Like it or not, ESPN isn't sticking to sports

Whatever one thinks of the revised guidelines, one thing appears beyond dispute: The volume of non-sports content within ESPN’s empire has increased significantly in recent years. Some of that has been driven by the athletes ESPN covers, who have, in recent years, begun to speak more forcefully about societal and political issues. Some of it has resulted from the breakdown of the wall between on-field and off-field activities, thanks to the explosion of social media and proliferation of media sources that make any utterance by any sports figure potential news.

(For comparative purposes, I recently reviewed a few SportsCenter episodes from the past couple of decades, and it is indeed noticeable how little politics and culture intruded into the tsunami of highlights and witty banter that once marked that show. That was reflective of the overall newsier focus ESPN had in those days.)

But while culture and politics have certainly taken on increased import within ESPN’s coverage, it’s hard to credibly assert that ESPN-branded products do not remain overwhelmingly focused on sports. Is there more discussion about zeitgeist moments like the best picture flub at the Academy Awards, or the season finale of “The Bachelor”? Yes. Is the “A Different World“-themed opening for SC6 related to sports in any way? No. But check out any ESPN-branded property on TV, radio, print or digital/mobile and you’ll find that only a fraction of the content is fully disconnected from sports.