Boycott ESPN/Athletic - A Rallying Cry
I've already canceled my Athletic subscription and I have no problem never watching ESPN gameday ever again. If a game I'm interested in is on an ESPN-affiliated network, I will find it later on YouTube posted by Joe Schmoe.
I know I'm not the only one who has had enough of the slanted reporting from ESPN and the Athletic. If we really want to punish them for this, we need to stop consuming their content. With the size of this fanbase, we can at least draw a little blood.
Who's with me? #GoBlue
November 7th, 2023 at 10:47 AM ^
Sorry, I do not watch ESPN anyways. I cannot help.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^
Sounds like you've been helping all along. I salute you.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:48 AM ^
Already doing it too. I used to get scores and such from ESPN; now I just go elsewhere.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:50 AM ^
Yeah, I've been looking at other sources.
I click ESPN scores probably 100 times a week.
I'm looking at CBS sports for scores now. I haven't checked out fox sports for scores yet.
If anyone knows of a better one let me know.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^
Bleacher Report is a good one. I prefer it to ESPN anyway.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:57 AM ^
I've landed on CBS Sports, too. Scanning yesterday, it was the only one that actually featured the AP update about the rest of the conference colluding on Michigan's signs. Yahoo mentioned it, but also seemed weirdly obsessed with asserting that Michigan and Harbaugh probably knew about Stalions's freelancing even though there isn't evidence of that "yet".
November 7th, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
ESPN has not even reported that yet. Crazy.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:34 AM ^
I'm not shocked. ESPN is a gossip site, not a news outlet.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:16 AM ^
I believe Fox also posted the AP article on their site.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:37 AM ^
Looks like you're right. I have a hard time browsing that site. Too many actions to take, too little information.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:55 AM ^
I left ESPN a long time ago for CBS. It's not perfect either, but a definitely a better option IMO.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^
I've used the CBS Sports app for a while now. It's pretty good.
Cut the cord and stop paying $100/year to ESPN.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:02 AM ^
Agree. I'll be giving all my clicking to "FOX"y over there. ESPN is a stage 9 clinger.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:33 AM ^
The Score app
November 7th, 2023 at 11:55 AM ^
Yes. My go-to app. It's great! I just scanned my phone and to my delight I had already cleared off the ESPN app. Probably did it a couple years ago when the MSU queen was mouthing off about us.
November 7th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
I’ll check it out, thanks. Spent way too much time Saturday trying to find a site that would give me up-to-minute scores/stats that ESPN does well, the only thing they do well.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:02 AM ^
I use the Score app. Have been for years.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
CBS sports is better for scores & news IMHO- is there any other free site that the board would recommend?
November 7th, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
Haha… this was me too, but stopped that shit 2 weeks ago.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:28 AM ^
We should create a sticky with lists of alternative content; people can discuss their value in the comments. Example: I was reading some pieces by a guy named Chris Peterson about UM hoops this morning, and wondered--is this one of the banned fan sites? Seemed decent. Would love to hear about what's out there from other people, though. Another example that I didn't know about until recently--Mgoblue.com, which is of course there to boost UM sports, actually has some decent interviews, including a recent one with Dylan from UMHoops. Their short highlight reels from UM bball games are a nice quick way to start the day after a good game, too.
I am eager to put ESPN behind me, but will need to find some other place for soccer content; the USMNT and USWNT sites are just too boosterish for me.
What else ya got? Would love if it went beyond football to other sports.
November 7th, 2023 at 1:08 PM ^
Every game I want to watch is live streamed on Youtube. Just search the names of the teams and it'll pop right up.
And failing that, streameast.
ESPN will not get a single click or eyeball from me.
November 7th, 2023 at 7:38 PM ^
When you sub YTTV, part of that share is going to ESPN, whether you watch it or not.
I have YTTV too...looking for other options next year, so not one dime is ever shared with ESPN.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:48 AM ^
I cancelled my Athletic subscription and tagged them with a screenshot of the confirmation. If I had an ESPN subscription like as part of Disney+, I'd do the same with them.
November 7th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
VERY hard to find some way to lodge complaints at The Athletic if you already have a NYTimes sub and just enter without sign-in. Had to dig a lot to find anywhere to "contact." Here's what I found, though, in case it saves anyone like me time:
November 7th, 2023 at 10:48 AM ^
I stopped watching college gameday awhile ago Big Noon kickoff is a better program. Gameday was at its peak when it started at 10:00. Now its just an SEC fluff event.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:50 AM ^
I have already canceled Athletic and ESPN+ (which sucks cuz no Red Wings). But I’m with you. You have a small voice on your own and the only voice you have is your money. Obviously, the more people on board the better.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^
ESPN has been struggling financially for a while. Losing a million subscribers would hurt a lot.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:51 AM ^
ESPN has been trash for a long time now. Their Brett Favre coverage pushed me over the edge, and I haven’t watched anything non-game since. I will work on stopping that as well.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:23 AM ^
For me it was their obsession with Tim Tebow. When they, with a straight face, asked "is Jeremy Lin the NBA's Tebow?" I was all done with anything not live sports.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:28 AM ^
Tim Tebow every day coverage did it for me.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:35 AM ^
Did we just become best friends?
November 7th, 2023 at 11:39 AM ^
It was that summer of nonstop Farve and Terrell Owens that caused me to quit non-live ESPN.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:51 AM ^
I cancelled both my Athletic subscription and my ESPN+ subscription. Fuck those assholes!
November 7th, 2023 at 11:11 AM ^
Same. Sucks cuz NHL is on ESPN+.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:30 AM ^
I got Bally Sports, that's all I need to watch the Wings.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
The last 2 times I tried to watch a game on Bally Sports none of their apps were working.
November 7th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
Yeah I had that problem too but reloading the apps seemed to solve the problem.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^
I have an alternative: let's continue to support the team, support sites like mgoblog, attend home and away games, contribute to NIL.
That's how we band together. Follow sites that are less biased.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:10 AM ^
I have no problem with your plan, but did you just say that MGoBlog is less biased? This is a team specific site, it's going to be incredibly biased. Seth / Brian / Alex / BryMac are all great, but they're certainly biased.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:20 AM ^
Well without a doubt we support mgoblog. Follow sites that are supportive of Michigan.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:34 AM ^
We are right and everyone else is wrong, that is not bias just facts.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:54 AM ^
Never watched ESPN for anything other than live games. I used to read their articles 10+ years ago, but there really isn't anything of quality there any longer.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:54 AM ^
I was thinking about the same thing this morning. Their content and website have really declined anyway. It's been habit since I've been an ESPN consumer for 30 years. This whole mess is a good reason to find alternatives.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:54 AM ^
Big Ten Members:
November 7th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^
I mean I'm going to the playoff game and NC so I can go without watching those on espn, but asking the vast majority of our fans to boycott watching those games is a tall ask.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^
For the Playoffs, we can try to go to a bar that was going to play it anyway. Support a local business and give a middle finger to ESPN. Win/Win!
November 7th, 2023 at 11:08 AM ^
I can usually find a livestream for any game I want to watch. Sometimes they get taken down, but another one pops up.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:18 AM ^
v2.sportsurge.net. They aggregate streams. If one doesn't work, go to the next.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:23 AM ^
Nice! Internet brofist.
November 7th, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
I love it - right back at you.
streameast is the best. I use Firefox and use a number of overlapping pop-up/malware/ad blockers. Theirs is the best stream for running with those restrictions. Plus, no porn ads, which is wonderful when my daughter and I are watching Michigan basketball games together.