It has been a tumultuous few months for ESPN, and former ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge believes the problems are because of leadership at the Worldwide Leader.
During an appearance as a guest host on OutKick Hot Mic, Hoge laid responsibility for recent layoffs at the feet of management.
“I’ll never forget the chart they threw up,” Hoge reminisced about a meeting during his time at ESPN that featured analysts and commentators from every sports covered by the network. “I didn’t really understand why we were there. They said ‘37% (of sports fans) built ESPN. They’re never gonna leave’. Everybody there heard that comment. I’m like, that is just a ridiculous way to think of anything, thinking that you got something and nobody’s going to leave…because we taught sports we entertain sports, we help you learn about sports. They said ‘We’re not going to do that anymore’. Honestly, I mean, arrogant and dumb.”
He then used the example of Dennis Miller joining the Monday Night Football booth as the inflection point for when ESPN’s thought process began to change.
“So I remember when they put Dennis Miller in the booth. This comes from leadership. Okay. This has nothing to do with Pat McAfee or talent. This is leadership,” Hoge continued. “‘This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to cross-pollinate sports’. Okay, forget about educating people and teaching people to — keep in mind, most people don’t like a sport or they’re not interested in the sport. Why? Because they don’t understand the sport.
“And that’s what ESPN did such a good job of. They help you understand the sport to help teach the sport and that’s actually what I was. That’s what I was asked to do. Help educate people, teach them the sport, and bring them into the game so they understand the game better.”
