Coronavirus Is Killing Sports Media Jobs
Sunday, August 09, 2020
One of the industries being most impacted by the economic turmoil of the coronavirus is sports media.
As GoLocal reported back in April, the parent company of the Providence Journal, Gannett, slashed staffing including the Journal’s top sports columnist Kevin McNamara.
Now, the coronavirus burn is hitting Boston media with dozens of sportswriters, hosts, columnists, and production people getting cut.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNotable Names in Boston Cut
The most recent round was at NBCSB in Boston where nearly 20 on-air, production, and other behind-the-scenes staffers at NBCSB were laid off, including longtime anchor Gary Tanguay, Celtics sideline reporter Abby Chin, and Celtics reporter A. Sherrod Blakely.
The station also let go Bruins reporter Joe Haggerty, and host Danielle Trotta.
Steve Bulpett, who has covered the Celtics both at home and on the road longer than anyone in franchise history, announced in July that he has been laid off from the Boston Herald. Bulpett is one of more than 100 who have been laid off by the Herald since they were purchased out of bankruptcy by Alden.
Bulpett tweeted, "Informed this morning that I am among those in the latest round of layoffs by the @bostonherald... It is impossible here to express just how great an honor it's been to cover the Celtics and NBA and establish that bond with you. I am so deeply grateful you took the time to read."
Thousands of reporters across the country have been laid off since the beginning of the pandemic.
Newspapers have seen their staffing slashed for more than a decade. "Newsroom employment at U.S. newspapers continues to plummet, falling by around half since 2008, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data," reports Pew.
Sports Business Expert
Professor Victor Matheson tells GoLocal that the implications of the pandemic are going to be felt for years throughout the sports industry.
"Well, the early TV numbers looked bad for sports programming but good for TV news," said Matheson is an economics professor at Holy Cross,
He noted that some April Neilsen numbers were as follows: ESPN – down 62%, The Golf Channel – down 39%, but CNN – up 170%, Fox News – up 45%, TLC – up 42%.
"And the NBA, NHL, and MLS were hoping to retain about 60% of their revenue even if in-person disappeared. The leagues and players could all survive (if not prosper) a year or two on this unless they have significant corporate debt issues," said Matheson.
"That being said, that doesn't mean the pain is equally spread. While the NBA as a whole may be retaining 60% of its revenue, the wage of concession workers, and ushers, and ticket takers are retaining 0% of their ability to work. Same with the bars and restaurants near Fenway, the Garden, (or the Dunk)," he added.
John Oxford, a marketing expert in financial services -- a big sponsor of sports -- writes, "Cable switching appears to be at an all-time high as shelter-in-place, decreasing incomes and shifting viewing habits have caused cord movement to rapidly increase. This is not cord-cutting by definition. It’s more of a shift to streaming platforms and a narrowing of content viewing habits. When Bruce Springsteen 25 years ago sang '57 channels and nothing on,' he deftly described a pre-on-demand streaming TV universe, which thankfully now allows for consumers to actually find something on."
"These changes in viewing habits should also be taken into account when looking at where the eyes are going for mass branding campaigns. While I don’t think we should pull the plug on sports as a marketing medium just yet, we should be aware of the drop in viewership and pricing consolations should follow. But beyond marketing, the shock here is that big sports are not getting the love they once did nor thought they would receive in coming back from COVID-19-forced suspensions," Oxford adds.
"As far as local media, local arts and entertainment makes up a huge portion of what local TV and print reports on, and all of this has disappeared. Even with NBA returning, the games aren't local, and the post-game interview by local reporters, a major feature of all local reporting is a thing of the past, at least until we beat the virus, and that doesn't look like it is happening anytime soon (despite the best efforts of Holy Cross alum Anthony Fauci!)," adds Matheson -- a professor at Holy Cross.
"Hard to know about long-run issues. I suspect if we have an effective vaccine being distributed by the spring, life will be back to normal by school opening in 2021. Major institutions like URI and PC and Brown and the major sports leagues will bounce back. But lots of smaller places probably can't hang on that long," said Matheson.
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