What's The Plan at ESPN?

We touched on this at the tail end of last week’s newsletter — ESPN signing Stephen A. Smith to a $100M deal — but since I think it speaks to something wider happening at the network, I thought we’d check in on the Worldwide Leader.

Moves like that, combined with big layoffs that caught up on-air talent like Zach Lowe, Todd McShay, Jeff Van Gundy, etc. speaks to what sure looks like a new direction in Bristol. I can’t say with much authority whether those moves will prove to be right or wrong — that’d just be guessing — but they do suggest an acknowledgement that the business model is already changing and very much needs to change in order for the company to survive.

ESPN has a powerful brand. It’s not exactly the bastion of quote-unquote ‘smart’ sports coverage anymore, and cuts like those I named don’t help that impression, but it’s not like they’re utterly bereft of insightful talent. They kept Bill Barnwell, who’s kinda like the NFL counterpart to Zach Lowe. Mina Kimes is around as, IMO, a pretty talented generalist. Sure, the PTI guys are stuck in their PTI-y ways, but I for one have always enjoyed their dynamic more than not. And there’s only one Jay Bilas, who we’re obviously a big fan of around here:

What the company is doing, so far as I can tell, is trying to get ready for the core of their business coming down to two things: live sports and a streaming library.

The daytime hours are probably already verging on irrelevant. I can’t see them just jettisoning the cable channel, but they’ll continue to aggressively cut costs by filling time with tape and the few live, non-studio shows they feel they can count on. Right now, that looks like those led by two people: Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee. They’ll keep the studio shows that bookend games, as that remains valuable airtime, but the rest?

It’s all on the chopping block. It’s hard to make a case for spending much on programming like NBA Today and NFL Live when those shows are dated by the next day and aren’t watched live as much as they once were. They make a lot of sense in the old cable world, where you could more reasonably expect those shows to be on all day in random waiting rooms and airports and sure, yeah, my living room. They don’t make much sense in this one, where hardly anyone can be bothered to watch anything at the time it’s actually on anymore.

Hence the move to cancel Around the Horn, a show I used to love growing up but, admittedly, haven’t watched in years. I imagine I’m not alone in that, which is probably part of the impetus for the cut. I’m part of the problem! And I recognize that. For I, like ESPN, am flawed.

While that’s all going on on the television side of house, ESPN is probably shuttering its sportsbook, ESPN BET, within the next year or two. A few weeks ago, it was reported that that’s on the table. They just haven’t made up the market share they thought they would. They’re still in the single digits, they’re taking losses, and Penn National has an opt-out after 2026. Like Bradley Beal and his player option, I have a prediction: they’re taking that.

Penn has had other failures on this front — paging Barstool — but it’s not like this is strictly their fault. One of the main issues they would point to is ESPN taking two years to integrate the sportsbook into their app, losing valuable time in getting app users — of which there are ~20M+ every month — to go with them instead of FanDuel or DraftKings. Bummer.

Getting back to the Stephen A. Smith of all this, I mean — I don’t even want to comment on what has spiraled into an ever more stupid and self-promotional news cycle by the day with him and this LeBron standoff. I don’t know what point either one of them has been trying to make in all this, but I haven’t gotten it.

And yet, that in itself feels like a thing for ESPN the network, as they fork over nine digits and commit to elevating their loudest voices over their smartest ones. As ESPN pulls back on the overall amount and depth of coverage they’re doing, and I expect they will, then the resulting gaps will be filled by the few outsized voices that remain. The “share of voice,” if you will, looks to be heading in a select few directions, and I’m not sure I like them. But I’m also not sure they can get by with another way forward.

They should make the effort to keep good talent, and they should keep throwing the money they have at rights deals with the biggest leagues in America: the NFL, the NBA, college football.

The ESPN we all once knew is already gone, of course. Times change, and so do companies, especially media brands. These aren’t exactly boom times for the industry. But you gotta wonder where this all lands a few years from now, and it might well be that the best they can hope for in Bristol is just rightside up.

🏈 I’m always a little wary of getting too excited about a free agency haul. We’ve all done it, especially when we have a rooting interest. And isn’t that the fun of it? Let them live! But I’m putting it on the record that I’m a little worried about the Bears fans. I’ve seen this movie before, and I wish the residents of Chicago well. Apart from the Cubs, that is. Not them.

Quick rundown of moves I liked and didn’t, which, to be clear, are based on very little other than rank speculation. Onward!

YUP:

• On the real, I can’t get too mad about the Bears’ calls. None of them are indefensible, and they’re putting resources in the right places. Much of this will come down to Ben Johnson’s leadership, which is an unproven resource, but they do have the makings of a turnaround. How’s that for a reverse jinx?

• Bias check, but I like both of the Bills’ front-page moves. In the somewhat unlikely case that Joey Bosa plays a full year, that’s a steal. In the more likely case that Joshua Palmer catches ~50 passes, I like the get.

• And then, while things got a lil choppy there for a sec, I think I like where the Rams have netted out? Stafford’s back for one more lap and I do think Davante Adams probably has a smidge more left in the tank than Cooper Kupp. Of everyone in the playoffs, this team came the closest to beating the Eagles, and they’ll be heavily favored to win their division. Why not?

NOPE:

• The Chiefs, after getting obliterated in the Super Bowl, solved their problem at LT by signing Trent Williams’ backup. Nothing to see here.

• Which is one of the, I don’t know, million or so guys that the 49ers have watched walk out the door in the last month? Crazy how quickly that team hollowed out. Not seeing much cause for sunshine in the Bay.

• And then there’s the Cowboys, who again stood pat, comfortable in the knowledge that no matter what they did, they would not be the worst front office in Dallas.
  

⚾ Have you guys seen the MLB “Overlay” hats that New Era released and then extremely quickly backtracked? If you haven’t, buckle up. This one reads “ASHOS.”

Houston, we have a bad hat. But even that can only compete for second, after this classic from a few years ago:

Almost Gone! indeed. I’ll take 50.