The fervor of America's sports fandom has long lined the pockets of athletes, coaches, general managers and the owners who sign all of their checks. Middling infielders and mediocre basketball players make millions of dollars a year. College athletic conferences hold their meetings and events at hotels like the Ritz-Carlton, rather then economy hotel conference rooms.
But for all the high living the sports world's elites have enjoyed, a pair of local teams haven't hit pay dirt in quite the same way, and it now looks more likely that they could miss the boat. The Pirates and Pitt athletics lag behind many of their peers when it comes to television money, an issue with plenty of eyes on it these days.
The times continue to change across the TV landscape, with sports feeling those changes as strongly as ever. Look no further than the late-April shakeup at ESPN, a network so powerful in sports broadcasting it is sardonically called "the mothership" _ one that some view as rudderless following layoffs in the triple digits late last month to save millions of dollars.
So if ESPN is seeing its business model struggle, what does that mean for anyone else in the business of sports programming, or sport in general? That depends on whom you ask. It's possible the wheels will keep turning and all will be well. The doomsday scenario goes something like less money from TV, less money to pay players or schools, and a whole different world of revenue levels from what we know now.
Most realistic is that the future lies somewhere in between, but there's little doubt the Pirates and Panthers are behind the media rights 8-ball, each in their own way.
