I know we're all college football junkies, but with MNF including the Cowboys (which I don't care about) coming up tonight, is one side going to cave or will Disney dig in and try to make it "hurt?"
It's pretty clear that at least this time Disney is the bad guy, but I'm glad this is happening. I think people are sending a message to Disney/ESPN that there's a cap on the amount of money they'll spend. I know a ton of folks who've said if their team isn't on YouTubeTV they'll just either go to a bar or not watch.
I know if the B1G was part of this mess I'd just listen to Pat and Dolph on the radio blowing leaves or doing some kind of work outside.
And you know what, that would probably be more fun anyway. It'd bring some nostalgia back into my life.
The problem is....ESPN is a shit corporation to buy and will be a boat anchor for Disney or just about anyone who has boards and shareholders who worship the balance sheet.
ESPN has never...and never will....make "good" profits. They're always going to look terrible on a balance sheet.
Sports is too damn expensive. The foundation of pro sports these days is to increase the value of your property. That's why the Rams move back to LA. It quadrupled their value overnight. And this is from a position in which the previous owner's descendants could not afford the taxes to even inherit the team so they had to sell. And on top of that NFL teams aren't exactly a profit machine. Their actual earnings are TERRIBLE when you consider their revenue. Especially when you factor in that they have to eventually spend large portions of what little they do net every 15 years on new stadiums (or rehabs)....to maintain the value. This is what happens now that they've graduated past their ponzi scheme beginnings. Which you can clearly see in the WNBA and MSL right now. Why would you spend brazillions to buy a franchise? Because you hope that someday, it'll be worth trazillions. And you hope that the share of brazillions you get when new people buy expansion franchises that it's enough to get you there and eventually you wind up like Jerry Jones. Or even a fraction of Jerry Jones is nice.
And a vast bulk of the cash you use comes from TV deals. Which means teams have to extract a ton of money from someone like ESPN. So ESPN winds up with a bottom line on the P&L that's as meager as an NFL team.
But Disney ain't gonna have any of that. For years, a huge chunk of your cable bill went to ESPN. It cost your cable provider about 2 or 3 times as much offer ESPN than it did even HBO. When HBO was considered "premium". But ESPN was always considered "basic" because cable companies knew they needed it to maintain customers.
At this point, I'd just like the NFL to buy ESPN. The NFL, at least, understands that getting as many eyeballs as possible is what will make them the most money and more importantly, increase their value. NFL Films, LLC gets ~$50 million in revenue a year. Not sure what that translates into in terms of profit. $5 million? $10 That's not even two commercials during the Super Bowl. But, the NFL isn't looking at NFL Films specifically as a revenue source. They look at it's non monetary value.
If you're dumb enough (Disney) to look at ESPN as a revenue source....you're never going to be happy.
On the flip side, if you're a carrier (cable/streaming aggregate), you gotta know that ABC is going to go all Discovery/HBO soon and merge Disney+/Hulu/ESPN into one. They're just chickenshit because they are afraid to dilute what they think of as the iconic Disney brand. And the ESPN brand, too....for that matter. They're all chasing Netflix. Youttube TV (as much as I love multi-view)..it's days are numbered. Because they don't own the content. Or the delivery. Just the packaging. And content owners will catch up on the packaging.
ABC was smart to fold in to Disney et. al. Sorry CBS, but Paramount ain't no Disney. And Peacock? No clue what you're trying to do. Pipsqueaks.
I think we're just looking at skirmishes now. I don't think there's mutually assured destruction here. I think there's just destruction coming. Some are going to win. Others won't. Not only are the biggest media conglomerates involved, but so are Google and Amazon. I mean, this is gonna be crazy.
