They’ve mentioned Kaep and other political stories that are sports related in the past. Their thing is that while they understand politics can’t be avoided, they strangely don’t want to go to war with Trump.
We know why (Disney), but it’s still weird.
Racism shouldn’t be a left/right issue, but unfortunately almost anything can be seen as political these days. I was recently counseled that talking about recycling was too political and made conservatives feel lectured.
I presume they’ve reviewed viewer demographics for their various offerings and have calculated that any sort of boycott from trumpists would have a negative impact on the bottom line.
Or it’s something corporate on Disney’s part (something requiring the government).
Doubt it as it relates to financial.
Exhibit A: Nike
I have to side with ESPN on this one.
la Batard wants to talk about politics period. He is not being told that politics has no place on ESPN — just that it has to be related to sports in some fashion.
So just tie the whole thing into sports. Talk about how many baseball players are from Latin American — and how this makes them feel unwelcome. Or maybe put someone like Tiger Woods on the spot – he just accepted a medal from Trump; does Tiger Woods think its okay to tell women of color to “go back where you came from?”
But ABC doesn’t hold back, or does it?
Possible, but you’ve got a different dynamic at play with Nike. ESPN can slice and dice their viewership and demographics for things like NASCAR and other popular red-state things and show that those could take hits in viewership, and with the resultant loss in ad revenue from them. And unless blue-staters suddenly start loving NASCAR or whatever, that stays as a loss, because that time-slot is only available then, and you’re locked in multi-year contracts for the various sports.
Whereas Nike’s been able to leverage its products and politics into getting new customers or repeat ones buying more stuff, as they’re not constrained by the time problem (and they have the ironclad win of all those jersey deals, so even the haters who love their local team are stuck buying Nike).
Paula Deen!!!
It depends on what the story or policy is.
They still cover the sport, but not like that.
I guess you see I don’t watch NASCAR… I was using it as an example. I’m sure for all the sports that they have, they’ve got good data on the demographics, and political persuasion as part of that.
I’m willing to agree with ‘juice not worth squeezing’, because ‘capitalism is capitalism is capitalism’.
it’s that 'network controlling the narrative ’ that’s irking me.
(edited)
Oh, that they’re doing it irks me. And I think it’s a mistake on their part, that they’re looking at the short-term impacts (either political through Disney or economic) at a time when major companies are starting to get on board with the notion that they are socially responsible for political and environmental stuff these days.
Have to be careful with wording when involving sports… I read this headline as the Brooklyn Nets and was baffled
Opposing explicit racism IS political now. That is the reality that Rs have made. Opposing or supporting white supremacy is a political division in this country. For real. It’s important to realize the reality of where we are.
Actually, it is. Seriously. It’s important that we wake up to the reality of where we are. The political movement on the right is currently a culture war for the dominance of white supremacy. It’s insane, but very real.
OT, but holy crap, this is stupid:
The debt limit will be suspended until July 31, 2021, a major issue that Mnuchin, Hill leaders and Wall Street wanted to resolve.
Schedule a crisis 6 months into a Dem POTUS’s term?
What the hell are they thinking?
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/22/white-house-congress-budget-deal-1425192?cid=apn
You can’t stick to “only sports” these days any more than you can stick to “only business” or “only science”. Politics has infected all of it.
@sedonaz : some friends were told this explicitly when meeting some neighbors who defined their conservatism by the fact that they refused to recycle. Way to go with the origins of a word…
Funny, I thought Conservatives want to conserve things…
Recycling ain’t in the second amendment, so they don’t care about that.
Not personally a fan of Le Batard, but he’s possibly the biggest star on their radio.
ESPN may think they are bigger than their talent, but they’ve been bleeding talent a lot in recent years. They’ve moved away from the model of “best coverage around” and now seem to be run by bean counters who don’t want to pay anybody. (And that’s in addition to their political problems with Olbermann and the fact that Bill Simmons was essentially fired after he called Roger Goodell a liar.)
ESPN’s current management appears to be geared towards keeping wealthy league owners happy. Which may have Le Batard in a bit of a tight spot here.