SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL recently published a Q&A with author James Andrew Miller on his new book, "Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency." But Miller, who previously wrote "Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN," also fielded questions on the cable TV network. Below are those additional excerpts from the interview:
Q: What do you think about ESPN/Disney spending $1 billion to buy into BAM?
Miller: In the past 12 months, everybody’s talking about, “Oh, my gosh, the overspending and ESPN’s losing 6 million households and their cost structure and their revenue streams are changing and Fox has spent so much money on talent.” Meanwhile, all of a sudden, you have a deal like this and you have the Big Ten deal. Where did all that money come from? Are you kidding me? ... Look at the last NBA deal, look at the Big Ten deal, look at the NFL with Thursday night -- it wasn’t exactly like anything was sold at a bargain price there.
Q: How big of a generational shift do you think we’re seeing at ESPN?
Miller: What’s happening is there is a competitive market for some pretty big salaries. It used to be that John Skipper was like George Steinbrenner and would just outbid the competition. ... It wasn’t just money with Colin Cowherd. It’s a combination of the fact that money isn’t always the reason people are making changes and even when money is the chief ingredient, there’s somebody willing to go swim in the deep end of the pool besides ESPN. NBC did it with Mike Tirico and Fox has done it with several personalities.
Q: What about the storyline of the demise of "SportsCenter?"
Miller: The good news for ESPN is they’ve recognized it now and they’re spending a lot of time and effort trying to address it and trying to make sure “SportsCenter” is still a part of our daily life. I think it’s going to be very hard for “SportsCenter” to be as big a blip on our radar screen as it was in the late 1980s and 1990s for a variety of reasons, including the level of talent that was hosting those shows. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be a compelling reason to watch.
Q: What about Bill Simmons' return?
Miller: One of the things he recognized in his waning years at ESPN was he didn’t necessarily need those four initials to do what he wanted to do. He’s an entrepreneur now -- he’s put together this mosaic, I’m going to this podcast with this people, I’m going to have a show with HBO. ... If you have crap people want, then you don’t necessarily need to go down traditional paths of distribution.
