Jacob Sanders
In the midst of the closure of all live sporting events, ESPN has been forced to adapt the way they entertain their viewers. Instead of airing the first and second round of the Masters on Thursday and Friday, they must show previous final rounds. ESPN is also putting out commercials for its viewers during these difficult times. Stephen A. Smith, Doris Burke and Alex Rodriguez all provide encouraging words for people. They also made an ad called “There’s No Place Like Sports”. The ad features uplifting moments in sports like a Zamboni driver filling in at the last minute to play goalie. Laura Gentile, the senior Vice President for marketing at ESPN said, “Sports is an escape-that’s what people are missing right now, because there is no escaping the news and this situation.” The network’s prime time viewers are down around half of what they were when live sports still took place. Gentile said “In this time, more than ever, you may very well have to spend off-channel to reach the fans you have to reach, because you don’t have those massive NBA audiences to market to.”
In this article, I realized how difficult of a time it is for ESPN to produce entertainment in a time when entertainment is much needed. Their producers are scrambling to find old games or live news coverage to air. I learned that it is important to always be prepared for every scenario and always have plans to fall back on.
This applies directly to me as a broadcast student because it shows how you never know what will come up in your job. It teaches a lesson that you must be willing to adapt to the situation at hand and improvise because many people rely on ESPN for entertainment. If a producer is unable to find content to air, he will most likely loss his job because ESPN is in great need of ways to entertain people during the coming month or two.
Jacob Sanders 