Article snippet: Take for instance the most recent examples of ESPN politics-deniers: Outside the Lines’ Bob Ley and Jeremy Schaap. In a conversation with Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder, primarily about their new permanent TV slot for E:60 on Sunday nights, Schaap and Ley took shots at the theory put forth by FS1’s Jason Whitlock, and others, that ESPN’s embrace of leftwing politics has played a significant role in its loss of viewers and subscribers. According to Awful Announcing: In his article on Ley and Schaap’s comments, Awful Announcing’s Andrew Bucholtz makes the point that although some might have cut the cord on ESPN over politics, there’s no data which proves politics has been a major factor in ESPN’s hardships: Well, that’s just not true. As reported here over a week ago, TV data service Deep Root made a case study of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. Specifically, seeking proof of whether or not ESPN lost Republican viewership as the network ramped up its liberal commentary during the run-up to the 2016 election. Here’s what they found: So, as ESPN became more and more liberal, so did their audience. Translation: ESPN’s political slant cost them viewers. Granted, this study only analyzes one U.S. city. However, Cincinnati was selected for a reason, in that it’s a good representation of America since it’s a large market in a swing state. So, while its only one city, there’s no reason to think that the findings there wouldn’t get mirrored in other major media markets through... Link to the full article to read more