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Still Complaining About ESPN...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gurtholfin
  • Start date Start date
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

unofan said:
It'll hit as soon as people cut the cord in earnest. There's too many people who are currently saying, "I'd cut the cord but for live sports."

I also think as more people stream directly from the leagues themselves, there will be more pressure applied to shorten some of the tv timeouts back to what they used to be 20 years ago.
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Agreed. That (sports) was the only thing that delayed my cutting of the cord. Once I did a budget plan...easy decision. There are enough TV options at local watering holes/etc that are STILL cheaper than cable/dish factoring all the costs.
 
Spartanforlife4 said:
The sports bubble has to be coming soon, right? ESPN is paying so much for rights to broadcast things they don't have the money to pay people to cover them.

Well, I should rephrase that. They don't have money to pay people to cover them through actual journalism. We'll still be treated to the wonderful back-and-forth of Stephen A and Skip and the seventeen NFL shows.

NBA rights are about to explode, Big Ten rights are going to explode, and the NFL certainly isn't getting any cheaper. ESPN is going to have to give something up or they'll have no employees.
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When do the rights go up for the NFL? NHL is 7 years right? NBA just hit their new contract. I have no idea on MLB. NCAA BBall just started two years ago? The Olympics is thru 2032, the World Cup thru 2026. Even MLS is locked thru 2020.

These might be the last big money contracts...
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

Jimjamesak said:
When do the rights go up for the NFL? NHL is 7 years right? NBA just hit their new contract. I have no idea on MLB. NCAA BBall just started two years ago? The Olympics is thru 2032, the World Cup thru 2026. Even MLS is locked thru 2020.

These might be the last big money contracts...
Click to expand...

This may help. E$PN way way overpayed for MNF
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

Jimjamesak said:
When do the rights go up for the NFL? NHL is 7 years right? NBA just hit their new contract. I have no idea on MLB. NCAA BBall just started two years ago? The Olympics is thru 2032, the World Cup thru 2026. Even MLS is locked thru 2020.

These might be the last big money contracts...
Click to expand...

Ah, I thought NBA was negotiating again, but I mixed that up with the players wanting more of that cut in the CBA negotiation.

Based on the current situation, the Big Ten better go all-in on whatever network they want, because this has to be the end.
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

Spartanforlife4 said:
Ah, I thought NBA was negotiating again, but I mixed that up with the players wanting more of that cut in the CBA negotiation.

Based on the current situation, the Big Ten better go all-in on whatever network they want, because this has to be the end.
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In more ways than one...the prices these leagues are charging to attend games is getting out of control too. Sooner or later people just stop caring...
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

Handyman said:
In more ways than one...the prices these leagues are charging to attend games is getting out of control too. Sooner or later people just stop caring...
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This has already happened to some sports actually... Look at NASCAR.... It was the hot ticket through the early 2000s, and then the bubble burst... Now tracks are getting 1/2 the crowd and similar TV ratings...
 
RaceBoarder said:
This has already happened to some sports actually... Look at NASCAR.... It was the hot ticket through the early 2000s, and then the bubble burst... Now tracks are getting 1/2 the crowd and similar TV ratings...
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It'll be interesting how leagues like MLS will fair in the next few years. If the bubble has popped it'll be a huge blow. The interesting thing with MLS ratings are, though small, their demographics, something like 75%+ of viewers are 18-34. So the ratings are small but the audience is an advertisers dream.
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

Jimjamesak said:
It'll be interesting how leagues like MLS will fair in the next few years. If the bubble has popped it'll be a huge blow. The interesting thing with MLS ratings are, though small, their demographics, something like 75%+ of viewers are 18-34. So the ratings are small but the audience is an advertisers dream.
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Depends on if the MLS got their contract via the whole FIFA movement- which we are finding is not exactly honest- or if they are going on merit. PLUS- seeing the stadiums that are full (I know they are not huge, but it is a big deal)- how much income is coming from TV? For their sake, I sure hope they are more heavy on the attendance vs. TV- grow slowly, and you will stay.

NASCAR started like that, and just took advantage of the situation- so they are not going to go anywhere. Just that their coverage will go down, and the formula for the cars will change, etc. So MLS should see that they should not double down after a World Cup- just invest more to gain more.
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

What if teams/leagues started pulling their games from cable/tv and went to internet only? Could it work?
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

joecct said:
What if teams/leagues started pulling their games from cable/tv and went to internet only? Could it work?
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Not while the bubble's in full force.

For instance, $2 billion per year just for MNF - that's about $100,000,000 per broadcast assuming 20 broadcasts per year.

Assuming 15 million viewers, you'd need people to spend $6.67 per week just for that one game to break even.

All told, the NFL is bringing in about $4 billion in domestic TV rights alone this year, maybe more (not sure if that includes the new Thursday night rights or not).

Over a 6 month season, to make that much they'd need to bring in $667 million/mo.
At $15/mo., they'd need roughly 45 million people subscribing.
At $30/mo. (or $15/mo. year round), they'd still need about 22.5 million subscribers.

Not sure I see that happening just for one sport. Now they'd get to keep any advertising money in house that way, too, which could offset some of the costs, but I still think that if the broadcasts go in house with people paying the NFL directly, there's a better chance they push back against some of the more egregious TV timeout rules.

The numbers may make more sense for some of the other leagues, especially with teams controlling their own broadcasting contracts generally. Whether they get $2/month from all cable subscribers or $10 from a voluntary streamers may be a closer call.
 
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Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

RaceBoarder said:
This has already happened to some sports actually... Look at NASCAR.... It was the hot ticket through the early 2000s, and then the bubble burst... Now tracks are getting 1/2 the crowd and similar TV ratings...
Click to expand...

But NBC paid a boatload of money to wrest the second half of the season away from ESPN ... way more than any other previous NASCAR TV deal.

With the proliferation of sports networks, they are desperate for any kind of live sports coverage they can get to fill their air time in order to stay marketable for cable fees, which is part of what is driving the rights fees up.
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

unofan said:
Not while the bubble's in full force.

For instance, $2 billion per year just for MNF - that's about $100,000,000 per broadcast assuming 20 broadcasts per year.

Assuming 15 million viewers, you'd need people to spend $6.67 per week just for that one game to break even.

All told, the NFL is bringing in about $4 billion in domestic TV rights alone this year, maybe more (not sure if that includes the new Thursday night rights or not).

Over a 6 month season, to make that much they'd need to bring in $667 million/mo.
At $15/mo., they'd need roughly 45 million people subscribing.
At $30/mo. (or $15/mo. year round), they'd still need about 22.5 million subscribers.

Not sure I see that happening just for one sport. Now they'd get to keep any advertising money in house that way, too, which could offset some of the costs, but I still think that if the broadcasts go in house with people paying the NFL directly, there's a better chance they push back against some of the more egregious TV timeout rules.

The numbers may make more sense for some of the other leagues, especially with teams controlling their own broadcasting contracts generally. Whether they get $2/month from all cable subscribers or $10 from a voluntary streamers may be a closer call.
Click to expand...

F the Shield. What about local broadcasting rights for MLB, NBA, and NHL?
 
Re: Still Complaining About ESPN...

You can tell where ESPN's head is at. The headline for the writeup of the Denver-Indy game wasn't that a 7-0 team lost; it was that Peyton came a few yards short of the passing yardage record, which he'll break next week anyway.
 
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