Shannon Sharpe has left Undisputed for FT | Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson, and Richard Sherman joining Skip

[nyknick]

That's disingenuous because we're not talking about millions of viewers for those morning shows and both SAS and Skip were literally hyping up the ratings competition between the two shows when he first went to FS1.

Let's not have revisionist history about the move as there is a reason why they come on at the same time.

@No1 is right, no revisionist history there. Fox Sports programming was non-existent before Skip and Colin Cowherd moved there. Beating ESPN in ratings is impossible and never their goal. Skip and SAS hyping up rating competition was just marketing, like rappers on an album promo tour, that wasn't reality.

There's a reason Skip was given a 4 year extension with those 'awful' ratings. Giving him $8 million a year, $2 million more than they gave him for the first contract, same money SAS gets with much higher ratings at ESPN while also doing First Take, Get Up, NBA halftime show, UFC, wrestling

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

Ratings don't matter tbh... Like most of have said, ESPN is king.

When Skip left, the ratings for First Take dropped big time... did they do anything special to the show? Nope.. They simply moved it from ESPN2 to ESPN. Same people, same time.. They went to #1 immediately, crushing Skip's numbers

They have been number 1, ever since. You put another show there, they'll be number 1. You let SAS leave and move him to FS1, they'll be number 1.

There is absolutely nobody that FS1 is going to hire to take over that spot... Ever.. EVER

And still, they reupped Skip for $32 over 4 years in 2021.. FS1 is just happy to have ANYBODY watching it.

 

[EzekelRAGE]

I never said that they weren't happy with the ratings? It still doesn't the fact that at one point and time ESPN/FS1 literally went head to head in the ratings competition with SAS and Skip both spearheading the move. Let's not have revisionist history about that move.

You said this like FS1 was unhappy with the ratings

Ratings still do matter in the grand scheme of things contrary to what Coli posters say because that's what's going to help and other sports get paid. Both SAS and Skip's podcast are flopping for the record.

McAfee is also a different story as he was a draw outside of his Youtube show and had people consuming his content in other appearances like WWE and College Gameday. He was also able to personally draw in the most polarizing player in the NFL and ESPN did that deal fully expecting that he'd still get personal access to Rodgers, which would have people consuming the content on their network.

McAfee was a draw to ESPN because of his youtube show. If his show wasnt doing those "numbers dont mean anything in the grand scheme", they wouldnt care to look his way. Also ESPN wouldve done that deal w/o Aaron being on the show.

Pat spent like 10minutes talking about how ESPN wants to change the sports talk away from the debate stuff to a new format.

He is the exception and not the norm. A lot of his core viewers are balking at the move, so we will see if they follow along with him and actually consume the product on a different medium.

They dont have to worry about consuming it on the different medium. The show will still be on youtube.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

You said this like FS1 was unhappy with the ratings



McAfee was a draw to ESPN because of his youtube show. If his show wasnt doing those "numbers dont mean anything in the grand scheme", they wouldnt care to look his way. Also ESPN wouldve done that deal w/o Aaron being on the show.

Pat spent like 10minutes talking about how ESPN wants to change the sports talk away from the debate stuff to a new format.


They dont have to worry about consuming it on the different medium. The show will still be on youtube.

He was a massive draw because of his youtube show, but also mainly the fact that he has personal access to Aaron Rodgers. Ask them how they'd feel if Rodgers wasn't a regular on his show anymore and see what they say. Podcasts are a dime a dozen with people interviewing the same exact celebrities with just different questions, but he is doing something that other people don't do. It'd be like a show having Lebron James show up every week to talk. ESPN sees dollar signs in their relationship.

They can try and change the sports talk away from the debate stuff all they want, but it's going to be hard to tame the beast that they arguably helped create.

It will still be on Youtube, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if ESPN tried to tailor some of the specific content to their platform for the money that they're paying.

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

He was a massive draw because of his youtube show, but also mainly the fact that he has personal access to Aaron Rodgers. Ask them how they'd feel if Rodgers wasn't a regular on his show anymore and see what they say. Podcasts are a dime a dozen with people interviewing the same exact celebrities with just different questions, but he is doing something that other people don't do. It'd be like a show having Lebron James show up every week to talk. ESPN sees dollar signs in their relationship.

They try and change the sports talk away from the debate stuff all they want, but it's going to be hard to tame the beast that they arguably helped create.

It will still be on Youtube, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if ESPN tried to tailor some of the specific content to their platform for the money that they're paying.

