May 22, 2019

ESPN Admits Mixing Politics With Sports Was a Mistake

The sports network plans to once again focus on sports sans any overt political commentary.

In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Jimmy Pitaro, the new president of ESPN, tacitly acknowledged that the sports network made a mistake over the past few years when it allowed commentators to express their political opinions on air. He also admitted what many sports fans have long expressed: “Without question our data tells us our fans do not want us to cover politics.” You don’t say. He went on to say, “My job is to provide clarity. I really believe that some of our talent was confused on what was expected of them. If you fast-forward to today, I don’t believe they are confused.”

The data does indeed support Pitaro’s conclusion. Following ESPN’s hard-left political push for everything “social justice,” the sports network saw its viewership numbers tank. Since 2011, the network has lost an estimated 15 million subscribers — bleeding that accelerated as ESPN anchors regularly smeared President Donald Trump as a racist while embracing Colin Kaepernick’s insulting national anthem kneeling protests.

Even as the numbers were dropping, ESPN sought to deny the most obvious cause and claimed that “the ratings crash was due to bad games” and “increased entertainment options,” not the network’s injection of leftist politics into its sports commentary. However, by December of last year, ESPN execs finally admitted the truth. “I think we miscalculated a little bit,” stated ESPN vice president Norby Williamson. Yes, just a little.

The question remains, how many of those 15 million subscriptions will ESPN be able to get back? And furthermore, just how committed is the sports network to simply broadcasting sports?

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.