Don't Dream It's Over: Disney Permanently Cancels ESPN: The Weekend

Last week, we mentioned, barely suppressing our glee, that ESPYs ratings had hit their lowest point in 16 years. With similar exuberance, we gave you ESPN's condom-obsessed in-house standards bible. Death knells.

And now, there's news of an actual death in the family— ESPN: The Weekend is dead.

From the Walt Disney World corporate blog:

One thing that's always struck me is our commitment to regularly reviewing the experiences we provide to our guests and challenging ourselves to bring new opportunities to life. Occasionally, this results in something coming to an end, as is the case with what I'm sharing today. In order to focus our efforts on ESPN's growing year-round presence at Walt Disney World Resort, we have decided to no longer host ESPN The Weekend.

We have to be honest, we never entirely understood ESPN: The Weekend—it would seem to be the worst parts of vacation (hot, cramped quarters—especially if Berman, Kruk, and Golic were involved) mixed with the worst parts of sports media (ditto). You could get better jock bang for your buck at a fantasy camp, or, you know, by going to an actual game. Really, ESPN: The Weekend's only selling point was awkward photo ops with Buster Olney, as you can see.

The comments on the Disney blog are, regrettably, a tear-jerking parade of humanity:

I can't believe it. I was a teacher for 35 years and I retired. I was looking forward to attending ESPN the Weekend for a retirement gift. It was what I told everyone I was really looking forward to doing. BooHoo!

I'm so disappointed – my son and I have been planning this as a special mom and son trip before his high school graduation.

My wife and I attended each and every event, and my wife ran the 5k the last 3 years and enjoyed them very much. Sorry to see this event go away.

I'm so disappointed! My older son loved this event, and it even helped me sell my husband on a second trip to Disney both this past year and the one before. (We also go every summer.) We will miss this weekend quite a bit.

Worry not, all. We're working on Deadspin: The Weekend, and we've already inked a partnership with some of the finest nearby lodging.

Photo via Picasa, courtesy of this guy.

Disney's ESPN The Weekend Update [Disney Parks Blog]