No surprise they're keeping this waste of space.
Still classy, I see - 100 people (most of whom being infinitely more talented than her) get the sack and she gloats about keeping her job? I would imagine the only reason she was spared the axe to begin with is that her salary is low enough to keep her off the "hatchet man's" radar (for now). However, considering the way ESPN is hemorrhaging cash, the joke's on her if she thinks that's the end of it.
And I pretty much stopped paying attention to ESPN after SB XL due to their role in the officiating controversy.
This is the only reason I know anything about her, but I still remember it: http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/us/esp...chenry-tirade/
ESPN was bad for a long time now. The Krappernick controversy last year was the death knell. I've had enough of all forms of politics. I'm sick a hearing about Trump, CNN, Hilary, progressivism, illegals, immigrations, BLM. It's all a cancer.
She's sucking a good **** in that studio.Still classy, I see - 100 people (most of whom being infinitely more talented than her) get the sack and she gloats about keeping her job? I would imagine the only reason she was spared the axe to begin with is that her salary is low enough to keep her off the "hatchet man's" radar (for now).
None of it matters anyways. This is just re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Unless the are cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries, it can't reverse the death spiral they are in with regards to losing subscribers at a record rate at the same time their content costs for live games is going through the roof.
The sad part is the solution exists. Look at HBO GO. Just make an ESPN GO. It isn't hard, you already have an app. But TV networks and sports leagues are about where newspapers were at 15-20 years ago. Too locked into outdated business models and too conservative to really innovate.
The only reason I care, is that I truly believe that without 500 million to 1 billion plus dollar TV deals - the NFL as we know it goes away. Basketball and baseball shortly to follow.
Espn sux but does have 3 things going good. 1.30 For 30 series are entertaining. 2. Ryan Clark is really knowledgeable and also funny on the NFL shows. 3. Still have MNF Football.
ESPN rubs me wrong sometimes, but I'm thankful for any and all 24-hour sports programming. I really have no interest in other TV programming. So I don't want to cut my nose off to spite my face.
Will say this too and think ESPN miss the boat not getting any NHL contracts and games ever.
Out of all those, baseball is the only one that's actually been preparing for what's coming. They've been testing out all kinds of streaming and pay-as-you-go subscription models quietly for several years now. Whereas the NFL's approach is to make access as restricted as possible and try to jam all potential viewers into a single, surly, take-it-or-leave-it package.
That kind of works if interest is so high that people are willing to overlook the cost or inconvenience or the general shitty attitude of the whole thing. But interest in the NFL is already declining from that peak. In baseball it already did, so they're trying to do the smart thing and be ready - trying out things that are actually helpful and which people want. You know, running it like an actual business with customers, not a monolith.
Eventually coverage could turn into some kind of hybrid model like you see with some European soccer leagues, where you've got varying levels of free and paid for varying levels of interest. But the network TV deal as a primary source of income is not going to be a thing much longer. The NFL will probably hold out longer than most trying to force "exclusive" deals and shit, but I do not think the public's interest level is going to support that for long either. They are going to have a rude awakening when they find out that the Millennial fantasy football fan and statmonger is not the same thing as a die-hard fan of the sport itself.
See you Space Cowboy ...
This whole thing reminds me of NBC crying over their sagging ratings for the Olympics and blaming it on those lazy millenials. How dare people not line up and eat up our crap coverage and fluff pieces again and again?
I watch the olympics to see the olympics, not advertisements and inspirational fluff pieces on the athletes.
They are also going to be surprised when they find out that all the people in the groups they have reached out to in the hopes of bringing them into the game, all the groups they tried to appease with rule changes, and all the Millennial fantasy fans and the Millennial soccer nerds are not going to follow and financially support the game the way the NFL hoped.......while they continued to shit on and ignore the traditional die-hard, avid fans of the game that supported the game and helped the NFL grow into the superpower it has become today.....and the very people they seems intent on pushing away from the game over the last decade or so.
If they lose a huge market share, it would serve them right.
The NFL version of Manifest Destiny gone wrong.
Yup. That pretty much nails it.
I can already see the fan-interest pendulum swinging away from the NFL and more toward basketball for the past couple of years already, and I don't see why it's going to stop any time soon. It's got the appeal for all the different types of fickle "casual" sports fans too - fantasy/stats appeal; superstar appeal; off-the-court drama appeal; dickhead "street" appeal; bitching-about-the-rules-and-the-officiating appeal; and a lot less dragged-out, manufactured BS during the games, and a lot less treating the fans like garbage.
The NFL should be looking at that and thinking about what they need to do to remain more engaging than that, but instead they always go the monolith route, and it's going to bite them. Sooner than they think, too.
See you Space Cowboy ...
More from Ed Werder's podcast comments
He also mentioned the names of some apparently laid-off colleagues who we hadn’t heard about previously.
It’s not the quality of your work that’s a factor. Well, it causes me to wonder, what is ESPN about? Because I thought it was about news and information and highlights, and I’m not sure that is the point of emphasis anymore. How is ESPN going to cover the NFL without all of the people who lost their jobs. What happens without Merril Hoge and Ron Jaworksi to NFL Matchup? What happens to NFL Insiders without a number of analysts, former general managers like Joe Banner and Mark Dominik.
http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/edwerder.html
No surprise if Jaworski and Hoge are let go since NFL Matchup has been an insightful show for a long time. Of all the people ESPN has let go, nobody has been screwed over more than Jaworski, who was forced off Monday Night Football because there was not enough time for anyone other Gruden to talk between plays. The ESPN business model for the NFL is the Monday night game and people shouting at each other.
No announcement but Ed Werder (who understandably is not pleased he got axed) said this in his podcast
What happens without Merril Hoge and Ron Jaworski to ‘NFL Matchup?’
When asked if Hoge and Jaws are gone, a PR person for ESPN responded as follows
Bill Hofheimer with ESPN NFL PR would not confirm or deny any specific names regarding ESPN personnel moves, when asked about Hoge and Jaworski.
http://thebiglead.com/2017/05/01/are...erder-says-so/
That is what is called a "non-denial denial."
ESPN has never issued a list - either the employee made the disclosure or a coworker did