uofmfan_13

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^

ESPN is headed toward world of financial hurt and change. Outkickthecoverage had awesome piece about it. They are staring financial Armageddon in the face and could be largely irrelevant as a sports broadcaster in 3-4 years thanks to cord cutting and their horrible editorial style.

Because of massive broadcast deals with SEC, NFL MNF, NBA, ESPN purposefully promotes SEC, Tim Tebow, LeBron James. 

Interestingly enough, NBA ratings are garbage and will get worse when LeBron retires to a career in subsidy backed film making. 

Another plus is that pro sports athletes in NBA are looking at lower salaries thanks to what is sure to be a much lower tv deal in next 4-5 years. NBA players are the most entitled, overpaid employees in possibly all of pro sports. Maybe some of the soccer guys in Europe have em beat but much harder to get away with not trying to play defense in high end european soccer.

 

NOLABlue

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:11 PM ^

I don't want to argue but wanted to add that this is not even remotely true.  It IS true that last year's NBA ratings reached a four-year high, but they still pale in comparison to the late 80s-90s.  It's also worth mentioning that even with NFL ratings tanking last year, they are still an order of magnitude above any other pro sport, including the NBA

jmblue

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:14 PM ^

You can't compare TV ratings from today with those from 20-30 years ago.  Audiences are far more fragmented today.  You could claim though that, relative to other sports, the NBA is in the strongest position it's ever been.  Not that it's the most popular league (obviously that would be the NFL) but that it's not the distant #3 league in this country it once was - it is a competitor for the #2 spot now, particularly among younger generations.

snarling wolverine

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:55 PM ^

NBA players are the most entitled, overpaid employees in possibly all of pro sports. 

NBA players play the same number of games per season as NHL players do.  They have as much travel (if not more so) than baseball players do, considering that they don't play 3/4-game series in one city at a time.  Their season lasts much longer than football's does.  As for their salaries, they are paid commensurate with league revenues.  I'm not aware of too many NBA franchises losing money.  NBA players agreed to a salary cap much earlier than any other league, incidentally.

So what's your basis for this argument?

FrozeMangoes

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^

NBA players make the money they make because there are fewer to pay.  There are 14 guys a team and really only 3-5 get paid.  Also,  Fans are closer to the game and can see basketball players which makes them way more marketable than other sports.  

I will never understand fans that complain about how much money players make.  Do you complain how much the owners make? There is no game without the players. 

WestQuad

December 2nd, 2018 at 5:27 PM ^

In a game like Basketball,  I could see the players taking their game and leaving some day and doing  some sort of revenue share type of thing amongst the active and retired players.  You've got what, 300 players on active rosters with maybe another 100 rotating in from other leagues?  While you need "owners" to do logistics and marketing, they really don't add much value.   All of the logistic and marketing are farmed out anyway.  Communities pay for many/most of the stadiums.  

jmblue

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^

It's interesting how no one seems to ever call baseball players spoiled/entitled despite the fact that MLB is the only North American sports league without a salary cap, not to mention that baseball is a sport in which you can actually be in poor physical shape and still do well.

FrozeMangoes

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^

Out of shape baseball players that do well are the exception to the rule.  The majority of baseball players are in phenomenal shape.  And, even the out of shape ones still have a skill that .00001 percent of people have and at the end of the day that is what people are paying to see. 

 

Edit:

Agree with you on the cap.  Baseball, I fear will go the route of college football.  A handful of teams with resources will buy players at the deadline and the other teams will basically have no shot.  

jmblue

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^

Of course baseball is an extremely difficult sport.  I respect anyone who succeeds in sports at the highest level.

...but IF you're going to single out any sport's players for being spoiled, I'd look more to the sport that created a position where you literally don't play defense (designated hitter), which allows chubby dudes who can't run to survive and prosper.  Plus the refusal to ever accept a salary cap despite every other league in this country being OK with one.

MGlobules

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^

Why you felt compelled to drift from ESPN and SEC football to how lazy NBA athletes are shall remain a mystery. But a "blame the workers" mentality always strikes me as naive and retrograde. If we want to launch into a critique about how the revenue sports have scr*wed the pooch, we'd have a long, long list. For me the NBA would not top it. 

