Despite what you might have read, Fox Sports announced the cancellation of three shows.
Yes, many places took the opportunity to engage in clickbait headlines that led readers to think that only Joy Taylor had lost her job.
Fox Sports cancelled Speak (Taylor, Paul Pierce, and Keyshawn Johnson), Breakfast Ball (Craig Carton, Mark Schlereth, and Danny Parkins), and The Facility (Emmanuel Acho, Chase Daniel, James Jones, and LeSean McCoy).
I don’t celebrate anyone losing their job, even though I have no sympathy for ex-con Carton. However, the industry could use a change, and hopefully, this marks just that.
I grew up in a time when sports and media distribution, whether television, radio, or newspapers, had a different relationship. Television and media were thought of as “carriers.”
Newspapers were supposed to be impartial (they weren’t, but that’s another discussion for another time), and they provided insight, opinion, and wrap-ups among other things.
In today’s content distribution environment, sports and media are often viewed as “partners,” particularly between television and radio, as well as digital platforms. Some owners would like to control all three.
For example, Ted Leonsis owns the Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, and Washington Mystics, as well as a regional television station, Monumental Sports.
That gives Leonsis a chance to control messaging about all of his teams by having most of the content be internally curated while restricting what outlets are credentialed.
This limits quality, inciteful content outside of internal mechanisms and messaging.
What have television and radio shows done to fill the time?
Fake debate shows. None of it comes off genuine. It’s “you pick a side and I pick a side” nonsense. When shopping for sports content, it shouldn’t sound like a debate at a bar or barbershop.
Fox Sports and ESPN are full of this disease, and it is rotting the industry.
It’s why I’m keeping a close eye on Fox Sports’ next move. Can they come up with something new or, perhaps, something old? Anything but what we’re seeing now.
