Stock market analyst and television host Jim Cramer said this week he believes that dropping ESPN is part of Disney’s future plans.
“I think it’s really about getting rid of ESPN,” the CNBC host said of Disney’s recently announced restructuring plan. “There is a belief we’re saturated in sports. That ESPN is no longer integral.”
“ESPN used to be this unbelievable thing, and now it’s just a really expensive thing they are having trouble monetizing,” Cramer added. “ESPN is no longer the precious place that it once was.”
ESPN has been struggling to maintain viewership over the past several years. OutKick reported that the network went from 100 million cable subscribers in 2010 to 80 million this year, and subscriptions dropped nearly 6% this year compared to last year.
It was reported earlier this month that the sports news behemoth might lay off hundreds of employees in the next few weeks as part of a cost-cutting effort.
Over the summer, ESPN ratings hit a 41-year-low while sports were suspended as a result of the pandemic. Many believe low ratings over the last few years, which some polling data reinforces, is due in part to the network’s political messaging and social justice activism.
“There are many serious things going on in our country right now and the vast majority of sports fans know where to find news about serious things going on in the world,” OutKick’s Clay Travis wrote in June. “That’s why cable news ratings have skyrocketed. But sports fans don’t want their sports commentators to be weighing in on non-sports news on sports networks. The ratings are clear about that. And the ratings are clear that sports fans just want to watch games as well.”
Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., which owns 80% of ESPN, was bought by Disney in 1995 for $19 billion.
