Is ESPN Dying?

The mad rush by the Power Five conferences to gobble up each other because ESPN was promising  trillions of dollars to have every sporting event on TV may be heading out the door like the clothespin.

There was a day when everyone hung their clothes out on the clothesline  and of course that meant to hold  them on the line you used clothes pins.  Along comes the electric dryer or gas dryer and now for 50 years there is no need to use clothes pins.  Tried to find a clothes pin in a grocery store lately? 

Every new invention at some point in time is replaced by another invention that improved on the first invention and after a while clothes pins are an after thought.  Wood matches replace by Bic lighters. The Sears catalog has been replaced by on line buying.  We can talk all day about the way it use to be  and how it is now.

ESPN had the audacity back in the early 1980's to go for 24 hours a day sports on TV which brought about rodeo, barrel jumping, Spelling Bee, all kinds of fill time while ESPN tried to figure out what to put in front of your eyes worth watching.  Nascar was the first big success brought on by the one  sports channel.  Does any body remember who played in the first college football game on ESPN???  East Carolina at N C State 1982 a 24-22 ECU win.

As ESPN got their feet on the ground they started putting hockey on the air, college basketball and as more games were seen by the audience the more people wanted to see it but times are a changing.  The Direct TV's of the world  which has every channel  you could ever want put ESPN on more cable  homes and the more homes ESPN got greedy and wanted more for their channels that what Discovery could ask the cable companies of the world.  Then there came a point where people had been sucked dry with cable expenses and many have ways to say goodbye to cable and with out subscribers ESPN who had become the Rich kid on the block that wanted more but already had every penny of your money.

In order to offer more football or basketball they convinced colleges to create huge mega conferences with the promise from ESPN that they will pay huge dollars because people want to see Clemson and Boston College and the more viewers the more money we will divide with you. So the greedy themselves colleges fell for this long everlasting  dream that the money tree will last  and every one will be happy ever after.

Now the  poor to keep cable for the high price people have gone to other ways to see TV.  Many are going to the stick which will give you 14 or so local channels and those that are computer savvy know where to find free TV.  It has come to the point Cable is too high I will down grade and take what ever I can get.

Who is hurting most of all from this new TV viewing  by those who have fallen in the trap of cable TV.  ESPN!  They have downsized twice in the last six months.  All of this promise to these mega conferences has to slow down especially if  ESPN has to file bankruptcy in years to come and that is quite a good possibility.

I wonder in just this completed basketball season has ESPN paid up to the ACC yet on what the ACC thinks should be getting in their cut.  If they haven't they may not be getting as much as they think their cut should be.    If the money falls what's going to happen to college having to pay their teams to fly to Miami or Boston.  I wonder then will they hold each school to the 50 million dollar buy out to jump from the conference?

I can see in my crystal ball that the day could the be coming where that eight team ACC could be born again.  South Carolina, Clemson the Big four North Carolina schools, Virginia Tech and Virginia.  I think Maryland will never be in the good graces of the ACC Gods.  If all this comes full circle we will all be wanting C D Chesley back to bring us the ACC.