5. The decline and fall of Gus Johnson, soccer announcer: Fox’s plan to develop Gus Johnson as a top American play-by-play voice for soccer was another bold move in broadcasting, but one that met with even less success than the WWE Network or Turner’s teamcasts. The network announced a five-year plan to make Johnson their lead soccer voice for the 2018 World Cup in 2013, but he and president Eric Shanks agreed to terminate that deal this September, just over a year in. Johnson had his fans and detractors as a soccer announcer, and he did show some improvement, but problems with finding him a consistent partner and providing the resources and help he needed to be successful arguably set him up to fail.

The attempt to have Johnson learn on the job in the highest-profile games while other networks were already presenting top-tier soccer broadcasts also posed issues and drew tons of criticism from fans. Johnson’s move away from being the top Fox soccer announcer doesn’t mean that the idea of a top American play-by-play voice for the sport is dead, but it does mean it’s probably less imminent. In the wake of this failed experiment, it seems more likely Fox and other soccer broadcasting networks will stick with experienced British announcers rather than try to develop their own guy from the ground up.

4. Bill Simmons’ potential free agency: As mentioned above, ESPN’s suspension of Simmons drew more attention than any other sports media disciplinary proceeding this year, even causing us to explore how he got to this point in detail. What may have much more relevance to sports media consumers than the endless debates about if Simmons should have been suspended (and if so, for how long) is what this could signal for his future. Simmons’ contract is up next year, and given his apparent growing dissatisfaction with Bristol,  it seems quite possible he could take his considerable talents (writing, podcasting, building a website, working on the 30 for 30 series) and fanbase elsewhere. There are plenty of potential destinations for Simmons, from competing traditional networks to online-only sites to perhaps his own platform backed by venture capital, and there’s also a strong chance he could stay with ESPN despite the drama. Wherever he winds up is going to have a significant impact on the sports media universe, especially given the multiple arenas in which Simmons has made his mark. He’s one of the rare sports media pundits who would likely bring a substantial (and devoted) audience with him, making him a valuable potential hire for just about anyone.

3. Bleacher Report’s continued growth: Bleacher Report has made big strides since their 2012 acquisition by Turner, and those continued this year. They hired countless big-name sportswriters, launched a radio channel on Sirius XM and posted remarkable traffic numbers. It’s also notable that criticisms of the company have largely shifted from being about their content to being about if they’re fair to their unpaid or low-paid writers. That’s up for debate; what is less debatable is that B/R is becoming more and more of a major player (and a respected source) in the sports media world, and that’s likely to continue in 2015. They’re turning into a preferred destination for many media consumers, and that’s something that wouldn’t have been expected a few years ago.

2. Sports on Earth and the changing face of sportswriting: The grand joint USA Today/MLB Advanced Media experiment of Sports on Earth collapsed this year with USA Today pulling out and MLB taking the site over completely, leading to the acrimonious departures of many writers and debates on if longform and quality sportswriting was sustainable. However, the site’s still there, still has some big names, and is still producing some solid content on a variety of sports. 2014 definitely changed Sports on Earth, and undoubtedly caused some former readers to abandon the site, but the new direction and approach may have brought in others. It’s going to be interesting to watch how it evolves in the future, and if SoE winds up being sustainable as a MLBAM enterprise. It’s also going to be interesting to see how and if SoE can continue to compete in an online sportswriting field that’s becoming more and more crowded all the time. New entrants like Vice and Medium and boosted resources and content from the likes of SB Nation and Bleacher Report have helped to carry longform sportswriting to new horizons in the digital world this year.

1. The BCS Megacast: ESPN’s decision to broadcast last January’s college football championship game in three very different flavours on three different channels was perhaps the sports media moment of the year, at least in potential impact for consumers down the road. It was rightfully picked as one of our top moments of the year, as it was a huge broadcasting innovation that provided some new dimensions that hadn’t been there before (with the Xs and Os-focused Film Room in particular standing out) and spawned numerous imitators (including the aforementioned Final Four Teamcasts and Fox’s Just A Bit Outside sabermetrics-focused alternate MLB playoff feed). The viewership numbers for the alternate feeds weren’t huge, but they could rise as audiences become more familiar with the concept and some of the kinks are worked out. Expect to see much more of these alternate feeds for big events in the future as audiences’ tastes diversify.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

Comments are closed.