3. The model is antiquated — nobody needs SportsCenter anymore
This may be the most important factor going completely unconsidered by the brass at ESPN. SportsCenter was a juggernaut — twenty years ago, when it was anchored by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann. Long before Olbermann became famous for getting fired by reasonable people, he teamed up with Patrick to give an entertaining nightly sports report. This was in an era when America's insatiable appetite for sports information could not be satisfied. This was before Twitter, Facebook, smartphone apps, even MySpace.
Thus, SportsCenter was the anchor program. They even used to run commercials asking which time slot of SportsCenter you were addicted to. Of course, that was when I was in college... an eternity ago.
Today, all anyone needs to do to get the information they crave is to pick up their phone and open an app. You don't need to turn on your TV and wait for the information to scroll by, or for it to be told to you by a talking head. You can just go get it.
That makes programs like SportsCenter completely dispensable, and no amount of ESPN executives tinkering with the model will return it to its former glory.
5 More Reasons Why ESPN Is Failing
meh who needs ESPN Anymore
This may be the most important factor going completely unconsidered by the brass at ESPN. SportsCenter was a juggernaut — twenty years ago, when it was anchored by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann. Long before Olbermann became famous for getting fired by reasonable people, he teamed up with Patrick to give an entertaining nightly sports report. This was in an era when America's insatiable appetite for sports information could not be satisfied. This was before Twitter, Facebook, smartphone apps, even MySpace.
Thus, SportsCenter was the anchor program. They even used to run commercials asking which time slot of SportsCenter you were addicted to. Of course, that was when I was in college... an eternity ago.
Today, all anyone needs to do to get the information they crave is to pick up their phone and open an app. You don't need to turn on your TV and wait for the information to scroll by, or for it to be told to you by a talking head. You can just go get it.
That makes programs like SportsCenter completely dispensable, and no amount of ESPN executives tinkering with the model will return it to its former glory.
5 More Reasons Why ESPN Is Failing
meh who needs ESPN Anymore
