I'd like to see that data too. There are 4 major sports leagues in the US and they are all multi-billion dollar corporations. They are huge. The problem with ESPN isn't that people aren't watching sports, it's that they aren't watching ESPN as much as they used to.

There are a few reasons for that:

1 - Increased competition from networks like Fox Sports and NBC Sports, plus individual league networks such as the NFL Network, MLB Network and NBA TV. All these products are relatively new.

2 - ESPN doesn't show as many games as people think. They get one football game a week. I believe one or two NBA games a week during the regular season. And 2 baseball games a week. I don't believe they get any playoff games. They do get a lot of college games though, but I think the more popular bowl games are saved for network TV.

3- They fill their programming time with non-stop "analysis". And people don't need that anymore. Not with the ability to get the same or better coverage from places around the internet.

ESPN itself doesn't offer anything special anymore. Despite that, it's still the most watched cable channel by a fair margin.

The difference between #1 ESPN and #2 TBS is less than 150,000 viewers. Amazing that it's worth as much as it is.

DIS took a huge hit last night after missing on earnings, primarily from their Networks division.

True but when you factor in ESPN2 the gap becomes wider. There aren't any ratings numbers available for ESPN 8: The Ocho.

And the funny thing is that TBS probably saw a rise in viewership because they picked up a bunch of NBA and NCAA games.

I suspect it's mostly this. But not because others are doing it, it's because it can be done in an hour or two. As such, they end up repeating themselves multiple times a day.

With the major sports games being split up so many ways, the profits for all sports networks were going to level out. Disney realized that and invested elsewhere.

FWIW, I notice that the games on MNF have become less prestigous since moving to ESPN. I remember when I was a kid that was always the big game of the week/end of weekend. Now that mantle seems to have passed to Sunday Night Football on NBC. In fact, I am always amazed how that network always seems to manage to get the good game, since they are allegedly booked over a year in advance.

The NFL has fkex scheduling in 2nd half of the season, so SNF can usually cherry pick the best games with a few exceptions.

Honestly, Disney makes more with their theme parks in a week than their movies make in their entire runs, so I wouldn't lose any sleep over Disney suddenly collapsing.