It was a rather innocuous Washington Commanders story my friend was texting me about on June 30th. To be fair, it was innocuous by Washington Commanders standards, at this point you’d have to report Dan Snyder caused the extinction of the dinosaurs to get my attention. My friend was less concerned about the contents of the story and more interested in the timing of the release. It was Friday, June 30th, the day before Independence Day weekend, the next four days would be a virtual vacation for most of America.
My friend’s suggestion, and he is certainly not alone in making suggestions like this, was that ESPN was dropping a story that might not have been the most positive for the NFL on a day where that story will go largely unnoticed. He further suggested the reason behind that was a simple one, ESPN is a business partner with the NFL. A business partner in a multi-billion dollar agreement.
Let me say for the record that ESPN has some very good NFL reporters. Chris Mortensen, Adam Schefter and their large cast of colleagues have been covering the NFL very well for decades now. One could see, however, the potential conflict of interest in a news reporting network having to report potentially ugly news on the sports organization that helps that same network stay financially solvent. Simply put, it is in the best interest for ESPN to paint the NFL in the best possible light. Which makes it even more intriguing when they report stories, as often happens, that do just the opposite.
That whole dynamic could be flipped on its head if the CNBC report, that ESPN is looking to major sports leagues for investment capital, comes to fruition. Alex Sherman reports just that; that Disney/ESPN have discussed with the NFL and NBA the possibility of those leagues having strategic partnerships and even investing actual cash into the WorldWide Leader’s pockets.
Make no mistake, the real profit for ESPN is not in a news enterprise, rather in airing live sporting events. In fact, all the major networks have long accepted that reality. If ESPN is forced to choose between removing any hint of a conflict of interest from their news organization or leveraging their subscriber base to strengthen their bank accounts, the decision is quite simple.
Nobody is requiring them to make that decision, at least that we know of. The fact still remains that, if ESPN accepts investment capital from the NFL, the audience is naturally going to be skeptical of the news arm’s league coverage. No matter how much one trusts the names ESPN rolls out as the face of their news reporting, the underlying feeling that the reporting is compromised by the desire to protect an investor is inevitable.
I’m not aware of any empirical data that says the vast majority of NFL fans are most interested in news reporting to the extent it impacts their teams – actual or fantasy – but I think that is a reasonable conclusion. The same could be said for fans of MLB and NBA teams. I’m just not certain to what level fans desire hard-core news reporting about their favorite league. Sure, there is a “seeing how the sausage is made” intrigue involved but, if that type of reporting disappeared, would a large audience clamor for its return?
Maybe that is what ESPN knows and is counting on; if an investment relationship with a professional sports league causes the investigative reporting concerning that league to evaporate, will we even notice?
Call me a simpleton, you won’t be the first, but my desire for ESPN is to give me the games I want to watch and the analysis of what happens in those games. I am the guy that would’ve been just fine if ESPN had never chased Barry Bonds around the National League trying to prove he used steroids, I was just there for the home runs.
I get that anyone with a journalism background reading this has long since rolled their eyes at me. I have never been a journalist, I am just a fan. I would never declare I know the will of the majority, but I think I do. I think most of them are like me; they accept the world of the NFL is far from perfect but all they really want to do is sit in front of a television every Sunday and live and die with their favorite team. If a cash infusion from the NFL keeps that happening for ESPN, I’ll have no issues.
That’s assuming the Dolphins are winning.
Ryan Brown is a columnist for Barrett Sports Media, and a co-host of the popular sports audio/video show ‘The Next Round’ formerly known as JOX Roundtable, which previously aired on WJOX in Birmingham. You can find him on Twitter @RyanBrownLive and follow his show @NextRoundLive.
