Generally speaking, the only forums I'm on that has mentioned the decline of ESPN have said nothing about politics or talking heads. I'm surprised they are such

Generally speaking, the only forums I'm on that has mentioned the decline of ESPN have said nothing about politics or talking heads. I'm surprised they are such a huge talking point in this thread. Instead, it's the huge decline of coverage and quality. These forums are devoted to a more niche form of sports (open wheel auto racing). In the 1980s and 1990s ESPN coverage of these sports was actually very extensive. No longer. There was a time when one of ESPN's strengths was a huge coverage of a wide array of sports, including many niche sports. From my perspective, a lot of the niche (or even not so niche) sports has effectively moved off of the network for one reason or another. On the main channels, cheap programming where talking heads yell at each other have taken its place. Factor in this, and then factor in the people who got ESPN even though they weren't sports people to begin with, and now add in the cord-cutting movement. It's easy to see why ESPN's in trouble.