Election Season Is Already A Migraine For ESPN | Bobby Burack

The upcoming presidential election is already a headache for ESPN. 

Contrary to criticism, ESPN does not actually want employees discussing politics publicly. When Jimmy Pitaro took over as president in 2018, he reminded staffers and reporters during a press conference the following:

"[ESPN] is not a political organization," said Pitaro. "We are a sports media company."

However, the Disney-owned network has shown a reluctance to enforce its self-proclaimed "ban on politics" on liberal employees, particularly those who are minorities.

ESPN talents have mostly ignored Pitaro's edict since the death of George Floyd in 2020. He's done nothing about it. Consequently, left-leaning front-facing talents do not fear Pitaro. The past few weeks reaffirmed that.

Most notably, Mina Kimes praised Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz for his "masculinity," leading to an ongoing feud with OutKick. You can read more about Kimes' false accusations against us here.

Kimes is not alone. 

"SportsCenter" anchor Elle Duncan recently criticized Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance and the Republicans over his resurfaced, taken-out-of- context "childless cat lady" comments.

"Making snap judgements on childless people whilst trying to prevent some families from utilizing the only hope they have of expanding their family is the real sociopathic behavior. Sending love to the ppl being attacked for making choices w/ IN and in many cases OUTSIDE of their control," Duncan posted on X. 

Columnist David Dennis arraigned Donald Trump for sitting down with the National Association of Black Journalists earlier this month, suggesting the former president does nor respect black journalists. 

"That man doesn’t even believe the National Association Of Black Journalists should even exist lmao like what are we doing right now," tweeted Dennis.

Last week, Sarah Spain applauded the 2024 Democratic National Convention. "The thing that stands out most about the DNC speakers is that they’re normal people," wrote Spain. "Funny, smart, accomplished, exceptional people. But normal."

Spain contrasted the DNC with the Republican National Convention last month, saying "It’s incredibly endearing and far more inspiring than stiff, creepy, fear-mongering, WEIRD RNC spokespeople & politicians."

OutKick asked ESPN president of content Burke Magnus about Spain's rant, to which he had a member of the network's public relations team immediately reach out with the following comment: "Sarah is not employed as an on-air ESPN talent."

Sort of. Spain still works for espnW. The network referred to her as an "ESPNer" just the week prior. Put simply, ESPN is trying to distance itself from Spain's politics.

Sources also tell OutKick that ESPN executives "were not thrilled" with Duncan and Davis' posts and Kimes' response to OutKick. 

Specifically, the network is aware that any unpunished violation of its political policy will be compared to how its punishemnt of Sage Steele, who was suspended in 2021 for breaking the same policy, which resulted in a since-settled lawsuit.

Note: Steele was the only openly conservative talent at the network.

What is ESPN so afraid of? Why can't the network simply tell employees to "stick to sports" or else?  In simple terms: ESPN's mostly white male executives are fearful of silencing women and people of color.

And ESPN talents know that. 

Two agents from two different talent agencies tell OutKick that ESPN is unlikely to discipline employees for discussing politics ahead of the election in the event the company has to decipher between "political commentary" and "support for the first black female president and women's reproductive rights."

Translation: ESPN employees know they can use their platforms to support Kamala/Walz. And only Kamala/Walz.

Now, OutKick has routinely defended the rights of liberal employees at ESPN to voice political opinions. We cover both politics and sports. We believe others should be able to, as well. But conservative employees should have the same rights. 

Yet, at ESPN, they so obviously do not. 

ESPN is the largest media brand in sports. Around half of all sports fans will cast their ballot for Trump this fall. The idea that its hosts can only support Harris is wrong. It is a disservice to sports fans.

Stephen A. Smith, the face of ESPN, acknowledged this conundrum last year. 

"You can't let one person get away with [talking politics] and not let the other person get away with it," Smith told Dan Le Batard. "The rules have to be for everybody."

Speaking of Smith, his contract permits him to host a podcast separate from ESPN. His podcast focuses just as much on politics as sports. Smith's deal allows him to appear across cable news as he pleases. Stephen A. is a regular on Chris Cuomo's new primetime show on NewsNation.

Understandably, some ESPN employees view Smith's exemption from the political rule as hypocritical. It is. ESPN's entire approach to policing political talk is hypocritical.

There are different rules for Stephen A. and everyone else. There are different rules for liberals and conservatives. There are different rules for white people and black people.

Such disparate treatment is hardly a way to run a business, especially during an election year. And surely, at some point soon, it will backfire. Either an talent will stand up for Trump or cross the line in their advocacy for the Democratic Party.

At that point, ESPN will have to take a stand – a stand that could prove to be of significant consequence internally and externally.