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Why did it take 25-30 years for ESPN to figure this out? I’ll grant the network used to have more actual sporting events. They would tape delay Australian Rules Football and other events. However, we’re talking about a network with three live sports channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU), a dedicated news channel and a classic sports channel. In addition, they also run the SEC Network and Longhorn Network.

There’s enough sports and there’s demand for commentary. The problem is that the demand for commentary relates to the game on the field, not the off field politics. People want to watch breakdowns of previous games by sports commentators and they want to watch prediction commentary for upcoming games. People want to watch draft analysis without hearing about the sexual perversion of one of the players to be drafted.

Think of what has happened here. Once you have a 24/7 sports network that has become the industry leader, there is no room for growth among traditional sports fans. You already have their attention for all of their discretionary time, and there's simply no way to turn a 24-hour day into 25 hours, or a 7-day week into 8.

So the only way to grow the business is by expanding your coverage into topics that attract interest from people who aren't sports fans. This is why major sports leagues and sports networks have become entertainment industries rather than sports enterprises.