ESPN+ is helping to pay for ESPN's recent big money deals

Awful Announcing

In recent years, a number of big-name ESPN personalities have left the company to pursue bigger deals, while the network has also had mass layoffs. Yet ESPN recently completed nearly a quarter billion on contracts for just four men: Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, Adam Schefter and Adrian Wojnarowski. "What’s become increasingly clear is that if you are someone ESPN truly covets, and by that I mean they think you are strategically key to the company (a very high bar), ESPN WILL pony up and they’ll do that by throwing some ESPN+ money at you as the gravy," explains Awful Announcing's Ben Koo. "With increasing costs for live rights fees (the amount they have to pay to leagues and conferences) as well as continued cord-cutting, ESPN is being squeezed in terms of what the company can spend on talent and production. While that’s a reality for every sports network right now, it’s a very different story for ESPN+, who like all newish streaming services, is expected to lose money for an extended amount of time."