First, the answer to the question many in Hawaii want addressed in the wake of ESPN’s layoffs.
Neil Everett is safe — or at least as safe as anyone can be in a company that just released around a hundred of its employees, including some with high profiles who seemed to be doing a fine job.
Everett and his “SportsCenter” partner, Stan Verrett, signed contract extensions in 2015.
“I’m not sure if there are three or four years left,” said Everett, the Hawaiian-at-heart who keeps connected with the islands via many on-air references, including starting off each show with a hearty “Howzit!”
It’s true the company could eat his high-six-figure salary. But have things changed that much in two years, when an ESPN exec had glowing things to say about the Everett-Verrett pairing?
“The on-air chemistry Neil and Stan have can’t be manufactured,” Rob King, ESPN’s senior vice president of “SportsCenter” and News, then said. “It’s as authentic as it gets, and we look forward to having them as part of our team for years to come.”
The former Hawaii Pacific University media relations director and KGMB sports director is sad for those who lost their jobs, but obviously has to take a show-must-go-on attitude.
“Some people will no longer be available (to appear on “SportsCenter”), but there’s still an impressive stable of talent that people smarter than I manage,” Everett said in a phone interview Thursday. “I don’t know if the show suffers, but our soul suffers because we lost some great people. There are still standards and expectations we want to meet and our bosses want us to meet.”
Steve Anthony worked at ESPN for 28 years, where he won multiple national Emmy awards as a director before retiring recently. The ‘Iolani School product said the downsizing is because the network that calls itself “The Worldwide Leader in Sports,” though still profitable, is a “victim of its own success.”
“There was a time when they made more (money) than all the other broadcast networks combined. Not just the sports divisions, the networks. ESPN made more than all of them put together,” Anthony said. “Now they’re hemorrhaging and with no end in sight.”
Sports leagues are also producing their own online content now.
“Once they did that, the game was up,” Anthony said. “I think ESPN did a poor job in planning what they were going to do when all of this stuff started changing the fabric. They were slow at changing with it and tried to expand TV into different areas. But why keep spending? The NBA contract is killing them.”
According to the New York Times, ESPN is paying $2.6 billion in annual rights fees to the NBA in a nine-year deal announced in February 2016.
Broadcasting live TV sports still makes money. But not as much as it used to, and viewing habits are changing. Fewer people watch cable TV as internet streaming becomes more prevalent, especially among younger demographics. Cable subscribers are “cutting the cord” or young viewers are not signing up for it in the first place.
Could this be a bubble set to burst?
Some say ESPN strays too much from sports, and projects a liberal political bias. An example often cited is when Caitlyn Jenner, the transgender woman who was formerly Bruce Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion, was given the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 2015 ESPY Awards show.
Anthony believes the decline is more about business decisions than politics.
“It seemed like we were patting ourselves on the back a little too often. I think that happens with a lot of big companies, when you should be keeping your eye on the ball. The NBA contract was almost double the next bid, and that’s fiscally irresponsible. It’s bad management. You should always be trying to get the best deal for your company. It’s not just about pricing out everybody,” he said.
“It’s something that happens in business. Cyclical. Almost inevitable. Maybe they could’ve gotten ahead and mitigated the problems, but they would’ve had to have gotten smaller and leaner instead of expanding.”
Anthony stresses that without ESPN he “wouldn’t have the life I do now, and I don’t have any ill will. It’s just sad to see people’s lives (messed) up.”
Everett echoed the sentiment.
“It’s just really sad. I’ve been here 17 years and I know a lot of really strong people, good at their jobs (who lost them). I’ve been living this blessed existence.”
And — despite delivery system, despite perceived politics — Everett notes there is a bottom line that helps ESPN keep sports fans happy.
“We’ve still got a lot of live events.”
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.
