Man, these are tough times at ESPN, which is laying off anybody and everybody, it seems, well, aside from Stephen A. Smith and the former punter that they just inexplicably threw millions at.
Most of the names being let go are window dressing, but there is some muscle along with the fat – Suzy Kolber, for instance, along with Steve Young, two of the primary faces of “Monday Night Countdown,” plus Jeff Van Gundy, the best part of the top NBA announce team.
Kendrick Perkins still has a job, somehow.
He must have pictures of several somebodies in untold compromising positions.
What’s hard to figure here is how the leagues are still banking on making more money from TV and streaming rights with the broadcast media industry obviously imploding around them.
The same ESPN, for instance, that is cutting its pregame, game and “SportsCenter” crews to the bone is overpaying for the SEC, and then the Big Ten is getting beaucoups of buckaroos from Fox and NBC.
The ACC is the odd man out, unfortunately for those of us who put way too much of our personal time and energy into what’s going on in the ACC, and it may be time to start to worry about MLB, which is about to feel the pinch from the failures of many of its RSNs.
But then, the NBA and NFL are doing better than OK, as is the new UFC/WWE combined company.
Lots of ups and downs depending on where you look.
Back at ESPN, they’re already picking up the pieces and moving on.
Whatever business you’re in, when you dump salaries to get the bottom line back in order, you still need to make sure the work gets done, and ESPN is doing that now, trying to replace the people just let go with cheaper alternatives.
One former college hoops assistant hoops coach that I’m in contact with was just offered a position with ESPN, but turned it down when he learned about the money, which wasn’t much, and after finding out that he’d do most of his work remotely – i.e., he wouldn’t be on site to call more than a handful of games, because being on site means they have to pay you mileage and accommodations, and that’s not in the budget.
This is where I remind myself that I spent several years on the absolute lowest rung of the broadcasting ladder, calling games that were broadcast on ESPN+, paid $150 to $200 a game for the effort, not by ESPN, but by the school (VMI, in the Southern Conference).
My hope had been to do some good work on the SoCon beat, maybe get noticed, and who knows, it might lead to an opportunity a little higher up on the ladder.
I plied away at it for nine years before finally hanging up the dress shoes and assorted ties for good, never making it even one step up.
Turns out that it’s probably OK that nothing ever came of it, because whatever modest level of success I would have been able to achieve would likely be gone by now.
Actually, no, I’d be in prime position now.
I’d be the cheap alternative, making pennies on the dollar to sit in my house broadcasting games that nobody watches to fulfill contracts that nobody makes money on.
Looks like I need to get my agent, the beleaguered Harvey D. Shyster III, Esquire, on the phone.
I’m thinking the Big West and Summit League need a new color guy, and I know a guy.
Me. I’m the guy.
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Chris Graham
