
ESPN to lay off nearly 4% of workforce amid changing pay-TV landscape - mbesto
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-espn-layoffs-20151023-story.html
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canistr
I don't know how related it is, but it does feel like the rich are getting
richer.

In this case, because of the massive NBA TV-contract (9-year $24 billion with
NBA-ESPN-TNT), the net losers out of this are not the millionaire players or
executives, but the 4% workforce getting laid off.

So while it's all fun to say that Lebron James is getting underpaid, this new
contract and the subsequent increase in salary cap means that you're not
paying for the ESPN employees to do their job but giving it to the rich.

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91bananas
Who on earth would say LeBron James is underpaid? He makes $24 million in
basketball pay, which is third in the league to Kobe and somehow Joe Johnson,
plus god knows how much in endorsement deals.

~~~
knoble
[http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/02/12/275922026/episo...](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/02/12/275922026/episode-427-lebron-
james-is-underpaid)

[http://regressing.deadspin.com/how-much-is-lebron-really-
wor...](http://regressing.deadspin.com/how-much-is-lebron-really-
worth-1595374835)

[http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2013/5/1/4291088/lebron-
james...](http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2013/5/1/4291088/lebron-james-
underpaid-infographic)

And many more...

It is generally agreed upon that in a salary capped league, and especially in
basketball wherein a single player has a disproportionate impact on the
outcome of a game, salaries are depressed in comparison to what teams would
pay for his services on an open market. Lebron guarantees a competitive team
no matter where he plays and significantly increased revenues and franchise
values when leaving for Miami and returning to Cleveland.

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ZanyProgrammer
I joke sometimes that its the intersection of nominally left/liberal American
pundits with sports fans. The political blog Lawyers Guns and Money being a
good example of it-people you wouldn't think would have those views, but when
it comes to professional sports, all of a sudden self proclaimed socialists
love themselves a free market.

~~~
sundaeofshock
It's not a love of the free-market that drives these conversations; it's a
hatred of exploitive capitalism. Ultimately, the players are source of all the
league's revenue, yet the have to split that money with the owners (who
contribute almost nothing to the day-to-day revenue stream).

The players also have a strong union, which negotiates a number of protections
for the players, from minimum salaries to safe work conditions, while allowing
for higher compensation for key players.

So it is very reasonable for those of us on the left to be against the extreme
labor exploitation represented by the salary cap.

~~~
toomuchtodo
Can players own a team instead of the traditional owner model?

~~~
sundaeofshock
Theoretically it's possible. Realistically no. The leagues vote on team
ownership transfers, and they are unlikely to allow a sale that upsets their
apple cart. Which is why only one team (Green Bay Packers) out of the big
three sports is owned by a government body.

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protomyth
I think ESPN is destined to become the Netflix of second tier sports. MLB,
NFL, NBA, and NASCAR will probably start being their own national contracts
when the big [edit]four[/edit] stop being able to pay such high fees, and the
little sports will be what ESPN has left.

~~~
livestyle
That's what makes the theory of disruption so powerful.. someone will come and
offer sports that don't have these restrictions with rights and pave an
entirely new landscape of digital sports.

~~~
GFischer
You mean Twitch and eSports? Or alternative leagues?

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randall
My guess is things like rugby could suddenly become popular if ESPN were to
get the rights.

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GFischer
Rugby is regularly shown on ESPN, at least here in South America, and also in
Europe I think.

~~~
randall
We get it on saturdays in the summer sometimes, with no fanfare. I used to
work for ESPN. They do the "ERT" trucks, aka espn regional TV, which is like
the "C" team truck. Nothing like high caliber college football, etc.

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PaulHoule
Why don't they fire everybody involved with SportsCenter and just show sports
instead?

