Bummer, I always found Miller to be a fair analyst and one of the few Cal "supporters" out there.

Any insight to the backstory at ESPN? Miller's Pac-12 blog was great, and indeed I felt he always understood Cal fans, even remembering the 2004 Rose Bowl that I'll undoubtedly still feel bitter about on my deathbed.

BearEatsTacos;842835750 said:

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Any insight to the backstory at ESPN? Miller's Pac-12 blog was great, and indeed I felt he always understood Cal fans, even remembering the 2004 Rose Bowl that I'll undoubtedly still feel bitter about on my deathbed.

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I believe the 100 lay offs were primarily due to the high fees from the NFL and decline in viewership. Sucks about Miller though, he was one of the few reasons I occasionally visited ESPN.

My first thought was wow, Pac 12/West Coast viewership might suck more than the rest of CFB, but it appears they are cutting a lot of college coverage.

http://deadspin.com/a-running-list-of-espn-layoffs-1794664091

Includes:

Big Ten Reporter Brian Bennett
SEC Football Reporter Brian Ching
Big 12 Reporter Max Olson
SEC Recruiting Analyst Derek Tyson
College Basketball Writer Eamonn Brennan (seemed to do mostly west coast/UCLA stories).
CFB Recruiting Reporter Jeremy Crabtree
CFB Reporter Brett McMurphy
Big Ten Reporter Austin Ward
Big Ten /Wisconsin Reporter Jesse Temple (Wisky had their own reporter?!)
College Basketball Reporter Dana O'Neil

My guess is ESPN is losing a ton of money on college TV contracts - most notably the CFB playoff and New Years Bowl games. I'd expect both a reduction of $$$ for CFB playoffs, the Rose Bowl and CFB in general (next p12 contract cycle is around 2023). Might be wise to expect $5-$10 million less per year - so something around $20 million instead of the ~$30 million the conference will receive per team in 2023. Fox is likely taking a complete bath on anything they put on FS1 due to abysmal ratings, but they might be doing OK with the broadcast games.

Before anyone says the Pac 12 is in a better position than other leagues due to fully owning the P12N, that's complete BS.

I'll say it again, compete BS.

The ESPN money is for primary rights, not secondary. When your primary rights go down by many, many millions, the ownership of secondary rights that bring in far, far less is really not as important. Other conference can redo their secondary rights contracts near 2023, so the current ownership will not matter. Right now, the P12Network is a $80+ million per year cost that generates only a few million per year in profit per school. Expect that to go away, but so will a lot of non rev events (and probably rightly so, it seems that the netowork is pretty high cost and flushes money away traveling to and producing event that really no one watches).

We'll have to see if the ESPN/ACC Network ever gets off the ground (digital now, but was supposed to start ~2019 as a real channel). That would be a good proxy for what the Pac 12 could have done if it partnered with a TV entity instead of doing it alone.

BearEatsTacos;842835750 said:

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Any insight to the backstory at ESPN? Miller's Pac-12 blog was great, and indeed I felt he always understood Cal fans, even remembering the 2004 Rose Bowl that I'll undoubtedly still feel bitter about on my deathbed.

---

The back story is ESPN is losing a ton of subscribers. Their bogs are a money maker and its insanely easy to gather data on who is driving views and subscriptions with them.

Not sure what the plan was or is, but ESPN has been in a bad spot for a long time. These guys are probably better off getting out of that sinking ship early while ESPN still has packages.... I think Ted Miller is probably at the end of his contract, so I doubt he gets anything.

Glad Danny Kanell is gone, he fucking sucked.

Too bad. Ted always gave Cal a fair analysis.

Too bad. Miller use to be the only writer for the PAC-12 blog. For whatever reason, they decided to hire 4-5 other writers to also cover the conference. He was, BY FAR, the best writer covering the PAC-12. It's a loss for PAC-12 coverage.

Strykur;842835768 said:

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Glad Danny Kanell is gone, he fucking sucked.

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Dilfer too.

Lots of beat reporters covering bad professional teams as well, it seems.

Ethan Strauss, fellow Cal guy, the beat writer for the Warriors is out. No beat is safe.

Colorado Bear, how can the Pac12 Network expect to make any real money when they broadcast women's softball, soccer, etc. Men's sports are equally unwatchable unless you're a diehard college baseball junky. Effectively, Cal's major sports presentations this year have been over for more than one month. Finals are approaching and the sports diet on the Network has to rely upon reruns during the late spring and summer months. How do you maintain a sports network when nothing new is happening?

