Football in Trouble?

[Minimalist]

Another example of the "invisible hand" of the market in action.

http://truth-out.org/news/item/18906-pro...ke-conduct

For more than a year, public television’s award-winning investigative journalism series FRONTLINE had been collaborating on a new documentary about brain trauma in pro football with journalists from ESPN, the giant sports network. The title: “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis.”

A hard-hitting promo for the investigation upset ESPN President John Skipper. “Over the top” was his description - too “sensational.” He was so “startled” - his word - that he pulled the plug on ESPN’s partnership with FRONTLINE. The network has had a reputation for solid, even bold reporting of controversy and scandal in pro and amateur athletics. Not this time.

You have to ask, what was the actual reason for ESPN’s decision? Could it really be what John Skipper claims? Or is it that NFL games are, as The New York Times recently wrote, “probably the most valuable commodity in televised sports.” ESPN is paying $15.2 billion - billion! - for the rights to telecast “Monday Night Football” for 10 years through the year 2021, but it then reaps a fortune in advertising and subscriber fees.