THE MINIMIZING OF MEDIA AND THE THANKFUL END OF ESPN’S “AROUND THE HORN”
In a grave swoop, my former TV program is terminally ill while columnists are staying home from the Olympics in Paris — in many cases, all journalists — while I continue to write what the hell I want
Of the 28.6 million viewers who watched the opening ceremony in Paris, how many are located in Chicago? Many, if it still exists as America’s third-largest media market. Yet as I cringe in staring at sorry websites, the Sun-Times didn’t send one reporter to France and isn’t sure the Summer Olympics exist, while the Tribune at least flew a writer and a photojournalist.
Some of us used to gather every fourth summer and winter, at a bar and an eatery and then another bar, between long trips to press areas and interview sessions. It was part of our existence as national columnists, smothering fresh stories and summarizing icons, which currently include Simone Biles and LeBron James. These days, check the same newspapers. Bill Plaschke, winner of the distinguished Red Smith Award in the profession, hasn’t traveled overseas for the Los Angeles Times. I see far fewer columnists and none from Chicago, where I covered 11 of my 14 Games. The Star-Tribune in Minneapolis, which used to load up on Olympiads, sent no one. I could ramble on in zeroville.
What does this mean? The sports media are dying except the working network at NBC, which is employing thousands, and the Athletic, which has sent many reporters via the New York Times. Even ESPN is on the down-low, preferring its own contracted sports events and waiting for opening night of the NFL season in early September. In my day, print shops had the money to send media, even if it was only one of us, when I battled a dozen Tribune reporters in Lillehammer. Now? We get lame explanations from local weaklings.
“Tuning out the Cubs, White Sox and Olympics while eagerly awaiting episodes of the Bears on ‘Hard Knocks,’ ’’ wrote the lead writer at the Tribune, who should buy beer and popcorn for his home table when HBO shows Caleb Williams from 30 miles away.
Why not, say, make the trips to Lake Forest and cover the Bears and bring us what HBO can’t? The Kennedy Expressway to I-94, Paul Sullivan?
Nah, the 2024 culture is lazy, dull and defeatist.
One of my best editors, Bill Adee, has given up. Twenty-eight million is a strong number, after significant viewership losses in Tokyo and Beijing, but he believes the third-largest market should focus on July nothingness in training camp. Said Adee, in speaking to Jim O’Donnell of the Daily Herald, from his management role at VSiN: “The Olympics have become a Netflix-era miniseries version of ‘The Thorn Birds.’ I don't think you need a reporter to tell you what you watched on TV. Reporters provide more value covering the Bears’ perennial soap opera for a loyal readership.”
Oh, and reporters at Halas Hall are receiving how many individual chat sessions with Williams? None so far — if ever. At least at the Olympics, the megastars regularly appear. All the viewers receive from the Bears is a coach’s quote and what a reporter might see at practice, which isn’t overly important for Sept. 8.
Once every so often, find enough money to cover the Olympics for local stories. The Tribune is attached as 23-year-old gymnast Paul Juda tries to win a medal for Deerfield, a northern suburb. The Sun-Times? Who is Paul Juda, though Jill Biden cheered as he reached the individual all-around finals?
It’s curious when I make media comments. Seems bosses are reading them. Two weeks ago, when Fox Sports slashed Skip Bayless’ show, I also called for the end of a program I did on ESPN for eight years. Here’s what I wrote in the same piece: “Around The Horn” should be gone, too, because debaters are napping and ratings have plummeted to an infinitesimal crumb of America’s 334-million population base. It blows me away when networks air national programs that draw 50,000 viewers, as Bayless’ “Undisputed” did, which isn’t much better than radio drive-time in Louisville.”
Late last week, “Around The Horn” heard the beginning of the final buzzer. The New York Post quoted sources who said the show will end next year. Why? Well, here’s what I wrote two weeks ago:
“And it dulls me when bosses see what worked numerically when I was on ‘ATH’ — trying to assess sports with what you read in this column, for eight years, almost every day — and decided we weren’t promoting events as much as being honest about them. The people who run these operations fail. Just look at the ratings and small impact, even on social media, where folks have eyeballs and foolhardy blasts but not direct money. The bosses want talkers who say things but really say nothing, so league commissioners are pleased in media negotiations.
“I do not care what an Atlanta guy or a Dallas guy says on ‘ATH’ because they are around to make cheap money. When ESPN executive Burke Magnus says he’s pleased with his daytime fare, it’s because he only has to pay Stephen A. Smith.”
When a stand-alone streaming product starts in 2025, ESPN doesn’t believe in host Tony Reali and inconsistent panelists. So, as Chicago fades off and ESPN fires away, what more must I say?
Maybe I’m right.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.