Day 324

Fresh Start_324: All Video
July 12th 2017 must just be the day that I get mad at the sports world. I’ve already done a podcast today about my disagreement with what has been broadcast across the New York airways on New York Sports Radio, and when I get home I see a new bombshell.

Scrolling down my Twitter feed when I got home I saw a tweet from Ken Rosenthal reading “I still am working TV for Fox and MLB Network.” Confused and intrigued I clicked on Rosenthal’s Twitter and saw in amazement that Foxsports.com had completely gone digital. The headline on the tweet that Rosenthal put out was “Foxsports.com has gone all video. That is why I no longer can write on our site.”

I’m honestly still trying to wrap my head around this because I just don’t get it. Yes, you absolutely need video on a website if you are going to build one. But, you also need reporting from print journalist to make that video content happen. If you looked at Fox Sports website last night or ESPN’s site, or Bleacher Reports site today—there will be video on the site but there are also a lot of written content that are the core to those videos. There has to be something written down to break news on TV or to run a segment on something.

Twenty sports writers will wake up tomorrow morning and they won’t have a job. Just like the “ESPN three-day massacre” there are people who are losing their jobs that shouldn’t be. Ken Rosenthal is arguably the best baseball writer that sports writing has today, he should still be writing and not just be a “talking head.” It’s a complete waste of talent.

And again, YOU NEED PRINT TO MAKE VIDEO! There is no way around it, and I don’t think that Fox Sports gets that. Social Media is an incredible tool to push video, and in a lot of ways is the reason why it exists. If Fox Sports just invested more money into Social Media instead of just laying off the writers, that is the way they “beat ESPN.” ESPN is continuing to lay off incredible writers that will be a hot commodity at the right institution.

A splash page of video is not a website, it’s just a ton of links put on a webpage, and oh by the way it doesn’t really work that well. If you go to Fox’s website it is well put together but it won’t last. Well put together written articles are something that companies like Fox and ESPN are looking for in all forms of the medium. If you want to own the sports media empire, the key that nobody can really answer is: good written articles, short-medium/good video, and audio content. That’s the layout, but putting that together is just hard. When someone gets it right—it’ll be a fantastic website and we as sports fans will all love it.

The want and need for video is at an all-time high, but you cannot overload an audience with it. Video content might be the hot date right now that everyone wants to get with, but are people forgetting that one of the best video apps “Vine” went out of business earlier this year. So, if a company that is solely video falls (yes, the money didn’t add up), why would you go all video? Fox Sports will reap benefits of this move, but they will be short term.

If this move is to “one up” ESPN, it might be a good move short term, but you cannot compete with ESPN if you have NO written content. Not to mention that you are putting the entire spotlight on TV personalities that aren’t always journalists. You are a sports network, you need journalists, that’s just the lay of the land. In the biggest downward spiral that ESPN has had in its companies’ history, they just a huge favor from Fox Sports. honestly, what is wrong with the sports media landscape?
Sources:(twitter.com/ken_rosenthal, foxsports.com, Bloomberg.com)

Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 2023 Offseason is Brian Cashman's Biggest Test Yet

Image
   Now that the World Series is over five days from now the offseason begins. With that in mind, this is the biggest offseason that Brian Cashman will have in his 25-year tenure as Yankee General Manager. For the first time since 2016 the Bronx Bombers watched the postseason from their couches, and they earned that right. Amazingly, this team finished over .500, although not that far above that mark. This iteration of the Bronx Bombers finish with the same record as that 2016 team—but the feeling with this squad feels different. Following the 2016 season, there was hope of the two power bats that would usher in the “Baby Bombers,” and in that offseason, the farm system was rated in the Top 10 in all of baseball. There was almost certainty that Brian Cashman would put a championship team around Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Luis Severino that would be a title contender for years to come. There was hope. And that hope almost turned into reality. Almost. But, that was then
Read more

The Question going into the Trade Deadline for the New York Yankees

  There is a crossroads in the Bronx in between River and 161 st Street right now. As New York Yankee Manager Aaron Boone likes to put it “[the season] is right in front of them.” The second half of the season is for the taking. As we move into the dog days of summer the Bronx Bombers are nine games out of the division and now a game and a half out of the AL Wild Card race following a disappointing first series in Colorado. With that, the historic starting Tampa Bay Rays have cooled off, going 3-7 before the break while showing signs of being mortal. Baltimore, who has been keeping pace with Tampa, didn’t look like a Superpower when they split against the Yankees two series before the break. The AL East is still a Spartan Training Facility with every team above .500, the Orioles holding the first Wild Card spot, and the “struggling” Boston Red Sox tied the Yankees in the Wild Card race. And unlike Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, help is not on the way. Aaron Judge’s toe is still a m
Read more

The Answer for the Mets

  As Yogi Berra would say “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Buck Showalter is an all too familiar place. The 67-year-old manager has taken a time machine back to 2012. No, he is not managing in Baltimore anymore, however that’s what it feels like the end of Showalter’s Oriole tenure in Queens right now. The Mets simply can’t get out of their own way. With Pete Alonso likely headed to the Injured List, the Mets scored 10 runs last night in Atlanta. 10 runs on the heels of back-to-back gut-wrenching losses at the hands of the team that has foiled the Mets for the better part of almost three decades, the Atlanta Braves. 10 runs with their hired ace, Justin Verlander, who was looking to put together good starts consecutively for the first time all season. The Mets looked like they were about to exercise some demons in Atlanta last night, and then, the other shoe dropped. It wasn’t good enough. Again. Last night, I wrote that the Mets season was on the line with Verlander toeing the slab. Well
Read more