ESPN has had a very tough year.
Do you remember all of this, from just this year?
First they said goodbye to several veterans of the network, such as Ed Werder, Trent Dilfer and Danny Kanell, to name a few.
Then do you remember the infamous “Robert Lee” scandal, where they pulled an announcer from a game because his name was the same as Confederate General Robert E. Lee? That was my personal favorite!
Then we had the Jemele Hill saga, where she attacked Trump, calling him a “white supremacist” ultimately leading to her suspension.
What a banner year it has been!
Oh, and of course I forgot to mention the biggest thing: the NFL Anthem protests. Many have interpreted ESPN and their announcers as siding with the players, and as a result, the blowback has been severe.
Take, for example, this report from Fox News, reporting that a new huge round of layoffs is coming:
ESPN is planning another round of layoffs just six months after the network fired more than 100 employees, Sporting News reports.
Multiple sources told the sports news site that 40 to 60 people including on-air talent and radio personalities may be sent packing.
The layoffs are likely due to plummeting profits. It’s hard to sustain profits when you’re losing 15,000 customers A DAY! That added up to 480,000 lost subscribers in October alone! Those are “headed for bankruptcy” numbers folks!
Here’s the report, from Breitbart:
There are a variety of ways, in which businesses judge whether they’re having a successful business day. However, if you’re losing over 15,000 customers a day, that is generally frowned upon.
No doubt, there are many frowns being worn on the faces of ESPN executives after reviewing the October Cable Coverage Estimates. ESPN lost over 15,000 subscribers for every day ending in “y,” during the month of October.To put that into perspective, that’s the equivalent of losing Sacramento, California, the 35th largest city in the country, in a month. While many would welcome the loss of Sacramento, for a variety of reasons, when discussing losing a city of that size in a ratings context, it’s horrifying.
Of course, ESPN isn’t the only cable sports giant to lose massively among subscribers. FS1 584,000 households in the month of October. Though, it is noteworthy, that FS1’s ESPN-esque decline has coincided with their efforts to repeat the mistakes of ESPN. In October, FS1 brought the Reverend Jesse Jackson on Undisputed, the network’s flagship debate show, featuring Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe.
Not surprisingly, Jackson bashed President Trump and used slave references to describe the how players are treated in the NFL. This move, straight out of the ESPN playbook, seemed really odd considering that FS1 has branded themselves as being everything that ESPN is not. However, considering that incident, in addition to the daily drum beat of liberal insanity coming from Shannon Sharpe; and one gets a pretty clear picture of why the network which branded itself as the alternative to ESPN, has suddenly become just like ESPN.
Anyone notice a common theme here? First, they attack Trump. Then they tank. It happens over and over and over. We here at AFP call it the Trump Boomerang Effect! Teflon Don remains unphased.
Kind of like this comic, which is worth a thousand words:
Now comes a report that ESPN likely can’t afford Monday Night Football anymore, and will likely have to let it go, unless Disney steps in to pay for it. Read that report here, from OutkickTheCoverage.
How the mighty have fallen!
NFL….down and almost out.
ESPN…following closely on the NFL’s heels.
We’d love to hear from you, what do you think about ESPN’s woes?
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