I have owned Awful Announcing for damn near 15 years, a very long time in internet years. I’m sad to say the last five years or so have been the most draining as we’ve covered more negative news than the ten years prior.
I have the unfortunate belief that sports media and media in general have peaked and we’ll be covering a decline in the space for the foreseeable future.
Maybe I’m just growing older and more cynical, but there’s way more depressing news than positive and that trend doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
That’s why I found myself quite delighted that Inside the NBA, Turner Sports’ pride and joy, is coming to ESPN in 2025. You can read about the details here.
When Giving a Shit Pays Off
I won’t go into the history of ESPN’s rotating door of “meh” on the NBA studio front though it’s fair to say that, in comparison to Inside The NBA, it always looked worse than it actually was (it was never THAT bad, but certainly wasn’t good).
In this instance, sports fans got a positive thing to break their way in an industry where most good things are going away or getting worse.
To be fair, it only happened because it was good for Turner, the NBA, and ESPN, the latter of which felt it was in their best interest despite having to pay more for this upgraded NBA coverage. The price wasn’t cheap for ESPN. Among the costs will be parting ways with college football and college basketball games that would have aired on ESPN+, bringing in some amount of subscriptions to the network (more accessible games….another win for sports fans!).
Will ESPN make more money in this new arrangement than before? Who knows. But I don’t think ESPN made this move because of the economics. They did it because, frankly, they gave a shit about the fact that their NBA game studio coverage was not where it needed to be. They couldn’t fix it themselves. They saw an escape hatch to end the cycle of criticism and pain. And they went for it.
It’s not the same blueprint but it echos a similar move three years ago when ESPN waved the white flag on the disappointing rotating door of their Monday Night Football booth and gave Fox a Big Ten football game to secure Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, ending that cycle of pain.
Did they make money on that move? Most people will tell you no one tunes in or out of a game based on announcers, so the easiest answer is no. However, with ESPN (via ABC) getting back into the Super Bowl rotation, there is a belief that they are benefitting by getting better games for Monday Night Football because the announcing booth no longer gets pummeled with regularity on social media.
Regardless, ESPN and Jimmy Pitaro clearly gave a shit about the issue and something outside the box was done to fix it.
I’m not going to say that Jimmy Pitaro’s ESPN is this changed company and they really, really care about what you and we think. The two examples above are some of the most high-profile things ESPN does regularly, and therefore things they decided to give a shit about. They ponied up to make the pain, criticism, low morale, and headaches go away. A CFO doesn’t see the value in that, but there is value in these moves, especially when it’s two of your biggest tentpole events.
It’s why ESPN backed up the Brinks truck for Jason Kelce, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, and the Mannings (all people tied to football).
Unfortunately, if you have notable issues with ESPN’s NHL, MLB, and college basketball coverage, the chances of them giving a similar shit and plugging any holes there are much lower.
Still though, nice of them to give a shit about some things. The fans win. I’ll take it!
This brings me to the state of sports media outside of ESPN. I think the other networks and streamers have varying levels of giving a shit as well as various areas they choose to give a shit about.
Does Anyone Else Give a Shit?
Netflix just aired an absolutely dogshit “fight” that was a buffering and picture-quality nightmare with equally shitty production and announcers. Do they give a shit? No! They’re stoked so many people watched it, which also happens to be their whole sports documentary strategy. ‘We know people watch these things, even if they are shitty!’ seems to be their mantra. Not exactly the kind of thing that’ll let WWE and the NFL sleep easy as they prepare for their own live Netflix broadcasts.
Meanwhile, there is a different network that doesn’t respond to the majority of our emails on any stories (positive or negative). Not a ‘No comment.’ Just a blanket policy of ‘We don’t give a shit, and don’t feel the need to email you back.’ Good to know!
Earlier this year, I spoke with a higher-up PR person at a non-ESPN network who asked me how I felt about something we were writing about. My no-filter, unsupervised, unaccountable response was, “You look cheap and stupid and everyone sees it.” Their reaction was “I agree. That’s fair.” Nothing changed. But at least I knew the truth, one they couldn’t spin. Even then, it was something that didn’t rise to the level of giving a shit about. Also good to know!
What Do You Give a Shit About?
Awful Announcing wasn’t crucial to ESPN adding ‘Inside the NBA’ going or bringing over Buck and Aikman. It was sports fans who were feisty and loud about these deficiencies, to the point where management tapped out.
If you’re a network that airs sports, sometimes you give a crying toddler an iPad and a snack. Turning the car around isn’t a thing you can do, unless the noise becomes too annoying and distracting to ignore.
I write this because, if anything, I want you to pay attention to which networks give a shit about what and how often. This is helpful to keep in mind as you notice situations such as:
- A notable game with a sizable audience has announcers calling it off-site.
- A game you want to watch is blacked out in your area and the explanation of why makes absolutely no sense.
- The halftime studio show was taped hours ago and doesn’t acknowledge the game you’re watching.
- A halftime studio show with 12 minutes of ads and one minute of analysis.
- A studio analyst/personality who a vast majority of people hate and only seems to be employed because “everyone hating them is actually good for ratings!”
- A game or important press conference you want to watch is not being shown live because a replay of a studio show is easier to air.
Be feisty and be loud when it’s warranted. You never know when a network might decide to give a shit about the thing you give ashit about. It does occasionally happen from time to time and maybe we’ll see it happen again.
