[2006alum]

I know the inclination of people reacting to these layoffs is to say "better times are ahead" or "they will land on their feet,"  but in this case, I'm not so sure, not if those let go want to be sports reporters. . . .

Where are writer reporters to go?  Who's going to hire them?  Nobody wants to pay for content, and it's virtually impossible to generate meaningful revenue from advertising online unless you have a gigantic audience.  ESPN allowed coverage of sports that otherwise wouldn't happen, by sort of subsidizing it, in the interest of providing fans information to keep them interested.  Without that glue, without that content, the sports won't seem as important and interest could erode.

As much as it pains me to +1 something this depressing, I think you're spot on. ESPN was bloated because it could afford to be - some number of cable subscribers were effectively giving them free money for something they didn't want. It's a shame because to be honest, I enjoyed the reporting on ESPN.com more than everything but a handful of sports and teams they show on the cable channels. 22/24 hours of ESPN is stuff I have no interest in. Then again, I suspect TheCardBoard has an above-average number of people willing to pay for thoughtful content...

And while I'm at it, thank you all for providing it for me for free! For my money, TheCardBoard >>> ESPN Insider.

[2006alum]

I know the inclination of people reacting to these layoffs is to say "better times are ahead" or "they will land on their feet,"  but in this case, I'm not so sure, not if those let go want to be sports reporters. . . .

Where are writer reporters to go?  Who's going to hire them?  Nobody wants to pay for content, and it's virtually impossible to generate meaningful revenue from advertising online unless you have a gigantic audience.  ESPN allowed coverage of sports that otherwise wouldn't happen, by sort of subsidizing it, in the interest of providing fans information to keep them interested.  Without that glue, without that content, the sports won't seem as important and interest could erode.

As much as it pains me to +1 something this depressing, I think you're spot on. ESPN was bloated because it could afford to be - some number of cable subscribers were effectively giving them free money for something they didn't want. It's a shame because to be honest, I enjoyed the reporting on ESPN.com more than everything but a handful of sports and teams they show on the cable channels. 22/24 hours of ESPN is stuff I have no interest in. Then again, I suspect TheCardBoard has an above-average number of people willing to pay for thoughtful content...

And while I'm at it, thank you all for providing it for me for free! For my money, TheCardBoard >>> ESPN Insider.