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What's going on with ESPN and the NFL?

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Buffaloaf Probation

Buffaloaf

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I just miss highlights that actually told the story of the game instead of just a couple big plays. I'll see big plays on Twitter or the RedZone channel anyhow.

 

Even the NFL Network highlight show is going downhill. I tried to watch this week and it didn't seem like they showed more than a couple plays from each game. The rest of it was Deion Sanders yapping on about something.

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Mark Vader Hall of Famer

Mark Vader

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Maybe ESPN is tired of giving the NFL hours of advertising and millions (billions) of dollars for garbage Monday night football games. Maybe interest in the NFL is declining precipitously and ESPN is trying to appeal to a broader audience. Want NFL coverage? Watch NFL net, they've been doing a better job than ESPN for almost a decade at this point. It's an on demand society, there's a podcast out there for any in-depth individual topic one may want able to be downloaded and listened to whenever your time allows. The belief that Espn should air non-stop highlights while two guys crack bad jokes is incredibly out of touch.

This used to be true. Then NFL Network became the New England Patriots/Dallas Cowboys/Pittsburgh Steelers/Green Bay Packers Network.

 

I just miss highlights that actually told the story of the game instead of just a couple big plays. I'll see big plays on Twitter or the RedZone channel anyhow.

 

Even the NFL Network highlight show is going downhill. I tried to watch this week and it didn't seem like they showed more than a couple plays from each game. The rest of it was Deion Sanders yapping on about something.

Absolutely. The NFL Network Highlight Show, in my opinion, has been average from the start.

 

I thought since it was NFL Network, that their highlight show would be like NFL Primetime, only bigger and better.

 

Well it sure isn't. Their coverage is pathetic. Michael Irvin & Deion Sanders are unbearable. They will devote 15-20 minutes on one game, then 15-20 seconds on another game. It is sad.

 

I recently watched NFL Primetime's first episode of this season. My God, how things have changed. Why is Trey Wingo and everyone else yelling? What's even worse, there were two games that they didn't even show highlights from.

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dwight in philly Veteran

dwight in philly

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Posted (edited)

Let's keep this thread politics free. If you want to discuss ESPN and political views, go to this thread

 

https://forums.twobillsdrive.com/topic/196321-espn-tried-to-take-jemele-hill-off-the-airand-failed/

no prob.. but sometimes threads do veer.. and speaking for myself, i do not realize there are other thread(s) sometimes dealing with similar content

Edited by dwight in philly
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cba fan Veteran

cba fan

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I cut every cord to the house except for power and water.

I use my phone's hotspot. $118 a month for unlimited unthrottled Verizon because I am God

$118 a month is absurdly expensive. I pay $29.99 for super fast internet via cable. I pay about another $15.00 a month for tracphone works great also.

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Pete Hall of Famer

Pete

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I gave up ESPN years ago. Such a shame- it used to be great! First they fired Schwaby after 28 years- http://www.businessinsider.com/schwab-slams-espn-letter-firing-2013-6

Then they try and kill hockey- burying highlights to 3 second clips following WNBA hghlights.

Then since disney bought it-it is PC, into drama, over produced, disloyal, greedy, watered down, unwatchable.......

I now go to MLB.com, NFL.com, and NHL.com. !@#$ espn!

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DrDawkinstein Hall of Famer

DrDawkinstein

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It seems like they have gone all in on the NBA. Even in their off-season, Lebron and Steph Curry are all they seem to cover.

 

 

 

Good point. They want to be Taken Seriously, as Journalists. But come on, man. I just want to zone out and watch highlights.

 

 

I think that you are right here Gug. In general to the interest in the NFL has started to decline while the NBA and college football are on the rise. They've spread their coverage (even incorporating a bunch more boxing). It feels like they want to spread their coverage a little more than in the past.

 

 

I just miss highlights that actually told the story of the game instead of just a couple big plays. I'll see big plays on Twitter or the RedZone channel anyhow.

 

Even the NFL Network highlight show is going downhill. I tried to watch this week and it didn't seem like they showed more than a couple plays from each game. The rest of it was Deion Sanders yapping on about something.

 

 

Coverage/highlights are all about ESPN's agreements with the different leagues.

