Businesses across the country have been reeling in this economic downturn we find ourselves in, and apparently even the "WWL" isn't immune to the climate. According to Broadcasting & Cable, ESPN plans to cut over 100 jobs in the coming months, from PAs all the way up to execs....

Disney’s ESPN is the latest media outfit to go forward with a restructuring, as the cable giant will shed around 100 positions in a shift previously predicted by chief George Bodenheimer.

The network released the following statement to B&C Wednesday evening: "Most of the jobs are being repurposed in support of initiatives which will more effectively grow our company, and our headcount number, ultimately, will remain consistent with current levels.”

The jobs cut are expected to be across a wide variety of levels, from production assistants up to executive roles, according to sources with knowledge of the company’s plans.

Back in January, the network said it would be making cost-reduction moves in line with much of the media world as a result of the slumping economy, including a hiring freeze for the remainder of 2009 and a reduction of as many as 200 open jobs.

Well that's depressing. The latest news was that ESPN/Disney was one of the few companies turning a profit, but I guess no one is safe these days. I would personally rather see ESPN keep some PAs, and get rid of some of the pointless "talent" (*ahem* Skip Bayless!), but who am I to tell them what to do?

ESPN Goes Forward With Restructuring Plans (Broadcasting & Cable)

I've seen some crazy attempts at getting advertising into broadcasts, but this one might actually take the cake. Broad Street Hockey noticed a funny thing on the boards behind the goal, during the Rangers game last night on MSG, and it couldn't be more humorous and distracting. Here is a screenshot....



Now I'm not one to deny a company from making money, but when it comes at the expense of the viewers, that's when I take issue. It's one thing to have something like that behind a batter during a Baseball game, but it just doesn't look right sitting behind a goal. Hopefully the decide against using it in the future, but I seriously doubt that if it's bringing in money.

Eat Fresh? (Broad Street Hockey)

This seems like one of the lesser matchups as far as popularity goes for a Super Bowl, but that isn't stopping ticket prices for the game to be through the roof. A quick look on Ebay puts the tag anywhere from $2-4K, but Stub Hub by far has the best deal. You can now buy an entire 36-person suite at Raymond James for the low, low price of $254,554! Yes that's two hundred, fifty four thousand, five hundred and fifty four dollars....


Yes folks, if you know 35 other people, that each have $7,070 to throw away, then you can have your very own Super Bowl suite! Liquor and food NOT included!!!

Super Bowl XLIII Tickets (Stub Hub)

Good lord. Things just keep getting worse in this economy, don't they? On what should be a triumphant day for Americans, radio giant Clear Channel decided to cut 9% of its workforce today, meaning 1,850 people within the company lost their job. What does that mean to me, you ask? Well Clear Channel runs a great number of Sports Talk stations, and some of your favorite shows could be going away. Sports by Brooks has some of the early casualties....

WDFN, which broadcasts Pistons games, whacked all of its local hosts, and will instead run Fox Sports Radio programming 24/7. The FLORIDA TIMES-UNION also reports severe cuts at WFXJ sports radio in Jacksonville. Where local personalities have been slashed.

There will be much more fallout in the next couple days, as job cuts become public market-by-market. Worst-hit will be sales staffs and local market personalities, who can be replaced by syndicated programming from ESPN Radio, Fox Sports Radio and Sporting News Radio. (But I’ve also confirmed some layoffs at CC-operated Fox Sports Radio.)

Not yet known is the effect the layoffs will have on L.A.-sports station KLAC-AM, which recently lost the Lakers broadcast rights to local competitor KSPN-AM. That said, I’ve been hearing rumors for months about the demise of KLAC’s sports format.

Just depressing. Usually they save this level of carnage for a "Black Friday" of sorts, but I guess every company is stepping up and making changes. Unfortunate yes, but these are the times we live in. Hope all of you CCers that read the site, find work out there real soon.

Clear Channel cutting 1,850 jobs (Biz Journals)
CC’s Cutbacks To Spell End Of LA Sports Station? (Sports by Brooks)

Everyone is trying to figure out exactly what is happening to our economy these days, but most people think it can largely be attributed to the price of gas. If gas goes up, so does the price of doing business. Now every industry has to raise prices yada, yada, yada. Well, Eye On Sports Media recently came across a passage by Michelle Brutlag Hosick from NCAA News, and she says that this state of affairs could possibly lead to some changes to the NCAA Tournament in 2009....

After high fuel prices, decreased flight capacity and new trip-related fees resulted in higher-than-budgeted expenses for championships travel during the past fiscal year, all three NCAA divisions are studying how to respond to those conditions during 2008-09.

The Executive Committee Finance Committee approved a review of travel-related issues and requested that various governance bodies, including the Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet and the Divisions II and III Championships Committees, provide an initial report and any recommendations related to championships travel management to the Executive Committee and leadership in each division by October 30.

The NCAA national office staff has been monitoring a changing environment that resulted in a $7.2 million increase in championships travel expenses during the recently completed fiscal year, compared to 2006-07. Costs in Division I increased 31 percent last year and 58 percent over the last three years. In Division II the increase was almost 13 percent last year and 44 percent over the last three. Division III has seen increases of 7.5 percent over the last year and about 43 percent for the three-year period.

Indications are that the trends will continue, with a projected increase of $6 to $7 million in Division I travel expenses, assuming no changes to current travel, seeding and bracketing policies are made.

While a shrunken field is highly unlikely, it's apparently a possibility that's being considered at the present time. However, the people who are probably going to be hurt the most are students. It's highly unlikely that a school will be able to fly some of their student body to tournament games this upcoming season, and this will in turn lead to teams staying on their same coast and the seeding being even harder to work out for the committee.

That's certainly not good news for one of the most popular sporting events in the country.

Increasing travel costs concern for championships (NCAA)
NCAA March Madness Field Size To Be Cut Next Year? (Sports On The Air)