Report: Roger Goodell tells ESPN employees the NFL won't get involved with journalism
Pending regulatory approval (which seems to be hardly a given), the NFL eventually will own 10 percent of ESPN. That dynamic has raised obvious concerns that the NFL will parlay its partial ownership into the potential airing of grievances about ESPN's coverage of the league.
As a result, the powers-that-be are trying to ease the worries of ESPN reporters and analysts who fear being micromanaged by The Shield.
Most recently, that resulted in (according to FrontOfficeSports.com) Commissioner Roger Goodell communicating with ESPN employees at a town-hall meeting via a recorded message.
Per the report, "Goodell emphasized to ESPN employees that the league would not get involved in the network's journalism."
We have three points to make in response to that contention.
First, what else is he going to say? "You'd better watch out?" It's a very real concern that the NFL will try to impose upon ESPN the same degree of conscious self-editing that NFL Network reporters and analysts have exercised for years.
Second, it would be different if the NFL didn't already have a habit of complaining to broadcast partners about things said and written by their reporters and analysts. It absolutely happens. (And it may happen today, as a result of me pointing out that it absolutely happens.)
The league surely has complained to ESPN at some point in the past about something that ended up on ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, or any of the various ESPN networks. And that was before the league owned a piece of the business. It's naive to think the NFL will say nothing if/when someone on the ESPN payroll says something that someone at the league office doesn't like.
Third, Jim Trotter.
So while the league may not "get involved in the network's journalism," the league will surely have something to say in the aftermath of the exercise of it. Especially when it's time to renew the contracts of people who have a history of covering stories the league doesn't like and/or posing questions to the Commissioner that he doesn't appreciate.
At a time when it's more important than ever to speak truth to power, this has all the earmarks of yet another situation where power will end up being spoken to truth. Not immediately. Not obviously. But inevitably.