ESPN is not shying away from controversy as it opens a new Monday Night Football season. While plenty of eyes and scrutiny will be on the network as it lets its top college crew call the first game of the Week 1 doubleheader and the new crew for the 2020 season call the second game, plenty will also be focused on what the network shows in the pregame.
“Stephanie Druley, executive vice president of event and studio production, said ESPN plans to cover any players protesting during the U.S. national anthem, as well as the performance of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ known as the Black national anthem, during the network’s NFL Week 1 doubleheader Sept. 14,” Michael McCarthy writes for Front Office Sports.
Druley made the announcement during a conference call with reporters. She said this isn’t a special exception or an instance of trying to push an agenda. It falls in line with ESPN’s past standards for airing the national anthem.
“Our policy is to cover the anthem when it’s newsworthy. That’s not going to change,” she said. “We are going to continue as we’ve done with the NBA and the WNBA. We will cover social justice movements, actions, as they happen. We’re not going to shy away from that.”
Usually, NFL TV partners have refrained from televising the singing of the national anthem if it is not ahead of one of the league’s biggest games. That seems to be different in 2020, at least for Week 1.
McCarthy points out that Sean McManus of CBS Sports made a statement similar to Druley’s earlier this week. McManus acknowledged that plenty of people will be tuning in only to see and hear about football “but we’re not going to ignore it.” He noted the network will “need to thread the needle just the right way.”
