Report: NFL Pressured ESPN Into Backing Out Of Concussion Film

[JimLeavy59]

When word broke that ESPN was unexpectedly and belatedly ending its involvement with PBS's Frontline on a pair of documentaries investigating head injuries in football, ESPN swore up and down it had nothing to do with keeping the NFL happy. According to a report in today's New York Times, that was a bold-faced lie.

ESPN's statement was that it was pulling out because it had no editorial control over the documentaries—even though it's known that for months, and as recently as two weeks ago was trumpeting its partnership with Frontline. Here comes ESPN bugbear James Andrew Miller with a much more plausible explanation for the network's cold feet:

Last week, several high-ranking officials convened a lunch meeting at Patroon, near the league’s Midtown Manhattan headquarters, according to the two people, who requested anonymity because they were prohibited by their superiors from discussing the matter publicly. It was a table for four: Roger Goodell, commissioner of the N.F.L.; Steve Bornstein, president of the NFL Network; ESPN’s president, John Skipper; and John Wildhack, ESPN’s executive vice president for production.


At the combative meeting, the people said, league officials conveyed their displeasure with the direction of the documentary, which is expected to describe a narrative that has been captured in various news reports over the past decade: the league turning a blind eye to evidence that players were sustaining brain trauma on the field that could lead to profound, long-term cognitive disability.

The documentaries are based off the work of two ESPN reporters, who also have a forthcoming book. League of Denial airs on PBS Oct. 8 and 15, and will now receive a hell of a lot more attention than it would have otherwise.

Update: The NFL has issued a statement denying the report:

"It is not true that we pressured ESPN to pull out of the film. The lunch was requested several weeks ago by ESPN. We meet with our business partners on a regular basis and this was not unusual."

Update No. 2: Here's ESPN's statement:

"The decision to remove our branding was not a result of concerns about our separate business relationship with the NFL. As we have in the past including as recently as Sunday, we will continue to cover the concussion story aggressively through our own reporting."

[Warner2BruceTD]

The word going around is that Goodell & Bornstein flat out told Skipper that if they aired the docs, ESPN would never air another NFL game again after the current MNF contract expired, threatening to put everything on NFL Network, and even name dropping FOX claiming that FOX wants MNF on FS1, which would dramatically increase the pittance FOX is currently getting per subscriber for the network from cab/sat (I think it's $0.33, compared to over $5.00 per subscriber for ESPN), and also would instantly even the playing field between FS1 & ESPN.

ESPN, of course, bowed to their masters.

The bigger story here, is that it is crystal clear that ESPN can not exist as a legitimate news gathering agency while also being in bed with the leagues. Nobody can. Could a straight forward sports news network work in the current climate? I don't know the answer to that.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Something else I didn't know that I found interesting reading about this.

One third of all former living NFL players are currently suing the league for these concussion issues. 10% of those players NEVER PLAYED A SINGLE DOWN in a regular season NFL game.

The lawsuit is a cash grab. The concussion issues exist, but are greatly exaggerated. Both sides suck, but I side more with the league on the lawsuit issue because these grown men chose to play a physical game, and most of them have no serious long term problems. 10% never even played a down, and more than half played less than 5 years.

The worst part of all of this, is the changes the NFL has made to the game, which has created a far inferior on field product. That is what should concern fans the most. And it isnt going to get better. The game is going to get less physical and less recognizable to the game many of us grew up with. We aren't going to go backwards, guys.

[FedEx227]

The issue is also that concussion symptoms and more importantly CTE are largely unavoidable no matter what safety measures the league goes through to soften up their case in the lawsuit.

So long as linemen exist and people wear helmets they are damaging their brains, Jon Bostic not hitting a guy with the crown of his helmet isn't going to stop anything. You essentially sign onto a contract when you start playing football that you're okay with continued brain damaged. That's it. If you don't want brain damage, don't play football. It's a gladiator sport for freaks of nature and it's fine that way.

[NAHSTE]

Something else I didn't know that I found interesting reading about this.

One third of all former living NFL players are currently suing the league for these concussion issues. 10% of those players NEVER PLAYED A SINGLE DOWN in a regular season NFL game.

The lawsuit is a cash grab. The concussion issues exist, but are greatly exaggerated. Both sides suck, but I side more with the league on the lawsuit issue because these grown men chose to play a physical game, and most of them have no serious long term problems. 10% never even played a down, and more than half played less than 5 years.

The worst part of all of this, is the changes the NFL has made to the game, which has created a far inferior on field product. That is what should concern fans the most. And it isnt going to get better. The game is going to get less physical and less recognizable to the game many of us grew up with. We aren't going to go backwards, guys.

