More Cuts at ESPN

E6PN.

 

Independent of any political/legal (e.g., antitrust) issues, being completely vertically integrated can be an awfully bad play. I have to believe that FOX or CBS or NBC have certain competencies that they bring to the table that the NFL, on its lonesome, would have a hard time developing. And even if that weren't the case at this particular time, there's little chance that would remain the case over time, because things change in a hurry. A really good way of ensuring you miss out on something is to buffer yourself, via vertical integration, from the broader market.

 

Haven't seen any new names come through in a while...has the bleeding stopped?

 

That doesn't mean that at all. By your logic, because ESPN decided Bill Simmons wasn't worth X, no other outlet would think he was worth X. Same goes for Skip Bayless. ESPN decided he wasn't worth X, and Fox Sports decided he was. In fact, there's more evidence for an argument that somebody's market value increases by having worked at ESPN: Olbermann, Eisen, Patrick, Reynolds, etc, etc. I suspect the Werders and Starks will have little problem in the short term landing a job. Even if they don't land at their league networks, some local outlet will hire them because they've built enough of a brand for themselves that some higher up will see it as a prestige hire, a la the Indy Star and Wetzel.

Long term, yeah, under the current model, Stark and everybody else in this business aren't worth what they're making.

 

Jeff writes better when he doesn't think about it and turns the spigot on full blast.

 

I was just contesting the notion that, e.g., Werder will be snapped up immediately by some other network. It strikes me as unlikely that some other, lesser, network can take a Werder and make $200K off him when ESPN, at present, can't. Possible, but unlikely.

EDITED TO ADD: Boy, that phrase "take a Werder" ... that's a peach, hun.

 

ESPN is notifying the next of kin first

 

I don't know what kind of diet Jemele Hill is on, but she needs to incorporate a dose of SHUT THE FUCK UP into it.

 

How has Britt McHenry survived this purge?