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ESPN cost cutting continues: got rid of Joe Schad

Buffnik

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
They keep cutting talent. Ties in with what's coming on rates fees, but I wonder if they're being short-sighted and zigging when they should be zagging. If we're going to be paying for streamed content, we only do it for quality. Becoming the lowest denominator as an amalgamator of other stories a la Sports Center isn't something anyone is willing to pay for.

Schad was ESPN's national reporter for college football.

Announced with this is that they also cut Robert Smith from its talent lineup. Not as big of a loss there since he didn't actually break news and wasn't all that entertaining, but it is another case of cost cutting at ESPN.

http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/04/18/espn-joe-schad-robert-smith-part-ways
 
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Cord cutting is accelerating. They can't cut what they agreed to pay to the NFL and the SEC (unless they file BK) so they cut what they can; talent, staffing, production, fees, and projects.

After they get out from under the weight of all those contracts then they can add talent back. But thats in like 2024 or something. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

I dont watch anything but the actual games anyways. Talking heads on ESPN dont make anyone smarter. They just fill time.
 
Think of it like a Salary Cap issue. Sometimes you have to cut the old guys who are overpaid to make room for up and coming talent.

In reality this has more to do with Thomas Staggs leaving than with cord-cutting. Staggs was not a slasher of costs and with him leaving Disney, Sherwood (in charge of TV) have been doing a lot of cutting at ABC especially. The new Disney Mantra is to control costs.
 
My ESPN watching was already in decline before The Decision, but that ridiculous spectacle pushed me over the edge. I'm pretty sure I haven't watched a single SportsCenter or pre-game show since then. And I'm a person who used to watch NFL and College GameDay every week and SC fairly often. I hate the overemphasis on the big markets and the stars who play in them. Sorry to those of you who like country, but I also hate that terrible College GameDay country theme song that caters to the SEC audience.

I still tune in for games I really want to see, but that's it. I'd rather gouge my eyes out than watch obnoxious blowhards like Skip Bayless and Steven A. Smith.
 
The only things I watch on ESPN now are live sports and 30 for 30s. I used to big into SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight, but there are better places to get those pieces of news/highlights nowadays.
 
Sportscenter back in the day was entertaining; Olbermann and Patrick were funny, knowledgeable and entertaining. It made for a good end of the day or start to the morning. Not so much anymore.

It would definitely be interesting if one of the streaming providers did a 30 minute daily sports recap show. That could be a precursor to live game coverage. If you really think about it, that's all a good sports channel needs: a highlights show, and live game coverage (including a short pregame and a very short postgame).

There's no reason the highlights show couldn't be filmed once a day, and made available for streaming anytime after that. Pay some great talent, and don't worry about filling airtime or paying for distribution.
 
skibum said:
Sportscenter back in the day was entertaining; Olbermann and Patrick were funny, knowledgeable and entertaining. It made for a good end of the day or start to the morning. Not so much anymore.

It would definitely be interesting if one of the streaming providers did a 30 minute daily sports recap show. That could be a precursor to live game coverage. If you really think about it, that's all a good sports channel needs: a highlights show, and live game coverage (including a short pregame and a very short postgame).

There's no reason the highlights show couldn't be filmed once a day, and made available for streaming anytime after that. Pay some great talent, and don't worry about filling airtime or paying for distribution.
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Van Pelt would be worth streaming. He's really good at his new take on the Sports Center format. He'll have options in the streaming content world. He doesn't need ESPN to do what he does, either. Talent is what's going to matter more and more. HBO seems to understand this better than anyone.
 
I always thought Schad was kind of a hack, and really a lesser version of Brett McMurphy anyways.

Beyond the cord cutting and budget issues, ESPN was just blowing money on people and talent because they had it. Some of those shows a few years ago were ridiculous. You don't need 7 people panels, or 10 analysts to get through one sportscenter. It's better programming for them to slim down.
 
Buffnik said:
Van Pelt would be worth streaming. He's really good at his new take on the Sports Center format. He'll have options in the streaming content world. He doesn't need ESPN to do what he does, either. Talent is what's going to matter more and more. HBO seems to understand this better than anyone.
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I really like van pelts sportcenter. I'll watch almost any story he's doing. Talent is all that matters now.
 
SVP's problem is he's hard to find. He's sometimes sandwiched between the 9pm and midnight/westcoast sportscenter, and then that all gets thrown off by whatever live programming is the lead in.
 
Van pelt is definitely the best, followed by Russillo, who needs more time on tv. ESPN will always be one of my favorites just because they provide a ton of college football coverage but it will be an interesting couple of years.