Out of desperation, I was watching a rerun of Cal v. Oregon football last night and the Network interrupted the presentation every five minutes with a profile of a Pac12 athlete. Incredibly boring. There was very little conventional advertising. [By the way, we need to watch out for the Duck's QB, he's for real.]

6bear6;842835785 said:

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Colorado Bear, how can the Pac12 Network expect to make any real money when they broadcast women's softball, soccer, etc. Men's sports are equally unwatchable unless you're a diehard college baseball junky. Effectively, Cal's major sports presentations this year have been over for more than one month. Finals are approaching and the sports diet on the Network has to rely upon reruns during the late spring and summer months. How do you maintain a sports network when nothing new is happening?

Out of desperation, I was watching a rerun of Cal v. Oregon football last night and the Network interrupted the presentation every five minutes with a profile of a Pac12 athlete. Incredibly boring. There was very little conventional advertising. [By the way, we need to watch out for the Duck's QB, he's for real.]

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I'm not sure the seasonality devalues the product that much the way it's set up now - the cable companies pay a monthly fee all year to put the net in the basic tier (in market footprint). Not that much different from AMC having 2 or 3 shows of interest, then showing other stuff the rest of the year.

The difference between the P12 Network and SEC/Big Ten Networks is that the P12N delivers far more live events. Which cost $$$. SEC and BTN show more reruns in the offseason. We are talking hundreds more per year (Maybe 800 to 400 compared to the BTN).

The seasonality will make a difference if the network moves to a direct online distribution method. I know I sign up for HBO for one month, watch everything, then cancel. Would expect monthly subs to do the same for P12 Net if that's an option. The content from March to August doesn't warrant a payment of anything at this point.

Sad to see Ted Miller go.

hanky1;842835775 said:

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Too bad. Miller use to be the only writer for the PAC-12 blog. For whatever reason, they decided to hire 4-5 other writers to also cover the conference. He was, BY FAR, the best writer covering the PAC-12. It's a loss for PAC-12 coverage.

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+1 He got me hooked on the blog. I found him incredibly informed and surprisingly prolific. Not surprised that others were added, but never found them as interesting.

I could see why they are cutting back though. How much traffic would they get on the Pac-12 blog? Cant imagine that it was all that much.

socaliganbear;842835784 said:

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Ethan Strauss, fellow Cal guy, the beat writer for the Warriors is out. No beat is safe.

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That's a bummer. He seemed to have gotten a very good following. Interesting story: we were both in the same class and I met him at CalSO. It took me a while to realize he was the same person who wrote most of the Dubs articles for ESPN!

ferCALgm2;842835818 said:

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That's a bummer. He seemed to have gotten a very good following. Interesting story: we were both in the same class and I met him at CalSO. It took me a while to realize he was the same person who wrote most of the Dubs articles for ESPN!

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Yeah, he got with ESPN right as the Warriors were ascending. Amazing timing.

ColoradoBear1;842835760 said:

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My first thought was wow, Pac 12/West Coast viewership might suck more than the rest of CFB, but it appears they are cutting a lot of college coverage.

http://deadspin.com/a-running-list-of-espn-layoffs-1794664091

Includes:

Big Ten Reporter Brian Bennett
SEC Football Reporter Brian Ching
Big 12 Reporter Max Olson
SEC Recruiting Analyst Derek Tyson
College Basketball Writer Eamonn Brennan (seemed to do mostly west coast/UCLA stories).
CFB Recruiting Reporter Jeremy Crabtree
CFB Reporter Brett McMurphy
Big Ten Reporter Austin Ward
Big Ten /Wisconsin Reporter Jesse Temple (Wisky had their own reporter?!)
College Basketball Reporter Dana O'Neil

My guess is ESPN is losing a ton of money on college TV contracts - most notably the CFB playoff and New Years Bowl games. I'd expect both a reduction of $$$ for CFB playoffs, the Rose Bowl and CFB in general (next p12 contract cycle is around 2023). Might be wise to expect $5-$10 million less per year - so something around $20 million instead of the ~$30 million the conference will receive per team in 2023. Fox is likely taking a complete bath on anything they put on FS1 due to abysmal ratings, but they might be doing OK with the broadcast games.

Before anyone says the Pac 12 is in a better position than other leagues due to fully owning the P12N, that's complete BS.

I'll say it again, compete BS.

