The ESPN empire has exponentially grown over the past say 20-25 years that I have been watching it. My first memory of any sports is growing up the first thing my father and I would do after waking up was to grab cereal, bowl, milk and sit at the kitchen table with a small tv and watch highlights from the day/night before games. From what I remember it was a majority of Baseball, Football and Basketball. The big difference I get watching today is firstly they have several networks such as ESPN deportes for the Hispanic audience, and now they cover everything from the X-games to the golf network. Obviously Tiger Woods is a big reason golf grew in popularity and revenue. Although he has basically dropped off a cliff in his play he still draws a crowd, thankfully for golf fans, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIIroy have stepped up and look to continue to develop a rivalry.
Now with publications like ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com they are looking to continue their growth. I have a problem with this expansion though. Sometimes growth is great and sometimes it spreads you so thin that you don't fully grasp the consequences. For me personally, I can't stand that ESPN.com now has a large number of material and even entire sections in the college category that are only available to view if you are a ESPN The Magazine subscriber. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.
I happen to be a subscriber because I still enjoy reading a magazine, having the feel of it in my hands. But a large majority of the population, especially in today's seemingly bad economy, shouldn't be forced to shell out another $10 to get the full story on the website. It doesn't matter that it's less the $1 an issue. It's the point of it.
I try to write factual and interesting pieces based on my opinions of articles. Coming from where i'm sitting I just don't think it's right to make portions of a website and conglomerate that make a huge number of profits, off limits to hard working sports fans, spending time supporting your business by reading articles on pages FILLED WITH ADS YOUR BEING PAID TO SHOW.
what do you guys think? should espn eliminate the "pay to play" per se??????
Now with publications like ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com they are looking to continue their growth. I have a problem with this expansion though. Sometimes growth is great and sometimes it spreads you so thin that you don't fully grasp the consequences. For me personally, I can't stand that ESPN.com now has a large number of material and even entire sections in the college category that are only available to view if you are a ESPN The Magazine subscriber. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.
I happen to be a subscriber because I still enjoy reading a magazine, having the feel of it in my hands. But a large majority of the population, especially in today's seemingly bad economy, shouldn't be forced to shell out another $10 to get the full story on the website. It doesn't matter that it's less the $1 an issue. It's the point of it.
I try to write factual and interesting pieces based on my opinions of articles. Coming from where i'm sitting I just don't think it's right to make portions of a website and conglomerate that make a huge number of profits, off limits to hard working sports fans, spending time supporting your business by reading articles on pages FILLED WITH ADS YOUR BEING PAID TO SHOW.
what do you guys think? should espn eliminate the "pay to play" per se??????
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