ESPN's issues could have trickle down effect on local teams
The fervor of America's sports fandom has long lined the pockets of athletes, coaches, general managers and the owners who sign all of their checks. Middling infielders and mediocre basketball players make millions of dollars a year.
But for all the high living the sports world's elites have enjoyed, a pair of local teams haven't hit pay dirt in quite the same way, and it now looks more likely that they could miss the boat. The Pirates and Pitt athletics lag behind many of their peers when it comes to television money, an issue with plenty of eyes on it these days.
So if ESPN is seeing its business model struggle, what does that mean for anyone else in the business of sports programming, or sport in general? That depends on whom you ask.
"They'll figure out how to make the most money they can make," said sports economist and University of Michigan sport management professor Rodney Fort, who doesn't subscribe to the bubble concept in this case. "They've been very good at that."
Read the full article by Brian Batko for the Pittsburg Post-Gazette to find out other opinions and what this could mean for the future of local teams.