Sports

ESPN’s Downfall Continues. The Lost Revenue Numbers Are Embarrassing

(Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for ESPN)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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ESPN’s downfall continues, and a dwindling number of subscribers has resulted in over $1 billion in lost revenue.

Clay Travis wrote the following Friday on Outkick The Coverage:

Yesterday Disney announced in its yearly 10K filing that ESPN lost another two million subscribers in fiscal year 2018.

ESPN now has 86 million subscribers, down from over 100 million subscribers in 2011.

Now the positive for ESPN is that the rate of subscriber decline seems to have slowed this year, but the negative is that since 2011 ESPN has now lost 15 million cable and satellite subscribers. Those 15 million lost subscribers equate to $1.44 billion a year in lost yearly revenue that ESPN will never be able to book. (This is based on an $8 a month subscriber cost for ESPN multiplied by 12 months in the year.) Again, this isn’t just a one time yearly revenue loss, this is a loss in yearly revenue forever.

You just hate to see it. You just hate to see a network that once had so much pride before selling out to liberal politics now have people cutting and running. Just hate it!

Is anybody really surprised people are not tuning in as much? ESPN, once upon a time, was dedicated to sports. It was an outstanding network for all your athletic needs. Every guy I knew came home from school or work and instantly threw on ESPN to catch the latest highlights. (RELATED: Here’s How Much ESPN Will Pay Jemele Hill To Go Away. It’s A Mind-Boggling Amount)

Then, for reasons unclear to me, the worldwide leader in sports decided injecting politics into their banter was a smart idea. They employed a woman who called President Trump a white supremacist, they constantly covered the kneeling in the NFL, and it seemed like the network was pushing to the Left as fast as possible.

It made no sense at all.

Clearly, the people running the show at Disney released it was time for a change, because ESPN’s president, John Skipper, was removed, and new President Jimmy Pitaro made the decision to move away from politics.

It’s the first step back towards normalcy, but a certain level of damage has already been done beyond repair. It’s too bad they had to lose over $1 billion in revenue before it became clear enough was enough.

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