Ain't nobody paying $17 million for Arod clips... shyt they could use them for free like they been doing

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Ain't nobody paying $17 million for Arod clips... shyt they could use them for free like they been doing

You do know they had to get permission from him to do so right? It's a reason why you see a lot of ESPN people on Twitter ask if they can use footage. It's also a reason why they run Rodgers content ad naseum because he's a draw even if it isn't always in a positive light.

ESPN wants higher ratings for that SC/This Just In block, but it'd also be naive to think that they don't want those A-Rod interviews on their network especially if it will help draw in ratings.

 

[EzekelRAGE]

He was a massive draw because of his youtube show, but also mainly the fact that he has personal access to Aaron Rodgers. Ask them how they'd feel if Rodgers wasn't a regular on his show anymore and see what they say. Podcasts are a dime a dozen with people interviewing the same exact celebrities with just different questions, but he is doing something that other people don't do. It'd be like a show having Lebron James show up every week to talk. ESPN sees dollar signs in their relationship.

Yea, we just not gonna agree on this. I will take Pat's own words on what the head/ceo w/e of ESPN told him about why they want Pat's show instead of what you feel like with Rodgers. You are greatly over estimating Rodgers importance in that deal.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Yea, we just not gonna agree on this. I will take Pat's own words on what the head/ceo w/e of ESPN told him about why they want Pat's show instead of what you feel like with Rodgers. You are greatly over estimating Rodgers importance in that deal.

You can take his word for it all you want, but things in business change especially if that show doesn't draw in viewers in the way that they expect it to. It's why I said before that ESPN better hope that those McAfee contract numbers released during upcoming mass layoffs don't backfire.

 

[EzekelRAGE]

Ain't nobody paying $17 million for Arod clips... shyt they could use them for free like they been doing

Arod segments not even the highest viewed clips on Pat's youtube channel, but somehow ESPN paying 8 figures for those 30minish-1hour segments that arent guranteed for him to appear on.

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

You do know they had to get permission from him to do so right? It's a reason why you see a lot of ESPN people on Twitter ask if they can use footage. It's also a reason why they run Rodgers content ad naseum because he's a draw even if it isn't always in a positive light.

ESPN wants higher ratings for that SC/This Just In block, but it'd also be naive to think that they don't want those A-Rod interviews on their network especially if it will help draw in ratings.

They asked and received.. So again, if that was the main reason, they'd just keep doing that.

They wanted his entire network because it's successful and now they will join in the success without having to actually create their own. IE Microsoft buying Activision

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

Arod segments not even the highest viewed clips on Pat's youtube channel, but somehow ESPN paying 8 figures for those 30minish-1hour segments that arent guranteed for him to appear on.

And he'll be out the league in two years

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Arod segments not even the highest viewed clips on Pat's youtube channel, but somehow ESPN paying 8 figures for those 30minish-1hour segments that arent guranteed for him to appear on.

I never said they were paying 8 figures strictly for Rodgers. What I said was that I'm sure that they expect him to still be a regular guest on his show. Those youtube clips mean nothing that ESPN literally tailored hours worth of content related to Rodgers or are we already forgetting how much time they devoted to him going to NY?

 

[EzekelRAGE]

And he'll be out the league in two years

Yep, but he's the main reason Pat got that deal. So ESPN can *checks notes* take advantage of Rodgers going off on tangents about UFOs and the covid vaccine. He gassing them Arod segments and his importance to ESPN in the McAfee deal hard as hell

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

Yep, but he's the main reason Pat got that deal. So ESPN can *checks notes* take advantage of Rodgers going off on tangents about UFOs and the covid vaccine. He gassing them Arod segments and his importance to ESPN in the McAfee deal hard as hell

Ok I got you fam... I was thinking you were saying they gave him that money solely for the purposes of getting Arod clips. But yea.. Those Arod clips are what blew him up in the first place and really the only time I heard about McAfee all offseason

 

[EzekelRAGE]

Ok I got you fam... I was thinking you were saying they gave him that money solely for the purposes of getting Arod clips. But yea.. Those Arod clips are what blew him up in the first place and really the only time I heard about McAfee all offseason

Nah, Voice making that Arod point. I believe Pat gets this deal with or w/o arod. Arod been goin on pat for years and most segments was trash. nikka goin on about being the "villain" because of his vaccine stance or talking about random ufo stuff. That's not stuff you can build a show on and hope it draws ratings for your tv station. No use in discrediting the work of Pat just to try to prop up Arod.