~~~
Ocerge
You're getting downvoted but you're not far from the truth. I fail to see how
ESPN couldn't just charge the consumer more than they charge the cable
companies, but hand out their channels ala cart and show more sports.

~~~
dublinben
Most people who currently pay for ESPN (as part of cable TV bundles) would not
pay for ESPN by itself. The price for actual viewers would end up
significantly higher than the current $15 rate.

~~~
toomuchtodo
So what you're saying is ESPN is doomed to a slow death as more people cut the
cord and no longer subsidize ESPN viewers (who won't pay what it actually
costs).

Good riddance!

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jblow
Part of the reason this is unappealing to consumers is there are actually two
layers of bundling here.

One layer is the obvious cable TV bundling that most of us probably think is
evil and should die.

But the second layer of bundling is ESPN itself. How many people care about
"sports" in general, enough to pay for all the sports? No, people usually are
into a couple of sports at most. They like baseball, or they like basketball
and football, or they like the other football, etc. Or even, they like
specific players.

I think there is a future to be had in selective channels available on the
internet that cover specific sports in much greater detail than ESPN ever
would.

~~~
jbob2000
All of those things are symptoms of the real problem; the professional sports
organizations (NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB). These guys call all the shots regarding
who gets to see what and when and how much it costs. I've never seen the LA
Kings play because I live on the east coast and the NHL doesn't allow their
games to be broadcast here. They are greedy and restrictive and the primary
cause of sport broadcast woes.

I have another bone to pick with them as well. They've chopped up professional
sports and sold it to the advertisers. Fucking everything in a sports game has
a company's logo on it. I went to a baseball game the other day and Home
Hardware was sponsoring the field clean up crew. Are you kidding me? The
fucking field janitors are wearing logos now? They ran out of things to stick
ads on so literally anyone involved in the game in any capacity is wearing a
logo. Baseball has turned into a thin excuse to serve ads to people.

~~~
jblow
No kidding. I was trying to watch some soccer games in England last month, and
it was an exercise in having to fight through the flashing+animated ads around
the entire field. I don't think I will ever try watching one of those matches
again.

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aninteger
I wonder if a pay per view model might work out.. For example to watch a
certain game you pay 99c. If you want to watch live you pay a premium $1.99.
Possibly special games (Superbowl, world series, nba playoffs) go to $2.99 a
game.

~~~
ghaff
Obviously selling TV shows and movies by the drink does work as (part of) a
business model. However, I would posit that a lot of people watch sports games
pretty casually. They catch a bit of the baseball game while they're eating
dinner or whatever. Some sports certainly work PPV (boxing being the clear
historical example). I'm guessing football might do OK as well. But you'd
really cut back on the audience which would mean a lot fewer ad dollars too.

~~~
maxerickson
It'd be really interesting to see what the network sports programming gets per
viewer from the advertisers (I think they aren't capturing any cable money).
Maybe that information is available, I don't know where to look (I guess the
Superbowl numbers are pretty public and would establish a ceiling). Those
numbers should more or less show what it costs to put together the programming
and would make it easier to reason about how many viewers they need at a
certain PPV price.

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trevor-e
One can hope that Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith are part of this. I kid, I
kid, but seriously there's a large amount of sports fans looking for
alternative sports news.

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cruise02
They can start with everyone who is involved in translating sports stories
into emoji.

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JohnTHaller
Considering that I was forced to pay $60 a year to support this channel that I
never watched while I had cable - ultimately being one of the reasons I
ditched cable entirely - I can't get too broken up over this.

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gorbachev
Please, please have Stephen A. Smith be one of the people laid off.

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zeveb
As someone who has never in his life turned on the TV to watch an athletic
competition, not even once, I greet this with the applause and cheers I never
directed to the screen for some ball game.

It's not that I mind those who like sports having the opportunity to watch
them — that's a-okay — what I mind is that I and those like me have to
subsidise them through cable fees, sports stadium taxes, tuition and the
visual and attention pollution attendant on major-league and collegiate
sports.

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sjg007
If they offer an Apple TV subscription I would pay them $5 a month.

