ESPN has become the sports network equivalent of the 2009 New York Yankees, who were dubbed The Best Team Money Can Buy.
Having failed to develop talent of its own over a number of years, the Yankees brought in a trio of top free agents – Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett – in a $423.5million spending spree to revive the team's fortunes.
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The move paid off with the Yankees going on to win their 27th World Series title but few people in the sports world celebrated this almost artificial success.
ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro is running the network much like Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, pinning his hopes on a handful of highly-paid stars to win the sports streaming wars.
For the Yankees' roster of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Teixeira, Sabathia, and Burnett, ESPN's top-tier roster is headlined by Pat McAfee, Stephen A. Smith, Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, and Peyton Manning – with Shannon Sharpe potentially to come.
These moves have come after ESPN struggled to turn rising talent into mainstream stars over the past decade.
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In the past, the likes of Chris Berman, Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Stuart Scott, and Bill Simmons climbed up through the ranks to become household names.
But the same could not be said of Jemele Hill, Katie Nolan, Pablo Torre, Sarah Spain, and Bomani Jones.
So Pitaro splashed the cash in a star-driven model to ensure that ESPN lives up to its self-proclaimed billing as The Worldwide Leader in Sports over the next decade.
A $330million gamble
It will cost ESPN around $330million to fund this personality push, with no guarantee of success.
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McAfee will join ESPN this fall in a deal worth a reported $85million over five years, according to the New York Post.
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This comes after Stephen A. signed a five-year contract extension worth $60million in 2021.
To bolster its Monday Night Football coverage, Aikman joined ESPN in a five-year, $92.5million contract, while Buck's five-year deal is worth between $60-$75million.
The deals for Peyton and Eli Manning are unknown, partly due to the Omaha Productions production deal for the Peyton's Places franchise, but they are believed to be worth over $10million each.
Meanwhile, other top stars such as Mike Greenberg, Scott Van Pelt and Michael Wilbon are believed to be earning around $5-6.5million a year.
'Worst day in the history of ESPN'
These deals have come at a devastating cost for the overall ESPN talent pool, which has been gutted in the past week.
The most high-profile lay-offs include Jeff Van Gundy, Jalen Rose, Max Kellerman, Ashley Brewer, and Suzy Kolber.
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Other redundancies included Keyshawn Johnson, Matt Hasselbeck, Chris Chelios, Steve Young, Rob Ninkovich, Neil Everett, Joon Lee, LaPhonso Ellis, Todd McShay, and Jason Fitz.
ESPN's college football expert Paul Finebaum described last Friday as "the worst day in my 10 years at ESPN."
He added: “It’s a special place to work, but it can be cruel."
By putting all its eggs in the basket of McAfee and other stars, ESPN has significantly weakened its national radio presence and parts of its NFL and NBA coverage
Van Gundy was part of a very successful NBA commentary crew alongside Mike Breen and Mark Jackson.
Meanwhile, Kolber and former NFL quarterback Young were mainstays of ESPN's Monday Night Football coverage.
Former ESPN star Dan Le Batard went a step further than Finebaum to call the network's Black Friday “the worst day in the history of ESPN.”
“We’ve seen this day coming for a long time, as Disney tries to correct some of its errors with ESPN people that are largely interchangeable,” Le Batard said on his podcast.
“And while ESPN took the public hit on Friday for shedding those costs, I thought to myself as it happened, Are they actually going to feel this beyond this day?
"Is it going to be something that empirically puts off viewers, or any of those people who were let go or all of those people, is anybody who consumes ESPN now going to say, ‘Nevermind, I’m out on ESPN?’"
'I could be next,' admits Stephen A
Pitaro could even add to his A-list roster by bringing Sharpe, who recently hit free agency.
Last month, the NFL icon left FS1's Undisputed after hosting the show alongside Skip Bayless for over seven years.
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Sharpe has been linked with a move to join Stephen A. and Molly Qerim in the revolving cast of debaters on First Take.
He could gain a major presence on Monday Night Football.
And yet with the cord-cutting phenomenon showing no signs of stopping, there is every chance that ESPN could make further cutbacks in the future.
Even Stephen A. – who is considered ESPN's brightest star – is worried about his job prospects.
"If we’re going to be real about it, let’s deal with reality. This ain’t the end, more is coming,” he said on his podcast.
“And yes, ladies and gentlemen, I could be next.”
The pressure on McAfee in particular to succeed at ESPN is immense.
Many sports fans on social media pointed the finger at McAfee and his contract, amid ESPN's layoffs.
Speaking on Twitter, the former NFL punter said he was "reflecting about our show's journey while I was getting murdered on the internet today."
He added: "We’re very pumped to be joining ESPN and our goal is that 'Mass exits' are never a thing again (and) we hope to help that.
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"Obviously that’s a lofty goal but, that’s how I truly look at life."
That the Yankees have not won a World Series since 2009 should give ESPN some pause for thought.
