Suzy Kolber
Jeff Van Gundy
Jalen Rose
Steve Young
Max Kellerman
Todd McShay
Matt Hasselback
And list grows

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2018
#ExtendLafleur

May as well have left the word “talent” off the header.

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Not a mult.

they better learn to code

Kiper finally takes McShay’s scalp.

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And in an interview with SI's Jimmy Traina last month, Scott Van Pelt said that he doesn't expect to be doing his Sports center show after his current contract runs out in a couple of years.

Locally related,
1. Jordan Cornette was laid off but it doesn't appear that his wife was.
2. Courtney Cronin was subbing for the national morning show today, which was still being called Keyshawn, JWill, and Max even though two of the three were fired during the show.

I hope Good Karma tells ESPN to stuff it and goes local from 5-7am in Chicago

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I always liked Suzy Kolber. I hope she lands somewhere.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

If Amazon doesn't get her to host their Thursday night pre/post, they are idiots.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

They should have stuck to sports rather than all that sjw talk. Clearly that’s what is killing sports media.

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If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed & we'll deserve it.- L Graham
I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.- DJT 2016
MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!- DJT 12/25/23

These people make too much money relative to what they bring to the actual product.

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That may be but it seems to me (from the outside) that a lot of big names in media (both print and over the air) are just let go rather than offered to stick around @ a lower salary. I’d be willing to bet Bernstein and a few others at The Score would accept a pay cut (unlike North who couldn’t swallow that option).

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If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed & we'll deserve it.- L Graham
I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.- DJT 2016
MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!- DJT 12/25/23

ESPN was never known for paying its talent (except for Stephen A. Smith). Remember the stories about "Bristol Days," where people would come in on their days off to get their work done because they had nothing else better to do with their time?

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I thought we were friend's.

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I have neither the time, or the inclination, to explain myself to a man who rises and sleep under the blanket of the very economic growth that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it.

That was before they gave Mike Greenberg a billion dollars to act as a Golic repellant.

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Same reason Ariel Helwani left ESPN in 2021 as they low balled him to stay on and he became independent on multiple platforms makes more than $mill/yr now.

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"You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither" ~Steve Martin

Van Gundy surprised me but I don’t imagine he needs the money. I saw him the other day and thought why is this guy still working?

Kolber is a surprise too. She was good. ESPN might get cancelled now.

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https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

Nick Friedell gone too.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

Yeah. He went from Bulls local reporter to national NBA writer at ESPN. Then fired.

There's just too many people doing this sports media shit. It's not needed. Companies are figuring it out. Too many people talking about sports.

I think what media corporations are learning is that, yes, America loves watching sports. But that's it. Yeah, we'll listen to some sports radio and maybe read an article or column. But we're not gonna support the 1 million people that write and podcast about sports. And the 200 thousand reporters is overkill too.

I for one don't read anything about sports unless you count this board. But I'm part of whatever this thing is. So that's why. I've been watching sports long enough to know everything. It's really not that complicated despite Larry and Dan telling me that those at the athletic are splitting the atom daily with their sports thoughts. The only reason I'll listen to sports radio is cuz it doesn't take effort. But I've cut back on that too.

There's too much stuff for us to do with spare time. We've got 1,000 TV shows to watch. Porn. I'm listening to more music now. That calms me down. And I don't even have a wife and kids. Most of you here certainly aren't gonna support sports media with all of your responsibilities. You just don't have the fucking time.

If max kellerman is getting paid 5 mildough per, as I heard reported from Marcellus Wiley, then obviously there's a BUNCH of overpays there.

ESPN used to have the money to just throw around because people were forced to buy it. Then the execs said, let's hire 1 million people and give them all at least 1 million a year. Now people are cutting ESPN out. They're stuck with these huge sports contracts to broadcast the actual games. So all the talkers/reporters have to go. They'll just keep Steven A Smith and have him to all of their outlets.

You know, they can still have a lot of people if they just pay them like 80k a year. That's a decent salary that most people would take to be in the sports media game. Maybe 500k if you have a bigger job like a radio show or hosting Sports Center. But for all the lessor gigs 80k would be fine. The older people wouldn't bitch about it cuz they couldn't get 80k doing anything else at this point. Or they don't want to do anything else at this point.

I think it more has to do with the revenue stream for ESPN is drying up and its not just ESPN as you can look at HBO as well struggling in the marketplace.. People are cutting the cords with cable TV where bundles were offered and ESPN was raking in something like $10-$15 per household. Now the younger demo is getting their sports from streaming services which are more competitive in pricing and so the margins are much less for the corporate overlords at Disney than they are for the set top cable subscriptions. So they have to cut costs which the biggest cost center for these content providers are the on air talent.

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"You know 'that look' women get when they want sex? Me neither" ~Steve Martin

A lot of generic interchangeable sports media types who are saddled with being PC and agreeing with anything sjw.

Yeah, the bundles were HUGE for ESPN. Didn't matter if people watched they were still getting the money cuz you were forced to get it. Same with the RSNs for local sports teams. The games are what people want. Not the talking and writing. But for baseball, especially in small markets, and especially if your team is bad, people don't want the games that much either.

I think once todays kids become adults the sports industry will take a HUGE dive. These kids as adults won't love sports as much and thus their kids won't be introduced to it as much. Other than football, kids don't love basketball and baseball as much as past generations. They just don't cuz they have more options. But football will always be a HUGE money maker.

Baseball and basketball will never die. It's just gonna take a hit and won't make as much money.

The vast majority of these “personalities” don’t drive any viewership. I’m watching Monday Night Football regardless of who the pregame, halftime, and postgame hosts are.

There was a time when the actual announcers of a game made it seem “bigger”— for me, that pretty much ended with Madden/Summerall back in the day. I was shocked when guys like Aikman and Romo got big money—I tune in for the matchup, not the color guys.

They just saved Dave Portnoy the trouble of having to fire all these folks when Barstool takes over ESPN in a couple years.

I tend to agree. The personalities mattered, at least to a degree, when Sports Center was in its heyday, but for games, it really doesn't. All I really ask for in a game broadcast is not to be bombarded with your catch phrases (Vitale) or hit over the head with smug displays of your perceived intelligence (Benetti).

As for Sports Center, it's chief virtue was that it was "on." It was something you flipped on after a night at the bar or when you rolled out of bed in the morning. Now that we're all essentially programming our own TV networks, pretty much anything can be "on" at this point.

Except Barstool doesn't even own Barstool really anymore.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur

Everything will eventually be owned by a casino, Jeff Bezos or the Waltons.

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I couldn't agree more

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Iger sounds conflicted about Disney properties being too connected to gaming.

If you're a sports site/network in the USA in 2023 and you're not all-in on gambling? leaving money on the table.

Iger either needs to get over his or his company's issues with the mouse being heavily involved in gambling or sell ESPN to someone who will marry ESPN to gambling the way it needs to be to stay afloat.

Iger's too sharp a business guy to let ESPN go off and make bank for someone else when all he has to do is thread the needle of keeping the Disney brand from being tarnished/devalued by involvement in gaming while simultaneously making ESPN all about sports betting.


A casino and sports book at Walt Disney World proper and not just on the far west fringe of the resort could be the most profitable enterprise in the history of mankind this side of a drug cartel. Slots in every Disney hotel lobby? Dads and drunk aunts might no longer fake illness to get out of long-planned family vacations to the land of the mouse.

The proliferation of gambling makes me surer of this country's decline than pointless wars, trans decadence, and AI combined.

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