ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro says the network’s coverage of the NFL will not change once it is partially owned by the league.
Addressing concerns about ESPN’s independence after its deal to acquire NFL Media in exchange for the league taking a ten percent stake in the network, Pitaro told Richard Deitsch of The Athletic that ESPN has been “very clear with the NFL” that “nothing is changing in terms of how we cover the league. Nothing is changing in terms of our journalistic principles.” He added that the league has “never once asked us to change our approach in terms of how we cover them.”
There has been suggestions, including on this site, that ESPN has already scaled back its once aggressive coverage of league matters. Former SportsCenter anchor Dan Patrick said as much on his eponymous radio show Wednesday.
“ESPN can’t be any further in bed with the NFL when it comes to their coverage. Are they going to look the other way with whatever negative story that comes up? They’ve probably already done that,” Patrick said, later adding: “As far as a conflict of interest? I think that’s long gone. … The NFL has probably owned a lot of ESPN for a long period of time. It’s just not official, that’s all.”
Patrick also questioned how much ESPN covered the tumult in the NFL Players’ Association this summer, saying that he was aware that NBC Sports’ Mike Florio had covered the story. His comments prompted a fiery response by ESPN reporter Don Van Natta, who noted that he and Kalyn Kahler published a series of stories this summer that resulted in the resignation of NFL union leader Lloyd Howell, whose ties to a league-approved private equity firm raised concerns of a conflict of interest.
In addition to concerns how the new deal will impact ESPN’s NFL coverage, there are concerns in the other direction — that ESPN will change NFL Network. Pitaro said NFL Network will now report to ESPN’s Burke Magnus, who per Deitsch will “have a major role in the editorial shape of the network.”
But Pitaro did not indicate that ESPN plans to make any major changes. “We are fans of NFL Network programming. What you see today on the NFL Network, we intend to continue. We appreciate the quality of their studio programming, and we’re excited to add that into our arsenal.”
