Bill Simmons wonders what ESPN’s next moves are as the company ponders its future in the live sports space.
On the latest edition of The Bill Simmons Podcast for The Ringer, Simmons said the network has focused more attention on its streaming platform than anything else.
“What are the hits that they’ve launched over the last few years?” Simmons asked. “It just seems like they’ve missed a lot of different business opportunities and they’ve spent a lot of time and money on the ESPN+ product before eventually realizing people go there for games and that’s about it.”
Recent reports indicate that The Worldwide Leader is considering working with other media companies in the live sports space. Simmons said it’s been quite a shift for the company.
“It’s like they said, nobody’s outbidding us on anything. We are ESPN, we are the Yankees,’ and anyone they wanted to keep they kept, any sport that they wanted they got, and it was only ten years ago,” he said.
Simmons believes ESPN’s managing of its portfolio of sports rights will be a must follow in the near future.
“ESPN’s challenge is: how do you keep all these sports rights? How do you stay relevant? How do you pay for everything,” he said. “Over the next year, the biggest sports business story is what is ESPN’s destiny, and what’s going to happen if those subs keep going down and losing money?”
