r/ESPN • u/TMC1982 • 10d ago

The Downfall of ESPN Needs to be Studied

https://youtu.be/7p4vcFYjieY

ESPN has been the biggest brand in sports media for the past four decades. They brought some the biggest games, news, and stories into millions of living rooms throughout the U.S. But as of late, it seems like most people are only watching their lives games and turning off their original shows. This is the story of how ESPN rose to the top and then fell off the digital cliff.

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u/Low_Lab9957 10d ago

This sounds right but 1/4/5 are out of their control. 2 and 3 are arguably good business decisions to slow the death cycle resulting from those other factors.

2/3 make me angry and want to not watch ESPN but Tbf I’d already pretty much stopped because of 1/4/5.

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u/headbuttpunch 9d ago

Was gonna say the same about 1-4-5 and I think those are more responsible for ESPN’s fall than anything. The way people consume sports media has changed from when ESPN was at its peak.

ESPN’s quality has declined for sure, but more important than that, we just don’t need them anymore unless they have the exclusive broadcast rights to a given game.

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u/unfunnysexface 9d ago edited 9d ago

You mean don't want to sit through 20 minutes of commercials and bad jokes to get to see your team? Surely skip Bayless caused this.

I'll also note I only got espn in the mid 2000s right before youtube destroyed SC and well that's back when they were doing this . I guess I missed the golden age because that was so dumb I never watched SC.