More Cuts at ESPN

Anti-DeNiro while essentially calling the Mafia “very fine people.”

 

Rotillo is returning to ESPN.

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/s...illo-expected-to-sign-new-deal-with-espn/amp/

That was odd.

 

I watched about 13 seconds of Ravens-Colts last night, and had to turn the channel.
Tess was very good with Gilmore on late night, west coast college football.
Monday Night Football is a totally different animal.

 

Tessitore reminds me very much of Brad Nessler, who is another one who I think adores the sound of his own voice.

 

Enjoyed The Ringer article. Thanks to those who flagged it.

 

Man, Rotillo has become a jacked up meathead.

 

Rotillo is one of the better name screwups I’ve seen around here.

ESPN is in the midst of a massive culture reshift under Pitaro. My sense is there’s almost no way back, either. The “sports media” media, what little of that there is, is unabsashedly liberal (especially Deitsch) and frankly loved the direction Skipper had taken the company, ratings be damned. Reversing those trends will not only not be celebrated, it’ll be characterized by Deadspin as “rolling over” for the NFL. It’ll be uncool - perhaps the worst thing for a liberal to be.

ESPN isn’t gonna win this PR battle.

 

oy

 

Clay Travis must laugh his ass off every time he finds someone parroting his "ESPN is liberal" shtick.

 

Aren’t there (at least)* two different questions?

(1) Is ESPN liberal? And while of course there are personalities and executives who are not, I think it’s hard to deny there was somewhat of a drift in that direction.

(2) Did ESPN lose viewers and subscribers because of this (perceived) liberal shift? This is where Travis is further out on the deep end of speculation, since it seems more likely these declines relate to general industry trends. (Except perhaps to the extend the frayed relationship with NFL led to crappier selection of games and therefore lower ratings.)

* There are more but I’m not going set out every permutation.