More evidence that the Lords of Finance are, in fact, complete morons.

Yes.

The reason sports and ESPN are so valuable is because demand to watch a game expires immediately when the game ends. That means ESPN can charge what it wants because it controls the feed.

Imagine a world where people were just as happy to watch an old sportsball game as they are to watch an old episode of Mad Men. ESPN would be nothing.

ESPN is (was?) a big chunk of what you pay for cable TV, too, and I don´t think you can a la carte it out. (And yes, simple solution: stop paying for cable TV.)