Posted on 11/17/2017 12:43:06 PM PST by EdnaMode
ESPNs Scott Van Pelt joined the latest edition of Off The Board, hosted by Jimmy Traina, and fought back hard against claims the World Wide Leader is dying.
With ESPN recently losing subscribers and facing ratings that arent as strong as they once were (Van Pelts midnight edition of SportsCenter is actually up 20 percent year-over-year among total viewers), some critics of the network have said its a sinking ship.
Van Pelt is having none of it.
On how frustrated he gets with the narrative that ESPN is in trouble:
I push back against it. I get it everyday. Largely, people are kind and largely you get compliments. But you do get the sinking-ship narrative. I would try to educate people, but its pointless to educate people who dont care to be educated. I guess people believe that were hemorrhaging money when thats not the case. There are other challenges for us, absolutely. Is the business challenged? Absolutely. Look at our peers. Theres no one in this space that is just hiring on gobs more people and arent trying to figure out what to do. Whats the old cliche? The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain? Thats where we are. Thats what youre going to get.
Have we invited some of this? Of course we have. Were trying to figure out in real time and youre trying not to step on the third rail and it keeps moving. I defend where I work because I know the people and I know the stage and the platform and ultimately I know that although I keep reading were gonna get shuttered any day now thats the smart people that know, know, but I understand why people bang the drum because it certainly drives conversation. Again, we invite some and were also still the biggest. Id say its fine, but it pisses me off and sometimes I swing back because I get tired of hearing it.
More on critics who say ESPN is dying:
Again, youre on a sinking ship. ESPN is dead. Define dead for me. Its crazy. I got a nice little deal here and its amazing, every couple of weeks the direct deposit is right there and Im thankful and thats going to continue so define dead for me. The lights continue to be on and again, you can forecast the future and say there are challenges and there are. Decisions to be made and difficult obstacles to overcome and no smart person would refute that, but again, when you say dead and doomed and its over, thats just patently false.
And the other thing that nobody will ever answer is, would your life be better if you all these games that you get to see just didnt exist. That you just didnt have the place to see all of this. I understand why people just wanna be negative because thats the world. And its only in this make believe space on the Internet. Not once in my whole life has anybody come up to me in an airport or at a game or at a bar or at a grocery store or at a restaurant or anywhere on earth, not once, and said to me, ESPN sucks, you suck, your show sucks. I cant stand you. Not one time. Never.
On the constant criticism ESPN gets online:
This make-believe world where everyone talks shit this shit-talking, poke-you-in-the-chest virtual whatever its just theres nothing more chicken shit than that, because its the easiest thing in the world to do and again, if thats how people really felt, somewhere along the line, I wouldve intersected with someone that felt that way and came up and said, Hey, I think your show sucks. I think ESPN sucks and I think you guys are doomed. Never. Not once.
On people saying theyve cancelled ESPN:
"If you truly wanna boycott the NFL and you wanna boycott ESPN, the notion that some guy sitting out there, or gal, and they decide, you know what, Im gonna cut my entire cable package because ESPN gave an award on a made-up show in July because theres no sports, to a woman who used to be a man, so Im now not gonna have any cable TV at all and Im gonna sit around at night and read books by candlelight like olden times because of that, thats not happening. And if you did that, than youre so dumb that I cant even pray for you because youre beyond hope. If that was your reaction to this, was to deny yourself the ability to watch television, I mean that just hasnt happened and didnt happen, so I boycott them."
During the podcast, Van Pelt also talked about why he has no interest in covering LaVar Balls antics, his relationship with Barstool Sports and the controversy surrounding Barstool Van Talk and ESPN, the best and worst thing about hosting the midnight SportCenter, Twitter, his favorite people to interview and his reaction to Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger telling him he wasn't familiar with Jerry Seinfeld during an interview.
what’s an espn?
ABCs Wide World of Sports was an interesting show. The thrill of victory... Spanning the globe... They had an interesting mix of sports.
ESPN will probably continue to survive but not if it keeps carrying NFL
That’s a really good point. Leftists seem insecure with their own opinions and get angry at people who disagree with them.
ESPN is in trouble!
ESPN is dying!
ESPN is dying. Scott Van Pelt’s bitching about it isn’t going to change anything.
Get rid of Beth Mowin.
Someone let Scott turn the lights out when the dump shuts down.
Hey, did anyone ask Scott if he is sending money to help some of the recent victims of layoffs there at ESPN?
Sports entertainment will survive only if they change their business model. The question is ESPN / Disney smart enough to abandon cable.
Oh, did you hear about ESPN on the news? ESPN is dying and will be shutting down.
Yeah I agree. Streaming is the future.
I didn’t know cable was connected to electricity.
Is he that Skeltor guy?
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