Are people watching ESPN anymore?

This is the generation of cord-cutters. As millenials have started growing up and paying bills, they’ve taken their “we want it our way” attitude with them, and it’s starting to hurt big companies like ESPN. Reports surfaced last month that Disney — ESPN’s boss — ordered the Worldwide Leader in Sports to cut $350 million in costs for 2016 and 2017. Suddenly, the network’s biggest names were leaving the network for a variety of reasons. It was just the beginning. Wednesday, stock in Disney plummeted by $10, leading to widespread concern for investors, at least according to the numerous columns on the issue. So what’s the real issue behind ESPN’s apparently huge problem? In keeping with the loss in viewership, ESPN has eliminated hundreds of jobs in the last year, and executives elected to part ways with some of the company’s franchise players, including Bill Simmons, Chris Berman, Keith Olbermann, Skip Bayless, Ed Werder, Trent Dilfer, Colin Cowherd and more. No doubt those personnel losses cost the network a lot of viewers, but the decisions are all part of ESPN’s overall strategy of putting the brand ahead of any specific players, no matter how popular. Maybe it’s a streaming service. A complete reinvention of SportsCenter or an obscure idea no one has come up with yet. There are a ton of possibilities, but whatever that idea is it needs to come sooner rather than later. If not, more jobs will be lost, more famous faces at ESPN will be parted with. And that’s not in a sport fan or the network’s best interests.

-Rajeev Pahuja