ESPN's Black Wednesday

[ScottyIce]

Per one of knapplc's tweets, I think he brings up a great point. Although coaches make millions and many of the people let go today don't, it is an interesting dynamic to see so much emotion and support poured out for these people whilst ESPN makes a living by saying other people should be fired.

It's a good lesson in compassion. We often forget that coaches, even the ones we dislike and want to see gone, are people. They have families, friends and their own problems. It's perfectly OK to believe a coach should be let go, but the ridicule and at times inappropriate banter surrounding those decisions (and even the decisions made by ESPN today) is disappointing.

Please don't tell Mav that second paragraph.

 

[RedSavage]

They're are being let go from the company at the top of their industry..... They're all going to land on their feet.

Maybe, maybe not. You also don't know the personal stories of some of the people who lost their jobs. Some of them might be fighting health or home problems, and now they're dealing with unemployment.
It's an incredibly emotional and challenging situation for people to go through, even if they're working for the best in the business.

To piggy back off another poster, general empathy shouldn't frowned on.

While I'm sure he and many others will be just fine monetarily, this really nails the point of not knowing what they're dealing with outside of losing their jobs. This would be pretty rough:
https://twitter.com/BarstoolTrent/status/857232876726882306/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FBarstoolTrent%2Fstatus%2F857232876726882306

http://www.barstoolsports.com/iowa/these-back-to-back-tweets-from-ed-werder-are-absolutely-brutal/

 

[JJ Husker]

What's this I'm seeing about ESPN mixing sports and politics?

Keith Olbermann..?

I kind of liked that guy before he got all political and way left liberal. Of course I don't think he does much of anything with ESPN anymore. Not sure, I don't watch anything but games and 30 for 30's.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

What would you say, if BTN hired a few of these guys that got axed. And started showing all B1G sports on BTN channels only? So every Husker game on BTN or ABC.

Disney owns both ESPN and ABC, so they won't allow conferences to just air games on their "over the air" channel.
I do find it funny when people complain about ESPN, but then they complain about games that are shown on ESPN2 or ESPNU or end-up on BTN. I guess people just want to complain.

I'm not complaining.
I also get the ABC and ESPN are owned by Disney. Basically, what I was saying is what if there was no ESPN? And all of our games were either BTN and ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC?

I wasn't trying to make it seem like you were complaining. My fault in making it look like that.My comment was more in general terms.

 

[huKSer]

How many execs were fired?

 

[ZRod]

Per one of knapplc's tweets, I think he brings up a great point. Although coaches make millions and many of the people let go today don't, it is an interesting dynamic to see so much emotion and support poured out for these people whilst ESPN makes a living by saying other people should be fired.

It's a good lesson in compassion. We often forget that coaches, even the ones we dislike and want to see gone, are people. They have families, friends and their own problems. It's perfectly OK to believe a coach should be let go, but the ridicule and at times inappropriate banter surrounding those decisions (and even the decisions made by ESPN today) is disappointing.

Please don't tell Mav that second paragraph.

It's still a buisness kid. Stop bringing your crap into other threads.

 

[ScottyIce]

Per one of knapplc's tweets, I think he brings up a great point. Although coaches make millions and many of the people let go today don't, it is an interesting dynamic to see so much emotion and support poured out for these people whilst ESPN makes a living by saying other people should be fired.

It's a good lesson in compassion. We often forget that coaches, even the ones we dislike and want to see gone, are people. They have families, friends and their own problems. It's perfectly OK to believe a coach should be let go, but the ridicule and at times inappropriate banter surrounding those decisions (and even the decisions made by ESPN today) is disappointing.

Please don't tell Mav that second paragraph.

It's still a buisness kid. Stop bringing your crap into other threads.

Uh, ok.

Knapp, I love your tweet that was in one of these threads. So true and quite ironic. All the guys loving to call for heads to roll were seeing their own on the floor.

It's a bummer, but a sign of the times.

 

[Enhance]

Deadspin has a pretty interesting take on what happened Wednesday.

And so today’s layoffs seem to follow a kind of logic: If ESPN is bleeding money from subscriber losses, they need to offset the damage by making cuts elsewhere in the company.
That doesn’t, though, really follow, mathematically. Look at the people who have been laid off today. Sure, it’s possible that veterans like McManus and Stark and Ed Werder were carrying hefty salaries, but no amount of fired reporters and columnists is going to put even the tiniest dent in ESPN’s rights fees. Add up all the salaries of the people who lost their jobs today, and how much of a single Monday Night Football broadcast does it buy? Ten minutes? Fifteen?

tl;dr The layoffs of these talented journalists were a symbolic move to please investors, and will ultimately have almost no impact on their budget problems.

 

[ScottyIce]

Deadspin has a pretty interesting take on what happened Wednesday.

And so today’s layoffs seem to follow a kind of logic: If ESPN is bleeding money from subscriber losses, they need to offset the damage by making cuts elsewhere in the company.
That doesn’t, though, really follow, mathematically. Look at the people who have been laid off today. Sure, it’s possible that veterans like McManus and Stark and Ed Werder were carrying hefty salaries, but no amount of fired reporters and columnists is going to put even the tiniest dent in ESPN’s rights fees. Add up all the salaries of the people who lost their jobs today, and how much of a single Monday Night Football broadcast does it buy? Ten minutes? Fifteen?

tl;dr The layoffs of these talented journalists were a symbolic move to please investors, and will ultimately have almost no impact on their budget problems.

Exactly. I'm guessing they could've fired Jon Gruden and saved roughly the same amount of money as they did from the cuts yesterday.

 

[Red Five]

More comng today. Biggest so far is Andy Katz

 

[ScottyIce]

I LOL'ed when I saw Britt McHenery on the list.... What a *****!!!!

Glad she is getting canned after that fiasco last year.

 

[ScottyIce]

Also, how great was the severance package? I mean, it's gotta be good for no one to put ESPN on blast yet... You gotta believe it's bound to happen here at some point. Someone will be bitter.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Also, how great was the severance package? I mean, it's gotta be good for no one to put ESPN on blast yet... You gotta believe it's bound to happen here at some point. Someone will be bitter.

If they were at the end of a contract, they may not be entitled to a severance package.

I don't think anyone has put ESPN on blast publicly, because they want to show good form to prospective employers. They also may want to leave on good terms so it's a possibility to come back to the 4-letter network down the road.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I LOL'ed when I saw Britt McHenery on the list.... What a *****!!!!

Glad she is getting canned after that fiasco last year.

Yeah, karma really bit McHenry on the butt there. She's a pretty gal, so I am sure she won't have any issue finding a job.

 

[Red Five]

Guessing if they have time left on their contract it is being honored, or at least the buyout provisions are being honored.