Televised sports entertainment has been in the same decline as Hollywood (both owned by the same broadcasters and carriers) for decades and no matter how much they cheer each other on, their fate has already been sealed.
As vaudeville went before them, so goes televised sports entertainment.
As an aside, sports programming has really been something that TV execs have focused on, because people prefer to watch live, and will sit through the commercials.
In an age of DVR recording, sports are one of the few types of programs that people will watch live, when it’s actually broadcast, as opposed to recording on the DVR.
If critical masses of people don’t want to watch sports, that will be a game changer for the TV business model.