Never had a real issue with Schad and definitely sad to hear of someone losing their job but maybe he can do something different with his coverage now.
 
Tatanka™ said:
My ESPN watching was already in decline before The Decision, but that ridiculous spectacle pushed me over the edge. I'm pretty sure I haven't watched a single SportsCenter or pre-game show since then. And I'm a person who used to watch NFL and College GameDay every week and SC fairly often. I hate the overemphasis on the big markets and the stars who play in them. Sorry to those of you who like country, but I also hate that terrible College GameDay country theme song that caters to the SEC audience.

I still tune in for games I really want to see, but that's it. I'd rather gouge my eyes out than watch obnoxious blowhards like Skip Bayless and Steven A. Smith.
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If you ever want a good laugh, revisit the old show in which the idiot Skip Bayless condescendingly trashes Merril Hoge (sp?) for not understanding that Johnny Football is clearly going to be a long term All-Pro NFL QB, after Hoge had just given an extremely rational explanation of why Johnny looked not to have the skill set to play in the league. It's classic Skip. Fire him NOW.
 
Not sure why you'd need pre/post game shows, all the info you need is online somewhere. Scores and highlights, too. Maybe you like a personality and his jokes, but I can live w/o all of that. I just want the live action, and they can save money on the sideline reporters, too. What do you get out of it that can't be uttered by the announcers? And the 30 second coach's sound bite going into the half is normally worthless. It's just a kind of title 9 program for media.
 
And who the hell watches radio shows on ESPN. Like "Mike and Mike" and "Cowherd?" I mean, that's an all time low for television to stoop down to airing radio shows, isn't it? They must be really cheap to produce.
 
PAHIBuff said:
If you ever want a good laugh, revisit the old show in which the idiot Skip Bayless condescendingly trashes Merril Hoge (sp?) for not understanding that Johnny Football is clearly going to be a long term All-Pro NFL QB, after Hoge had just given an extremely rational explanation of why Johnny looked not to have the skill set to play in the league. It's classic Skip. Fire him NOW.
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This is why ESPN will keep Skip and others like him to the end. Yes he's an idiot, but he's an idiot that get's attention. He allows viewers to feel like they are smarter than the "expert" on TV. ESPN is much more about entertainment than about information, more about controversy than about facts. That's what draws the audience that buys their ads.
 
zbuff said:
Not sure why you'd need pre/post game shows, all the info you need is online somewhere. Scores and highlights, too. Maybe you like a personality and his jokes, but I can live w/o all of that. I just want the live action, and they can save money on the sideline reporters, too. What do you get out of it that can't be uttered by the announcers? And the 30 second coach's sound bite going into the half is normally worthless. It's just a kind of title 9 program for media.
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You need some sort of pre-game show (even if it's just the announcers in the booth), just for the couple of minute time issues. 99% of the time 12:00 kick-offs don't happen at 12:00, they happen at like 12:07:23. You want something to fill that 7 minutes and 23 seconds other than a logo spinning on a screen. I also like a quick game recap at the end (scoring/key play highlights); but again, doesn't need to be a big production - same thing with a half-time show, need to have something.

Yes, scores and highlights are available online, but I don't want to have to click on everything to get a quick, thorough update on what's happened. There is value in the editing, narrating, and generally putting things together into a nice single show that I can click on once, and then have running while I work-out, or make/eat breakfast, etc.
 
MtnBuff said:
This is why ESPN will keep Skip and others like him to the end. Yes he's an idiot, but he's an idiot that get's attention. He allows viewers to feel like they are smarter than the "expert" on TV. ESPN is much more about entertainment than about information, more about controversy than about facts. That's what draws the audience that buys their ads.
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Thanks. Well, if it's his job to act dumb they need to give him a raise because he's perfected that. Can't watch him.
 
BlackNGold said:
Think of it like a Salary Cap issue. The new Disney Mantra is to control costs.
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You are spot on. Disney is cutting costs globally, their Shanghai park is tens of Millions over budget and behind schedule, their 2016 budget saw cuts across the board and funneling costs to assist the asian theme parks. ESPN took the biggest hit.

There are alternative options, of course, ESPN could have moved on from Berman (the highest paid ESPN talent) his best days are far behind and in lieu of letting go of Schad (who provides actual updates and relevant information) the network should have parted with Reality Show types Stephen A. Smith, Bayless, the laundry list of women they have brought on over the past two years who wear short skirts for clubbing on-air and do not understand proper broadcasting inflection nor can they read the sporting news without a teleprompter and what the News Director wrote for them. ESPN is famous for underpaying it's talent. They have been picked by the NFL Network, MLB Network and FOX yet with diminished ratings, they simply do not get it.
 
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