 

  • They have a decent agreement with the NBA, so it doesnt cost them an arm and a leg to get highlight clips, and we get a lot of NBA coverage.
  • They obviously have a great deal with College Football, broadcast most of the games, so we get a ton of College Football coverage.
  • The NFL jacked up their costs a few years back, to give the advantage to their own station, the NFL Network. ESPN gets less highlight clips, so therefore can't play as many on air. Remember on Sunday nights how Berman and Tommy would go through a good 10-15 plays each game? No way they can afford all that coverage now, so they don't do it.
  • They have little to no agreement with the NHL, who made their deal with NBC/NBCSports, so we see almost zero hockey coverage.

 

Each league/sport has a different deal in place, and they dictate the amount of coverage each league gets. NFL priced themselves out a while back for NFLN, that's the main reason we've seen such a drop in quality NFL coverage on the channel.

Edited by DrDareustein
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iinii Veteran

iinii

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Everything evolves. When I was growing up there wasn't an ESPN or an MTV. One of them is already irrelevant and ESPN is in a race to become the next to fall. The people running the network have lost sight of their mission statement...and it shows in the product.

 

McDonalds shouldn't try to sell salads, MTV should have stuck to music, and ESPN shoutgo back to covering sports!

Bingo
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Fadingpain All Pro

Fadingpain

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all these sportscenter people try to overshadow the athletes with their shtick

I discovered, not that long ago, this creepy bald guy with the glasses who seems to be ESPN's #1 on-air personality at the moment...he had his studio sort of decorated as an homage to himself complete with his own bobble-head and what not....

 

In 20 seconds I could see where he/ESPN were going with the whole thing, marketing this idiot as a source of entertainment himself instead of a reporter of sports information.

 

I quickly turned the channel and really haven't been back since, unless I'm watching a live sporting event of some kind which happens to be on ESPN.

 

The whole concept of ESPN, the TV sports news channel, has little relevance in today's world.

 

No one more than sports fans gets their information via sources other than live TV.

 

The idea of being pinned down to a specific time slot to "watch" sports news content is absurd in today's world...

 

And none of this is some huge, gripping, peace in the Middle East type news story...

 

It's mostly light and fluffy. You just want to know who won, what the score was, who's injured, who's going to play on Sunday....that type of thing.

 

The internet and cell phones were made for that type of sound byte information.

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bobobonators All Pro

bobobonators

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Imo its become more about drama. They have gone almost full 24/7 news bantor and opinion. They had some success with afternoon shows but have used that model for everything. Imo double down on sports coverage. More actually injury reporting than spectualtion. Football is most popular sport. Why? Its the easist and least complicated sport to bet on. So that should be there contend. ESPN is slipping because they are the last to get information and are becoming less and less accurate. More individual player matchups in team and weekly game predictions. Overal their coverage has slipped and the highlights are easjer to get for your individual teams. So many sources flr information and easier ways to stream contend they want to watch. 24/7 talk tv is dying.

Disney has alot of content. Alway a user to sign up for espn directly. Pull regional coverage into their streaming umbrella and let people watch the games theh want. Put more money into sports commentators and less into o air personalities.

What bothers me most about ESPN is the same complaint I have about CNN and FOX: 24/7 sports (news) coverage is not practical so they almost have to go out of their way to dramatize everything in order to justify their existence. Instead of just showing me unadulterated sports or news, they need to tell me and show me how i should feel about sports or news. Its blipping nauseating.

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Buffalo Barbarian Hall of Famer

Buffalo Barbarian

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They are showing a lot of different sports now as well, changing from all NFL all the time to something with broader appeal. For example Saturdays and Sundays they carry a lot of live English Premier League football (soccer) games, and during the week you will see games from the Italian, Spanish, and German leagues as well as international competitions.

 

So the S in espn stands for soccer?

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Gugny Hall of Famer

Gugny

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Posted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coverage/highlights are all about ESPN's agreements with the different leagues.

