Major layoffs took place at ESPN last week, paring down the sports media company’s ranks in both on-air personalities and reporters. Caught between cord-cutting consumers and massive existing TV rights deals, the Worldwide Leader In Sports was forced to demonstrate to their corporate parents and stockholders that they could form a leaner, more efficient company.
For the near-term, this means refocusing on added value that can be extracted from their existing deals. Among their more appreciated - if underutilized - innovations in recent memory was “The Coaches’ Film Room”, part of the MegaCast family of broadcasts for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.