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Is Skipper Losing Control At ESPN?

Jason Barrett

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It was just two paragraphs, and they were buried at the bottom of a Bloomberg Business story in early May about Disney’s soaring profits. The headline – “Disney Profit Tops Estimates on Theme Parks, ‘Frozen’ Toys” – wasn’t one that would prompt sports fans or media members to read the story. But these two paragraphs prompted a significant internal memo at ESPN that will have lasting effects:

Rising costs ate into earnings at the company’s largest division, media networks, which includes ESPN, the Disney Channel and ABC. While sales rose 13 percent to $5.81 billion, operating income dropped 2 percent.

Disney blamed higher programming and production costs at ESPN, which pays billions for rights to air live sporting events. Profit jumped 90 percent at ABC, thanks to higher affiliates fees and advertising revenue.

Timing is everything, even at billion dollar companies. Soon after, an internal memo went out to cabinet level higher-ups at ESPN, detailing how salaries for talent are impacting the rising production costs. Of course, numerous other factors were at play, including ESPN’s expensive new deal with NBA (which will soon be driving up costs from an estimated $430 million to over $1 billion a year), increasingly traveling SportsCenter, and so on.

But who are we kidding here – ESPN prints money.

Yet, three days after this earnings report, ESPN President John Skipper announced that Bill Simmons would not be re-signed. Skipper would later say it “did not come down to money,” but you know what H.L. Mencken says about that. In addition to the money, there’s the whole Goodell-is-a-liar comment, and a subsequent one about testicular fortitude, and more than a handful of Skipper’s lieutenants had been in his ear about Simmons for years.

It seems that elsewhere in 2015, anytime ESPN could save some money on personnel, it jumped at the opportunity.

Bob Knight and Lou Holtz – who were both near retirement anyway – departed. A SportsCenter host who attempted to almost double his salary during contract talks was shown the door. Mark Schlereth’s overall deal got cut – some of that was him wanting to dial back his duties — as he left his ESPN radio show. Jason Whitlock was removed as the boss of the website he was hired to run, The Undefeated. Whitlock’s move wasn’t a cost-cutting move, but it was described this way in a press release: “we have collectively decided to make some structural adjustments that will maximize the skill sets and strengths of our team.”

This week, another cost-cutting move went down: A month after ESPN announced that the network’s flagship radio show, Mike & Mike, was moving from Bristol to New York City, they had to walk that back. It’s not happening, ESPN announced today. What you won’t see in that press release: There is financial pressure from Disney to cut costs.

And there are potentially larger moves on the horizon that may save the company money. Keith Olbermann, who returned to ESPN in 2013 amid much fanfare, is in the middle of his contract talks. Though he may stay, there is a sense that with 2016 being a political year, Olbermann could return to cable and dive back into politics.

Then there’s Nate Silver’s 538 website. He also joined ESPN in 2013 during Skipper’s hiring binge in an effort to collect talent ahead of Fox Sports 1’s arrival. 538 has been all over the place and lost its managing editor in late 2014, before recently hiring another. Two of the website’s most-cited posts are about Burritos and Fast Flights.

As such, a lot of people are asking what will become of Nate Silver now that Bill Simmons and Jason Whitlock have been removed from the top of their ESPN verticals. One popular answer: Silver departs before the election year begins, and 538 is rolled into ESPN.com or perhaps shuttered altogether. Or, perhaps they could do something like they did with Whitlock, and remove him from the responsibilities of running his own publication, so he can focus on maximizing the value of his own content at the time in the news cycle where it’s most relevant.

What does all this movement mean?

It’s probably a combination of things – talent doesn’t really matter as much as it used to at a time when ESPN is tripling down on SportsCenter; in hindsight, Skipper made a few panicked moves in 2013 as FS1 was getting ready to launch, borne out of fear of the unknown; and finally, perhaps there is dissension among the ranks in Bristol between their vision and that of Skipper, a notorious risk-taker.

The most popular theory among ESPN’ers: ESPN President John Skipper is not in control. He’s in a vulnerable spot.

Credit to The Big Lead who originally published this article

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Report: NFL to Put Christmas Day Doubleheader Up For Bids

Bidding is expected to start at $50 million among the current NFL media partners but some think the games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

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The NFL will reportedly put its Christmas Day games up for auction, allowing its current media partners to bid for the games. Now, it’s up to CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video to pay up for rights to one of these two marquee games.