 

  • They have a decent agreement with the NBA, so it doesnt cost them an arm and a leg to get highlight clips, and we get a lot of NBA coverage.
  • They obviously have a great deal with College Football, broadcast most of the games, so we get a ton of College Football coverage.
  • The NFL jacked up their costs a few years back, to give the advantage to their own station, the NFL Network. ESPN gets less highlight clips, so therefore can't play as many on air. Remember on Sunday nights how Berman and Tommy would go through a good 10-15 plays each game? No way they can afford all that coverage now, so they don't do it.
  • They have little to no agreement with the NHL, who made their deal with NBC/NBCSports, so we see almost zero hockey coverage.

 

Each league/sport has a different deal in place, and they dictate the amount of coverage each league gets. NFL priced themselves out a while back for NFLN, that's the main reason we've seen such a drop in quality NFL coverage on the channel.

 

Know it all.

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HardyBoy RFA

HardyBoy

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What bothers me most about ESPN is the same complaint I have about CNN and FOX: 24/7 sports (news) coverage is not practical so they almost have to go out of their way to dramatize everything in order to justify their existence. Instead of just showing me unadulterated sports or news, they need to tell me and show me how i should feel about sports or news. Its blipping nauseating.

^ this and this

 

Coverage/highlights are all about ESPN's agreements with the different leagues.

 

  • They have a decent agreement with the NBA, so it doesnt cost them an arm and a leg to get highlight clips, and we get a lot of NBA coverage.
  • They obviously have a great deal with College Football, broadcast most of the games, so we get a ton of College Football coverage.
  • The NFL jacked up their costs a few years back, to give the advantage to their own station, the NFL Network. ESPN gets less highlight clips, so therefore can't play as many on air. Remember on Sunday nights how Berman and Tommy would go through a good 10-15 plays each game? No way they can afford all that coverage now, so they don't do it.
  • They have little to no agreement with the NHL, who made their deal with NBC/NBCSports, so we see almost zero hockey coverage.

Each league/sport has a different deal in place, and they dictate the amount of coverage each league gets. NFL priced themselves out a while back for NFLN, that's the main reason we've seen such a drop in quality NFL coverage on the channel.

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Doc Brown Hall of Famer

Doc Brown

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That's operating under the assumption that ESPN is proactive instead of reactive. They aren't. Ratings were declining when they were still in the "good old days" people are yearning for here. Bottom line, the internet and social media has changed everything, if something spectacular happens, twitter or an other form of media let you know and watch it immediately after it happened. The days of people in New York not seeing what happened in Miami until the 11 o'clock SportsCenter are long gone and not coming back.

This is the most accurate reason imo. I remember the only way to see if the Yankees won in the summer if I missed the game in the mid 90's was to watch the bottom ticker on ESPN. I didn't feel like buying a 6 hour VHS tape and recording it. Now you just DVR it. The only way to see highlights was to wait until Sportscenter aired. Now I go on facebook and NFL Network posts all of Deshaun Watson's plays on Thursday Night on my timeline. Besides the actual games they air, ESPN will eventually become the Blockbuster video company of sports.

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mead107 Hall of Famer

mead107

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What bothers me most about ESPN is the same complaint I have about CNN and FOX: 24/7 sports (news) coverage is not practical so they almost have to go out of their way to dramatize everything in order to justify their existence. Instead of just showing me unadulterated sports or news, they need to tell me and show me how i should feel about sports or news. Its blipping nauseating.

Agree

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Elite Poster Veteran

Elite Poster

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coverage/highlights are all about ESPN's agreements with the different leagues.

 

  • They have a decent agreement with the NBA, so it doesnt cost them an arm and a leg to get highlight clips, and we get a lot of NBA coverage.
  • They obviously have a great deal with College Football, broadcast most of the games, so we get a ton of College Football coverage.
  • The NFL jacked up their costs a few years back, to give the advantage to their own station, the NFL Network. ESPN gets less highlight clips, so therefore can't play as many on air. Remember on Sunday nights how Berman and Tommy would go through a good 10-15 plays each game? No way they can afford all that coverage now, so they don't do it.
  • They have little to no agreement with the NHL, who made their deal with NBC/NBCSports, so we see almost zero hockey coverage.

Each league/sport has a different deal in place, and they dictate the amount of coverage each league gets. NFL priced themselves out a while back for NFLN, that's the main reason we've seen such a drop in quality NFL coverage on the channel.

Don't explain how business works in this country! How dare you with your PC crap!!!