As for the thread topic: yes, ESPN has hurt itself, and built nationwide resentment, with its shameless shilling for the SEC. The B1G East is pretty clearly now the number one toughest--and best--division in college football, but that may not work to the league's advantage. Going to a playoff that featured the top two conference teams, like the B12 has and the SEC has stumbled backward into, would pretty clearly help pique interest in the conference. But Delaney is all about the benjamins, and that may prove short-lived--short-sighted--too. Obviously, the TV emphasis has been hard on stadium attendance. I see continued erosion of the live audience, which diminishes the events. 

KO Stradivarius

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:34 PM ^

ESPN has hurt itself, and built nationwide resentment, with its shameless shilling for EVERYTHING.  The personalities come across as entitled know-it-alls, all trying to be the most witty, funny, cool comedian.  I think Berman started this.  It's incredibly grating and unwatchable.  

All of the debate around the playoffs almost seems like a political discussion you'd see on Fox or CNN.  They all sit behind a desk and have their own "hot take" at a different argument, and they have nothing else apparently to broadcast so they have to fill 4 hrs of time discussing it.  That's a lot of time for each one of these douchebags to pontificate on their snowflake of an opinion. And they are in all in competition to be entertaining and "edgy" or else they will be the next one out when the inevitable cutbacks come.  Fuck 'em.  

MarcusRay98

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^

Well judging from the game that was played last night those are probably the best 2 teams in college football

footballguy

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^

Bama unequivocally has the best coach in CFB, and the best players in CFB. It's safe to say that they're unequivocally the best team in CFB and that not be a hot take.

Georgia is objectively one of the most talented teams also. I've watched Georgia, OSU and Oklahoma. Georgia is better than both of them.

jmblue

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:27 PM ^

It's safe to say that they're unequivocally the best team in CFB and that not be a hot take.

They're probably the best team in the country but that's not a given.  You're basing that on their reputation.  They looked quite mortal yesterday against a Georgia team that previously was blown out by LSU.

Muttley

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^

Operative word is "probably".  

Georgia has had its at-bat.  Time to let others take a swing.

Why should Bama have to beat Georgia twice?  And recall 2014.  The SEC West dominated the college football rankings without any validation against non-SEC teams.  What happened to the top 5 SEC West teams in their bowls?  They all lost.

KBLOW

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:47 PM ^

ESPN knows UGA won't make it in, but the more controversy that they can generate, the better for them. Plus, no doubt ESPN would rather see the playoffs expanded to 6 or 8 teams. More "outrage" over UGA being "left out" is a means to that end.

sharks

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^

I mean, as an OSU fan, I 'secretly' want no part of Bama, Clemson, UGA, or Okie. Records aside, those are the best four teams in football.  ND gets in, costing UGA (probably) a slot, but the Irish are going to get humiliated by any of the other three.

footballguy

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^

I watched that whole Georgia Bama game. I personally would have had no issue with Georgia in over OSU or Oklahoma.

In all honesty they could have just done the BCS this year and people would have been happy. Bama and Clemson will roll in the Semis, and the only team that could give Bama a game in the semis would've be Georgia. 

pinkfloyd2000

December 2nd, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^

Georgia, a 2-loss team without a conference title, DID finish above Ohio State, a 1-loss Big 10 champ.

Which means, of course, if Georgia HAD won vs. Bama yesterday -- and they really had every chance to do so -- there is NO DOUBT in my mind at all that Bama and Georgia would have both made the playoffs.

And gee that would have been fun for all, eh?

 

Muttley

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^

In other yet-to-be-determined meaningless orderings, does UCF get #7 as a token bone thrown to the Knights?  Or do they stay #8 as a STFU already ordering?

I think they get #7, perhaps as a marginal marketing hype maneuver for their bowl game.  The fan base that will watch Michigan needs no rankings-boost marketing hype.

Swayze Howell Sheen

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^

It's interesting that GA would have gone in instead of OSU. Conference championships only matter so much, I guess. And getting thumped by LSU seems to be "better" than getting thumped by Purdue...

MarcusRay98

December 2nd, 2018 at 1:09 PM ^

Alabama will beat Oklahoma 

Clemson will beat Notre Dame 

 

If Clemson didn’t have a freshman QB I would like their chances against Alabama  ..

Alabama wins another Championship