The ESPN money is for primary rights, not secondary. When your primary rights go down by many, many millions, the ownership of secondary rights that bring in far, far less is really not as important. Other conference can redo their secondary rights contracts near 2023, so the current ownership will not matter. Right now, the P12Network is a $80+ million per year cost that generates only a few million per year in profit per school. Expect that to go away, but so will a lot of non rev events (and probably rightly so, it seems that the netowork is pretty high cost and flushes money away traveling to and producing event that really no one watches).

We'll have to see if the ESPN/ACC Network ever gets off the ground (digital now, but was supposed to start ~2019 as a real channel). That would be a good proxy for what the Pac 12 could have done if it partnered with a TV entity instead of doing it alone.

---

The reason for all the layoffs is a change in strategic direction. Per an article at SI.com, ESPN is moving towards personality driven programming and ramping up their focus on video content that can be accessed through mobile devices.

Yes, they are losing cable customers but these cuts are related more towards preparing for a future that will look nothing like today. Blog-driven websites are becoming a thing of the past. Also, with college conferences and professional leagues continuing to move towards streaming their content, ESPN must begin to repurpose themselves to participate in the future.....

71Bear;842835830 said:

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The reason for all the layoffs is a change in strategic direction. Per an article at SI.com, ESPN is moving towards personality driven programming and ramping up their focus on video content that can be accessed through mobile devices.

Yes, they are losing cable customers but these cuts are related more towards preparing for a future that will look nothing like today. Blog-driven websites are becoming a thing of the past. Also, with college conferences and professional leagues continuing to move towards streaming their content, ESPN must begin to repurpose themselves to participate in the future.....

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Ah, the gold ol'

"Why are customers leaving"
"Because of this thing"
"Lets do more of it, then!"

socaliganbear;842835738 said:

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Bummer, Ted Miller is great. I hope he lands somewhere quickly.

And yet Mark f#&ing May still has a job.

Doug Granville got canned? Did Sutcliffe hide under the desk like George Costanza?

Calcoholic;842835908 said:

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And yet Mark f#&ing May still has a job.

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And Steven A.

But they kept Rod Gilmore, didn't they?

LACalFan;842835864 said:

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Bummer, Ted Miller is great. I hope he lands somewhere quickly.

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Cal needs an assistant AD with people skills, I hear.

XXXBEAR;842835962 said:

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But they kept Rod Gilmore, didn't they?

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Mr. Triangle;842835961 said:

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And Steven A.

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I'm not saying I enjoy both of those guys, but I can clearly see why ESPN is keeping them.

First off, ESPN pays a lot of money to air college football. Thus they need broadcasters like Gilmore.

Even though you and I will say that Ted Miller (and fellow Pac-12 reporter Chantel Jennings, who was also laid off today) are more valuable), it will be more noticeable if Pac-12 college games had only 1 person in the booth.

Steven A., like it or not, also provides a service that isn't easily dismissed. The only comparable person I can think of is Trent Dilfer, who was dismissed today. But guys like Dilfer are a dime a dozen. From ESPN's point of view, Steven A. has value because you know him.

I'm sure the executives at ESPN have all taken large pay cuts to do their part too...

XXXBEAR;842835962 said:

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But they kept Rod Gilmore, didn't they?

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Goddammit

blungld;842836004 said:

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I'm sure the executives at ESPN have all taken large pay cuts to do their part too...

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:rimshot

If this is the start of less money being thrown at college football, I like it.

1979bear;842836059 said:

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If this is the start of less money being thrown at college football, I like it.

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This

blungld;842836004 said:

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I'm sure the executives at ESPN have all taken large pay cuts to do their part too...

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Quite the contrary...I think they deserve bonuses for having such bravery and insight in their decisions [/snark]

Cal Bears Great;842835744 said:

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Bummer, I always found Miller to be a fair analyst and one of the few Cal "supporters" out there.

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Cal "supporter": you couldn't insult a writer in any greater way than that...

71Bear;842835830 said:

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The reason for all the layoffs is a change in strategic direction. Per an article at SI.com, ESPN is moving towards personality driven programming and ramping up their focus on video content that can be accessed through mobile devices.

Yes, they are losing cable customers but these cuts are related more towards preparing for a future that will look nothing like today. Blog-driven websites are becoming a thing of the past. Also, with college conferences and professional leagues continuing to move towards streaming their content, ESPN must begin to repurpose themselves to participate in the future.....

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Plenty of great thoughts throughout this thread. Disney wants more toward its bottom-line...that's keeping it to a real simple explanation