not good and they're getting worse.
I just wonder why Disney continues to allow John Skipper to run ESPN. Disney is normally draconian with leadership who fail to make a profit.
At least Jemele Hill still has a job.
That dumbass is helping kill ESPiN as much as anyone...
That dumbass is helping kill ESPiN as much as anyone...
I have a friend in the sports media business and he says that the ESPN model is busted and they have become too big and will be gone within 5 years. Too much exposure and not enough substance.
There is a middle ground, you know. A middle ground between ignoring a story completely, and on the other hand beating it into the ground. Michael Sam came out of the closet. Cover the story. Mention it - you don't ignore it. But you don't really need to have an hour long special and make him a focus of your draft coverage. He was, what, undrafted? A 7th round pick? And everyone said before he wasn't going to make a team anyway. The way ESPN covered that was telling - they weren't saying "we're covering sports", they were adopting the Sports Illustrated model of "we want to be a leader when it comes to social justice."
Some people will applaud that. Some will recoil.
That 2 more should go, they have the worst program on ESPN.
Stephen A. Smith makes over $3M a year and he's a moron. He's a loudmouth moron. He's not a real journalist at all.
Salary dump? Funny who was chosen for this salary dump and who was kept on. I also noticed some identity poltics seem to be in play here in terms of who didn't get bounced.
Salary dump? Funny who was chosen for this salary dump and who was kept on. I also noticed some identity poltics seem to be in play here in terms of who didn't get bounced.
Here's what happened in a nutshell - the big rights fees were coming due about the time the cord was being cut because of high cable bills. ESPN was really 'forced' to pay those fees or lose the rights to aggressive suitors like Fox Sports and NBC Sports.
CBS has been a bit more conservative (their TV network is number one for about ten years now) when it comes to fees, other than NFL. So much of the revenue of cable channels comes from subscription fees (about 70 percent of Fox News for example is sub fees, 30 percent advertising) Every time ESPN loses a customer they lose about 120 dollars a year. Do the math - 13 million subs at 120 dollars a year. Ouch.
CBS has been a bit more conservative (their TV network is number one for about ten years now) when it comes to fees, other than NFL. So much of the revenue of cable channels comes from subscription fees (about 70 percent of Fox News for example is sub fees, 30 percent advertising) Every time ESPN loses a customer they lose about 120 dollars a year. Do the math - 13 million subs at 120 dollars a year. Ouch.