This sounds like a HORRIBLE idea. With Disney in terrible financial straits and looking to get cash fast, the company has held serious talks with the MLB, NFL, NBA over the leagues purchasing a stake in ESPN itself!
Could you really have a bigger conflict of interest than the world’s largest sports media company being owned by the very leagues it’s supposed to fairly cover, comment on, and criticize?
Due to Disney’s recent string of financial failures ranging from movie releases and park ticket sales and the looming $9B mandatory purchase of Hulu fast approaching, Disney CEO Bob Iger has been openly holding meetings with the MLB, NFL, and NBA over buying a big stake in ESPN itself to generate some capital for the House of Mouse. And, this just sounds like the biggest case of corporate cronyism I’ve ever heard of.
So, as I’ve said, Disney’s utter disaster class in running a company into the ground these last three years has just set up one of the most unprecedented, monopolistic, and downright crony purchases to ever happen in the sports media world as the US’ three largest sports leagues, the MLB, NFL, and NBA, are set to buy huge stakes in ESPN…the world’s largest independent sports media company.
Is it just me or does the prospects of the MLB, NFL, and NBA buying a vested stake in ESPN sound like a recipe for disaster? Not only does such a purchase blend the lines between unbiased journalism and corporate-controlled journalism, but it also establishes a rather tyrannical control the leagues have over the portrayal of their actions and business practices.
I mean, if you work for the company as an employee in any capacity, how can you possibly criticize these leagues without the fear of losing your job as THEY ARE NOW YOUR BOSS!
It would be different if this was Disney selling over some stake in the NFL, NBA, and/or MLB Networks back to their, respective, leagues as they are well known, established arms of the NFL, NBA, MLB, respectively. But this is entirely different.
ESPN was founded by Bill Rasmussen, Scott Rasmussen (Bill’s son), and Ed Eagan in Bristol, CT back in 1978 as a way to cover local Connecticut sports teams, such as the Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes), the University of Connecticut Huskies, and the Bristol Red Sox (the Boston Red Sox’s minor league baseball team now based in Hartford), through a monthly subscription television program (which was a revolutionary idea at the time).
Obviously, with time and the appeal of much larger audiences across the globe, ESPN eventually morphed into the 24/7 journalist/coverage/opinion sports network we know today that has dominated the sports media world for the better part of the last 45 years.
Most importantly, the original idea of ESPN was not to be some happy-go-lucky, propaganda network arm of the major Connecticut sports teams, but rather cover them in a fair, objective light with the goal of bringing said coverage to the citizens of Connecticut and New England.
That very foundation is being ripped apart and replaced with the whims, wishes, and controlling demands the MLB, NBA, and NFL will inevitably impose upon the network’s coverage of them if they purchase it.
Thankfully, there are other networks to watch, such as FS1 (FOX), NBC, CBS, various independent media outlets (like this one), etc. to get sports opinions, coverage, analysis, and facts from, but ESPN is the largest and the trend setter for all these outlets. If one as large as ESPN can get bought out by the sports leagues, then the rest are all in serious jeopardy of being purchased as well.
It’s another horrible trend of crony corporate behavior that is really getting out of control. Where’s Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?
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