Earlier this week, the Sports Business Journal reported that Paramount will be shutting down the Showtime Sports Brand at the end of the year. Paramount confirmed this notion in a statement they released while also highlighting that they would “continue to air and support the remaining 2023 boxing slate and honor obligations through the end of the year.”
Unfortunately, the ramifications of this decision go beyond the brand itself. Several people will be laid off, including Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza. Espinoza recently released a statement regarding the matter and Paramount’s decision to move forward without Showtime Sports.
“The company’s decision is not a reflection of the work we have done in recent years, nor of our long and proud history… Unfortunately, in a rapidly evolving media marketplace, the company has had to make difficult choices… While today’s news is certainly difficult and disappointing, it is entirely out of our control,” said Espinoza.
Showtime Sports has been a major contributor for Paramount as a brand in the boxing and sports documentary space ever since it aired its first boxing event in 1986. Additionally, Showtime Sports also had a basketball division that hired former ESPN journalist and commentator Rachel Nichols just last year.
Now, Nichols and the rest of the basketball division are also being removed. While it was a difficult decision to make, it was a necessary one. Showtime Sports was conflicting with CBS Sports, another company within the Paramount brands. Instead of having two brands within the same network compete against one another, Paramount elected to concentrate its content stream.
