The NFL and ESPN's relationship looks like it's never been worse, and it all boils down to a simple problem
- The relationship between the NFL and ESPN is the worst it's ever been, according to a report.
- At the heart of the issue is the difference between how ESPN promotes its partnership with the NFL and how ESPN covers the NFL.
- The NFL believes ESPN devotes too much time to negative and controversial coverage of the league.
- New ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro is reportedly trying to repair the relationship after former president John Skipper largely had hands-off relationship with NFL executives.
New ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro is trying to repair the increasingly strained relationship between the sports network and the NFL, according to a report from John Ourand of Sports Business Journal.
According to the report, some describe the relationship between the NFL and ESPN as the worst it's ever been. At the heart of the issue is one of the most basic problems that have plagued the two sides - ESPN, the NFL's partner, and ESPN, the media company.
According to Ourand, the NFL was upset this past season over what it felt was ESPN promoting several negative stories, particularly explosive reports from "Outside the Lines" and investigative journalists Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham. The stories ranged reports about the NFL's concussion crisis, to infighting between Roger Goodell and Jerry Jones, to player protests during the national anthem, to fracturing relationships on the New England Patriots.
The difference between ESPN as a TV partner and ESPN's coverage has come up before. Bill Simmons, now CEO of The Ringer website, was famously suspended by ESPN for being critical of Goodell and the NFL's handling of domestic abuse and Deflategate.
Ourand reported that in 2013, Goodell and former NFL executive Steve Bornstein met with former ESPN president John Skipper to ask ESPN to pull out of a production with PBS's "Frontline" about concussions. ESPN later agreed.
There are other issues plaguing the relationship, according to the report. ESPN was reportedly miffed when the NFL agreed to jointly produce an NFL draft broadcast with Fox, an ESPN competitor. The draft has primarily been ESPN's production.
Additionally, ESPN executives have reportedly been bothered by the slate of games they get for "Monday Night Football," feeling the contests don't live up to the $1.9 billion fee they pay for rights.
According to Ourand, Skipper did not maintain particularly close relationships with the NFL's leaders, something new ESPN management has been trying to be more proactive about. Ourand reported that Pitaro will have his hands full trying to mend the relationship.