(07-29-2021 02:21 PM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote: (07-29-2021 12:33 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote: (07-29-2021 11:23 AM)ohio1317 Wrote: ESPNs power here being overstated. They are powerful but there are competitors to keep prices up. They don't have nearly the influence here people make out.
Who at this point? NBC never invested in NBC Sports network and has essentially no streaming options and little interest or airtime to offer. CBS has essentially the same thing going on. Fox sold most of their regional networks to ESPN. If ESPN says you are worthless there isn't going to be any kind of bidding war to keep prices up, and their actions very clearly show they don't really value the rest of the B12 much more highly than the AAC to begin with.
And you're ignoring all the FAANG companies that could enter and destroy ESPN in milliseconds.
Let's not go overboard here.
Every time that I see a comment that ESPN is "losing money" or "going bankrupt", we need a reminder to the world that, even with a world of accelerated cord-cutting, ESPN is still the largest revenue generator and most profitable business unit of anyone in the entire *entertainment* industry. I didn't say sports or even TV industry, but ALL of entertainment.
To put it into context, ESPN grosses more subscriber fees per month than the domestic box office gross of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is the biggest US box office hit of all-time. Do people comprehend what I'm saying here? ESPN gets 100% guaranteed subscriber fees that are more than the biggest movie of all-time (also owned by Disney) EACH MONTH... and that's BEFORE they even sell a single ad (which happen to be among the highest in the TV industry because sports are the one of the few types of programs that people actually watch live anymore)!
The revenue juggernaut of ESPN is why Disney is still waiting until the last possible second to go to 100% streaming (even with the success of Disney+). We will likely get there someday, but it's going to take a lot longer than we all think/want because I still believe a lot of sports fans simply don't understand how wealthy and powerful ESPN is compared to everything else in the entire entertainment industry (and that's being part of a company that owns Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Disney Princesses, Disney World, ABC, etc.).
Simply put: a lot of fans are overestimating how much ESPN can do to put pressure on the Big 12 here... but simultaneously *seriously* underestimating how much ESPN is making per month without literally lifting a finger (as they are all 100% guaranteed subscriber fees regardless of the number of viewers). It's a revenue monster that many sports fan strangely don't realize how massive it is even compared to Disney's other key properties like Star Wars and Marvel.