The score: NFL 2, ESPN 0.
The New York Times reported that the NFL met with ESPN and voiced its displeasure over the Worldwide Leader in Sports' involvement with PBS' Frontline's "League of Denial," a two-part investigative series about the NFL's handling of head injuries.
Shortly after that meeting, ESPN asked that all its logos, name and credit be removed from the PBS project.
ESPN had claimed that the reason for ending the collaboration was that it had not editorial control over the project, but PBS asserted that agreement had been in place since the two entities agreed to work together some 15 months ago.
The NFL denied putting any pressure on ESPN, but such a move is not unprecedented. In 2004, NFL did not like a series being shown on ESPN, "Playmakers," which was a fictional professional football drama. Then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue went to ESPN's parent company, Walt Disney Company chief executive officer Michael D. Eisner, to complain about the depiction of the professional football players being portrayed.
ESPN pulled the show off the air after one season.
ESPN's decision is a troubling sign of the times for sports media entities that are trying to survive difficult economic times and are being forced to decide whether to remain objective at the expense of losing accessibility to the sports teams and leagues they're covering.
"This is a conflicted relationship because it's a contractual relationship," Robert Boland, who teaches sports management at New York University, told the New York Times. "The climate right now surrounding all sports and to some degree journalism is muddied because there is so much competition for content, so any dividing line between editorial and content is blurred."
The New York Daily News took a shot at ESPN on Saturday, saying the media giant's credibility should be questioned.
"Now, no one can trust what anyone at ESPN has to say about the National Football League. Whether it be Tom Jackson, Chris Mortensen, Jon Gruden or any of the legions of analysts who staff the network's expanded lineup of NFL programming," the Daily News article said.
"That is, if you ever trusted them in the first place."
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