Isabella Simonetti’s Post

As a kid that grew up on ESPN, I can't believe it is at a point where it is struggling to find a future. Matt Van Dalsem turned me onto this podcast by The Ringer on the topic of what Disney should do with ESPN. I have to say, over the past few years, it's become disheartening to see ESPN struggling to find content that aligns with their brand. In recent months, we've witnessed some rather peculiar choices, such as the "slippery stairs world championships" and the "pillow fighting world championships" being featured on ESPN stations. 🤔 While these events may have their own fan base, it raises the question of whether ESPN is diluting its brand and losing touch with its core audience. That combined with the changes in the media space as a whole, is making this a defining point in the future of ESPN. I think that ESPN is going to have to evolve with the times and find a way to be relevant to the core drivers of human emotions. It has to find it's new voice and define the new value that it is going to bring to this new generation of viewers. What got it here (being the place we went each day to watch highlights from the previous day) has been surpassed by other media options. Sports broadcast rights have become more and more competitive with brands such as Amazon coming in to the market to compete for the National Football League (NFL). The leagues have started their own channels, the MLB Network, NFL Network, SEC Network, etc. I don't know the answer for ESPN, but I do know that there can be a future for this legacy asset, with a renewed focus. As Gretzky said, ESPN should be "skating to where the puck is going, not where it has been". Shameless plug here....if ESPN is looking for amazing content that could help jumpstart their future, I'd be more than happy to introduce them to the beauty and magic of trail running. Amazing people doing unbelievable things in stunning locations....put that on your channel and drop pillow fighting. #TrailRunning #UltraRunning #ESPNRelevancy

Happy #MediaMonday! The latest feature comes to us from Paul Calvisi, a host and reporter for the Arizona Cardinals Football Club broadcast team. Meet Paul, find out what brought him to the NFL and learn more about some of the notable stories he has covered over the years here. Take a look!

Need a permission slip? Here it is. Just go out there and do the work. Forget about being perfect, just do something and you can always make it better by learning through experience. You may lose the ability to take your shot if you wait around for perfection. Do something today to bring you closer to your goals. Permission Granted. #dosomething #learningbydoing

Does anyone else find the idea of sports leagues purchasing a stake in ESPN a little... weird? This morning, CNBC's Alex Sherman reported the latest details in the Disney-ESPN saga, which, basically, has seen Disney CEO Bob Iger publicly mull options for how to finance the media company as it experiences falling revenue. Among the options reported is the prospect of the major U.S. sports leagues (you know, NFL et al.), buying a minority stake in ESPN. And I just have one question: How's that supposed to work? Think about this: In the past, we've seen stories about how ESPN has had challenges managing its business relationship with the NFL — to which it pays hundreds of millions of dollars for the right to air games — while its investigative reporters aggressively scrutinize the league over an issue like the way in which players' domestic violence cases are handled by league executives. How much more challenging would it be to manage these types of relationships if the league actually *owns* a piece of ESPN? Could we even expect ESPN to maintain its same journalistic standards when it's owned by the largest entities it covers?

The Varsity * Sean McManus stepped down Sunday after 28 years of running CBS Sports. What were his last minutes as CBS Sports chairman like? I detail what happened inside the network's production compound during McManus' last minutes in charge. * McManus wasn't the only longtime CBS employee to retire following The Masters. The beloved announcer Verne Lundquist called his final round at Augusta National after 40 years. The kind of announcer who knows when to talk and when to stay quiet, Lunquist has always described his style as "minimalist." * Spulu - the planned sports streaming service from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery - likely will have to contend with an antitrust trial just before its launch. I have the latest on Fubo TV's plans to derail Spulu's launch. * Baseball fans hate MLB blackouts - the ones that don't allow, say, Oriole fans to stream the team's games from parts of Delaware and Pennsylvania all the way down to North Carolina. Slowly but surely, MLB has a plan to end these blackouts. It's not happening fast enough for some fans. But it is happening. * The biggest sports business story right now is obviously what the NBA will do with its media rights packages. The second biggest? It could be the UFC’s media rights, which are up in December of 2025. Plus, details on Diamond Sports who has a fundamental disagreement with DirecTV and Comcast. Sure, Diamond knows that its regional sports networks will have to go on a digital tier. But Diamond wants DirecTV and Comcast to migrate those channels over a multi-year period - a "glide path." DirecTV and Comcast want to do it right away - "a cliff path." They still have a couple of weeks to work out a deal. https://lnkd.in/eqrBbnBB

