Mo Egger, host in afternoon drive on Cincinnati’s ESPN 1530, has posted on his X account his show will not be covering FC Cincinnati for the next two weeks “or until Laurel Pfahler gets her access returned.” Pfahler, who has an independent subscription site, Queen City Press, has covered FC Cincinnati since they started in 2015, but told her readers this weekend, her credential to cover the team had been supsended for two weeks. She did not offer a specific reason why she was suspended, but in a post on her Patreon, she wrote, in part:
“While I do not want to get into details of why my press credential has been revoked, I want you to know I vehemently disagree with the club on this decision,” she wrote. “The club has not accused me of violating any guidelines listed in the MLS Notice of Credential Use Conditions. I stand by my reporting and ethics. I have covered the Cincinnati Bengals for the Dayton Daily News since 2015. I can say with confidence another professional sports team would not have revoked a credential in this case.”
Pfahler previously worked for The Athletic, ESPN and Cincinnati ABC station, WCPO. She aslo covers the Cincinnati Bengals for the Dayton Daily News. She wrote she will keep covering the team during the suspension as best she can during the suspension.
Pfahler has received a lot of support from those in the soccer community, including one post from Ben Wright of Backheeled.com, who wrote, “MLS wants to be a league of choice that is relevant in the American sports landscape with informed, passionate fans, but doesn’t seem to want independent media who push clubs and don’t shy away from reporting hard truths. You can’t have it both ways.”
ESPN 1530, owned by iHeart Media, is the flagship station for the team, an agreement that runs through the 2025 season.
