Sportswriter/personality Jason Whitlock says that, yes, cord-cutting is to blame for heavy losses in ESPN viewership. But Whitlock, a former ESPN employee now working at Fox Sports 1, also says the network’s politics are part of the blame.
According to Nielsen data, ESPN has lost more than 11 million subscribers in the past five years.
Whitlock -- who is co-host of FS1’s “Speak For Yourself” sports talk show with Colin Cowherd and Jason McIntyre -- appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show on the Fox News Network Thursday. Carlson said ESPN was still the most powerful brand in sports, but he questioned whether ESPN was pushing politics too much.
“I think you’ve asked the right question,” Whitlock answered. “I think cord-cutting has a lot to do with their subscriber and the viewership loss. But the animosity and some of the viewership loss, I do think is a direct result of their lurch to the left (politically), and injecting progressive victimology into the sports conversation.
“If you really understand sports culture, and all the values taught in sports, from Little League, Pee Wee, on, you’re never a victim. There are never any excuses that are accepted. Every coach teaches every play from 5 years old on to 45 years old, we don’t tolerate excuses, we don’t tolerate victimology, and now so much of the conversation by the sports media, ESPN being the leader of this, is just filled with so-and-so is a victim, Colin Kaepernick’s a victim, everybody’s a victim. It’s turning traditional sports fans off.”
According to the Charlotte Observer, Whitlock said he has written and talked often about what he feels is a change in the sports landscape.
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