Edited by Elite Poster
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Gugny Hall of Famer

Gugny

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Really, if "sports news" is what one is looking for - and ONLY what one wants - then I think following the right people on Twitter would fit the bill.

 

Even Bills news. I "like/follow" their FB page (like I'm sure most of us do) and I get those little pop up alerts when anything happens or is announced.

 

Following Schefter for football or Olney for MLB will get you the latest news as it happens.

 

It used to be that we would watch Sportscenter for the same reason we would watch the 6pm news. That's where we found **** out for the first time.

 

It's simply not necessary anymore and, in this world of instant gratification, finding something out hours after it happens is no longer considered "news."

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C.Biscuit97 Hall of Famer

C.Biscuit97

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When you are at top forever, where is is there to go? And who is really coming close to challenging ESPN? Garbage FS1 & their band of idiots & ESPN rejects?

 

College Gameday is great. So is PTI. So is 30 for 30. And yup, they have so bad programming. So guess what? Don't watch it. Our country has become the country of whiners.

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Just Jack Hall of Famer

Just Jack

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You people and your ESPN. Back in my younger days, we didn't have cable, lived too far out in the country, and there's no way my Dad would have a BUD (big ugly dish) in his yard. We had The George Michael Sports Machine, once a week, at 11:30pm on Sundays! And we like it!

 

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RaoulDuke79 All Pro

RaoulDuke79

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Posted (edited)

When you are at top forever, where is is there to go? And who is really coming close to challenging ESPN? Garbage FS1 & their band of idiots & ESPN rejects?

College Gameday is great. So is PTI. So is 30 for 30. And yup, they have so bad programming. So guess what? Don't watch it. Our country has become the country of whiners.

The 30 for 30s are the best thing they have going now IMO. Back the day they had some great anchors that were a breath of fresh air compared to everyone else out there. Now it seems like everyone goes out of their way to be witty and over the top and end up falling flat....im even getting sick of the Lebotard show. Stugotz is a poor man's bababooey. Edited by RaoulDuke79
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4_kidd_4 Veteran

4_kidd_4

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Posted

You people and your ESPN. Back in my younger days, we didn't have cable, lived too far out in the country, and there's no way my Dad would have a BUD (big ugly dish) in his yard. We had The George Michael Sports Machine, once a week, at 11:30pm on Sundays! And we like it!

 

Wow! That takes me back!

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Rockinon Veteran

Rockinon

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ESPN is a shell of what it once was. complete mismanagement by disney who also owns ABC. we want to watch sports so we don't have to think about life issues and politics and it seems like that's all they want to cover these days

This^^^ I get too much of that crap outside of sports. The last damn place I want to see it is during my sports news. Amen, brother.

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mead107 Hall of Famer

mead107

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You people and your ESPN. Back in my younger days, we didn't have cable, lived too far out in the country, and there's no way my Dad would have a BUD (big ugly dish) in his yard. We had The George Michael Sports Machine, once a week, at 11:30pm on Sundays! And we like it!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCC3RQsGitg

i remember black and white tv. Is it ok to even say black and white?
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EasternOHBillsFan Veteran

EasternOHBillsFan

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Seems to me they're trying to be more of the E (entertainment) than the S (sports) in their name. They're forgetting what made them so successful

 

THIS. They are really going to have to pare back their budget. The declining viewership is a reflection of their poor leadership- letting their best talent go, adding in poor choices in Dan LeBatard and Jemele Hill, treating their most successful host Colin Cowherd poorly, adding in more entertainment fluff than sports meat, an inability to replace aging sports icons and most of all their political nonsense. It is safe to say that Jemele Hill was thought of as mediocre at BEST long before her comment about the President, and it's an avalanche right now.

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Tierlifer RFA

Tierlifer

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I gave up ESPN years ago. Such a shame- it used to be great! First they fired Schwaby after 28 years- http://www.businessinsider.com/schwab-slams-espn-letter-firing-2013-6

Then they try and kill hockey- burying highlights to 3 second clips following WNBA hghlights.

Then since disney bought it-it is PC, into drama, over produced, disloyal, greedy, watered down, unwatchable.......

I now go to MLB.com, NFL.com, and NHL.com. !@#$ espn!

Their baseball coverage and broadcasts are absolutely brutal too.

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