According to Front Office Sports Michael McCarthy, preference will be given to linear networks, so Prime Video and Peacock may sit this one out. Bidding is expected to start at $50 million but McCarthy and his sources expect that number to rise. John Kosner, the former ESPN executive, thinks the new Christmas Day games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

The NFL announced a Wednesday Christmas Day doubleheader during its annual league meetings. The league originally said it wouldn’t force games on Christmas Day if the holiday fell on an odd day of the week, though as the NFL continues to put games on days outside of Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and sometimes Saturdays, we’re running out of days that don’t feature NFL football.

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Colorado Rockies & DirecTV Reach Agreement to Carry Games on TV

“Colorado sports fans have made DIRECTV the top destination for their favorite local teams. We will continue to work with MLB…so fans can get their games.”

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Breathe easy, Rockies fans — you will be able to watch your club on linear TV this year. At the buzzer, DirecTV and the Colorado Rockies agreed on terms to distribute the team’s games throughout its local service.

Starting today, DirecTV Choice subscribers across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Southern Idaho, Western Nebraska, and Northern New Mexico can now watch the Rockies on a special channel simply titled, “ROCKIES.” The games will be available on DirecTV and DirecTV STREAM via channel 683.

“Colorado sports fans have made DIRECTV the top destination to get all their favorite local teams,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer of DIRECTV. “We will continue to work with MLB, the NBA, NHL, and other top leagues and their local franchises so the most avid fans can get the games they want while other customers have more choice over the content they want to pay to have in their homes.”

Reports just days ago out of Colorado said there were “no guarantees” the Rockies would not find a TV home in time for Opening Day following the sunsetting of AT&T SportsNet. The only other way to watch the team is to use its direct-to-consumer Rockies.tv streaming service, which fans say is too pricey for a team that lost 103 games last season. Luckily, the team was able to secure a TV home for 2024, though the future is still uncertain.

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Erin Andrews Reveals Infertility Journey in Emotional ‘Today Show’ Interview

FOX reporter Erin Andrews sat down with ‘The Today Show’s’ Kristen Welker to discuss her journey, how Welker’s own journey inspired her, and more.

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FOX reporter Erin Andrews shared her story of infertility and surrogacy with NBC’s Today Show. Last summer, Andrews and her husband welcomed a baby boy via surrogate after trying for a decade to get pregnant via IVF, during which she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016. Today, she sat down with Kristen Welker to discuss her journey, how Welker’s own journey inspired her, and more.

Andrews says Welker’s announcement on the Today Show made her think a baby could be possible. “I remember Kristin Welker’s announcement on your show,” Andrews said last year, “and I actually watched that the morning Mac was born, because that just hit me.”

When they finally sat down, Welker asked Andrews why her journey resonated with the sports reporter so much:

“Because I see myself in you. Kristen, the video of you moderating debates after you’re waiting on bad news or maybe you just received it, that’s me. I can tell you every stand-up I’ve done at a football game where I’ve gotten the news that it didn’t work. I’d be talking about Tom Brady going for this record and my record is that I still was failing…I would have chest pains every time I was waiting for the call if it worked, and I knew it wouldn’t work.

Erin Andrews on ‘Today’

Andrews knew surrogacy was the only path to having a child. Although her family’s first attempt failed, her second attempt was a success, and she got to hear her child’s heartbeat for the very first time. The pair discuss the complex emotions that come with surrogacy, saying that bonds with their child could be affected because they didn’t carry their child. However, Welker assured Andrews that those feelings go away once you can talk to your child.

Once her son was born in June, who Andrews called, “a miracle,” she then talks about her child glowingly, talking about how he is just like mom — vocal. “He’s all me,” she says.

Andrews supports Baby Quest, a non-profit that grants money to families in need of IVF or surrogacy to have a baby but don’t have the funds to pursue these expensive treatments. Both Andrews and Welker acknowledged how difficult and unattainable their journies are for some families — and Andrews even used the NFL’s “My Cleats, My Cause” initiative to raise awareness for her cause.

“People don’t need to feel embarrassed that they have a surrogate or are looking for other help,” Andrews said.

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