The ESPN/Penn deal ushers in a new era, already underway for quite some time, in sports media. Some viewers will express disdain toward recent industry developments, but the influence of sports betting companies on media brands is written in permanent ink. Money talks after all. Plus, many audiences strongly desire additional action in their sports viewership. It raises engagement. It bolsters time spent. And it significantly enhances overall interest, even in a random Hawaii football game kicking off at midnight EST. Yes, there's always the Hawaii game. Fantasy paved the way years ago. It was mocked for over a decade before flowing down the mainstream. The inundation of spreads/totals/props will, at first, turn some off, but eventually their infusion into game coverage will become comfortably familiar. No more tongue-in-cheek references need apply. Most exciting for voices like this balding blatherer, expect more content initiatives in short order. It's a glorious time for the business. Upward. Onward. #sportsbetting #sportsmedia #sportsbusiness

In the potential agreement, @[disney](urn:li:organization:42318243)-owned @[ESPN](urn:li:organization:3595) would take control of @[NFL Media](urn:li:organization:9092132) which includes @[NFL NETWORK \[FOOTBALL]\](urn:li:organization:89486425) -- and the league would receive equity in ESPN. ESPN, NFL in advanced talks on agreement that could give league stake in TV giant https://ow.ly/7fzC50QqNF0

Bruh, where’d my ESPN go? No seriously, what the heck. This is crazy. $47Billion worth or rights fees on the line over the next 7 years. Disney has lost over $11Billion on streaming. Charter/Spectrum cares about fiber but wishes cable death. What about venue and on-air advertising? Player salaries? The future of sports viewing/advertising is all up in the air. This situation is so complex that it seems there is no sustainable model. There is no reason for either side to move/give. Will all of cable be dead? We agree with Outkick – this is an extinction level event. The article by Clay Travis sums up the complexities of the situation in detail – it’s a must read – all the way through the end.   OutKick: ESPN vs. Charter Could be the end of the cable bundle… and televised sports as we know it. By Clay Travis – September 7 / Updated September 8. ESPN Vs. Charter Could Be End Of The Cable Bundle...And Sports (outkick.com)   Not only that, when we run advertising for our clients, the landscape is getting even more and more fragmented – with a plethora of services and platforms vying for attention. Now this… But gotta give FUBU-TV (FBU) credit as they grab the display ad space right next to this coverage online. Well played FUBU-TV – stock price rallies.

I know what a lot of the political talk is about why ESPN is struggling now, but I just keep returning to the late 2000s through the mid- to late-2010s. I didn't have cable until my freshman year in high school. That would have been the summer of 2007. From my years of watching ESPN, Mike & Mike, SportsNation, First Take, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, The Dan Le Batard Show, The Ryen Russillo Show/The Will Cain Show, and The Sports Reporters were my favorite shows. Now, all but one of those things are on ESPN. I hear a lot about how people say they want more sports and less talk. I actually loved listening to different voices on ESPN over those years that hosted and appeared on those shows. But I loved shows like Mike & Mike, The Will Cain Show, and The Herd with Colin Cowherd because they showed audiences how sports relate to life's situations, decisions, and society's change over time. I loved SportsNation, Will Cain's show, and Le Batard's show because they were a lighter, happier take on sports that always brought joy to my life when I saw them. (The other shows brought me joy too, just in different ways. Most people that are talking about the fall of ESPN attribute it two main points from my observations: one is the investment into Democratic-supporting politics/too many talking heads, and two is not enough sports. I wanted to actually focus on the second point—not enough sports. To me, while I completely understand how hard these people compete and what it means to their lives, tennis and golf games during the summers are sports, but to me, they are not very entertaining or interesting. So, to me, if I was the head of ESPN, I would let go of those sports and let them go somewhere else. But, from my perspective, the ideas of politics and too many talking heads contribute to a part of the struggles of ESPN that might be the opposite of too many talking heads—not enough interesting voices. If you watched years ago, the debates that Will Cain, Stephen A. Smith, and Max Kellerman would get into were deep and interesting. Now, only one voice remains. And think about how nice it was to watch Mike & Mike in the mornings. To me, the loss of these interesting voices contributed to the struggles going on at ESPN right now. 

TNT’s loss could be Charles Barkley’s gain The most-coveted NBA free agent in 2025 might be a man in his 60s known more for his opinions on churros than anything he did on the court. Inside the NBA stalwart Charles Barkley could command a contract worth as much as $20 million per year on the open market, per FOS, if TNT’s broadcast partnership with the NBA is not renewed after next season. That would put the man with the worst golf swing on TV in the same lucrative company as fellow athletes-turned-broadcasters Tony Romo (10 years, $180 million from CBS) and Tom Brady (10 years, $375 million from Fox). TNT isn’t benched yet. Amazon and Disney have frameworks in place for partial broadcast rights, with NBC the front-runner to be the third and final partner, bringing the total value of the 11-year deal to ~$76 billion, according to Sports Business Journal. Normally, TNT parent company Warner Bros. Discovery would be able to match NBC’s offer, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is requiring a higher bid from WBD, since NBC can offer more prime-time broadcast windows and boasts regional sports networks that WBD can’t equal.