So? The most frequent cause of concussions is through repetitive minor collisions, like the kind that happen in a full contact practice.

[Goober]

So? The most frequent cause of concussions is through repetitive minor collisions, like the kind that happen in a full contact practice.

Well I think it's more likely that any injuries that these players suffered took place in the eight years the spent playing football in high school and college. Not the two months they spent failing to make an NFL roster. GTFO with blaming it all on the NFL.

[JimLeavy59]

Well I think it's more likely that any injuries that these players suffered took place in the eight years the spent playing football in high school and college. Not the two months they spent failing to make an NFL roster. GTFO with blaming it all on the NFL.

You are just a pile of shit as a person.

[Warner2BruceTD]

So? The most frequent cause of concussions is through repetitive minor collisions, like the kind that happen in a full contact practice.

One would think your brain would suffer more damage the longer you play.

I'm not buying that spending a cup of coffee in an NFL training camp destroyed the brains of these guys. They all likely played eight years or more of amateur football. Much of this lawsuit is a bunch of guys latching on hoping for a cheap payday.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Well I think it's more likely that any injuries that these players suffered took place in the eight years the spent playing football in high school and college. Not the two months they spent failing to make an NFL roster. GTFO with blaming it all on the NFL.

I missed this and basically repeated what you said. Well put.

[Goober]

You are just a pile of shit as a person.

Please go on. I'm confused as to how me believing that one party should not bear the full liability for a case where multiple parties are liable (a sentiment that the United State's judicial system agrees with in almost every state) makes me a terrible person.

[Houston]

Damn.

Yet again, so close to never having to hear Jon Gruden while I'm watching a game.

[Warner2BruceTD]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/175895/espn-journalists-speak-out-concussion-documentary#

Excellent piece by Dave Zirin on frustrated ESPN journalists in the wake of this NFL/PBS concussion embarrassment.

I spoke to several of the biggest names in journalism at ESPN this weekend and their thoughts on ESPN’s official comments and reasoning for dropping out of the project ranged from “mystifying” to “deeply depressing” to “palpable bullshit.” No one I spoke to believes that ESPN looked up after fifteen months and discovered to their collective shock that they didn’t have final editorial control of the “League of Denial.”

None of the ESPN journalists with whom I spoke wanted to go on the record, with several describing such an action with the same phrase, “career suicide” but the fact that they wanted to talk at all tells a story of its own,. The collective picture they paint is one of a disheartened newsroom that feels disrespected, dismissed and demoralized

One leading columnist and television personality at the network said to me, “Generally, ESPN’s business interests will always be at odds with its journalism. It is not a journalism company. It’s an entertainment company. This is the age of journalism we live in, not just at ESPN but everywhere. Journalism is increasingly more corporate. When you get in bed with the devil, sooner or later you start growing your own horns.”

In theory, there is supposed to be a wall at ESPN between the business side and the journalism side. But, like many walls across the earth, it tends to exist to separate the powerful from the powerless. One former employee said to me, “The ESPN wall is about as effective as the Great Wall of China. It can look impressive but there are plenty of ways around it and lots of holes. It’s an idea but like many ideas it doesn’t work in practice.”

Outside the Lines is being phased out. For what? MOAR NFL.

The news of ESPN’s withdrawal from the Frontline project also comes after the announcement of something that will undoubtedly do far more long-term harm to the cause of sports journalism: the move to time-slot purgatory of the indispensable news program Outside the Lines, with Bob Ley. Outside the Lines, which is the platinum standard of televised sports journalism, had done numerous reports about the NFL and concussions. Now it has been moved on the schedule to make way for even more NFL-related programming.

One top journalist described it to me as follows. “Our corporate strategy right now is to go all-in on football no matter the cost [to journalistic integrity]. We are going all-in on football at a time when you have damn near 5,000 people suing the sports that made them famous [for head trauma]. You have empirical evidence that something is going on with this game that is really dangerous. We are now carrying water for a game that is on a deeply problematic trajectory. We are going all in on this sport and this sport is in peril.”

Take the time to read this, it's excellent and has some great quotes.

[NAHSTE]

MOAR NFL SHILLING YES

MOAR SCHLERETH

MOAR HOGE

MOAR JAWS

MOAR MARCELLUS

MOAR WINGO

MOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAR

[JimLeavy59]

LESS COLIN COWHEARD

[Warner2BruceTD]

The irony here, is "League of Denial" has now gotten a ton of attention, and people are going to flock to PBS to watch this thing.

Goodell blew this one. He should have left it on ESPN, but mandated that they bury it. They obviously would have obliged. Put it on opposite Sunday Night Football or some other death slot, and give it zero promotion. Now, it's officially a thing and people are going to want to watch.