BroBible
Just last month, ESPN agreed to a deal to acquire NFL Network and NFL RedZone. In exchange, the NFL took a 10 percent equity stake in the network.
At the time, the deal was widely frowned upon not only for fear of what would become of RedZone, but also due to the conflict of interest that would arise from the NFL holding an ownership in the media company most responsible for sports news coverage in the United States.
As it turns out, those concerns have already been validated.
Just weeks after news of the NFL pursuing an equity stake in ESPN first broke, the media outlet published a story suggesting that maybe concussions and CTE aren’t as bad as they’re made out to be.
Curious timing.
Fast forward six months and ESPN has yet again made a decision that is seemingly in the best interest of the NFL.
Mike Florio of NBC Sports reports that ESPN will not move forward with plans to produce a documentary on former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in conjunction with Spike Lee.
“ESPN, Colin Kaepernick and Spike Lee have collectively decided to no longer proceed with this project as a result of certain creative differences,” the network said in a statement issued to Reuters.com on Saturday.
When asked for more information about the decision, Lee played coy.
“It’s not coming out,” he said. “That’s all I can say … “I can’t, I signed a nondisclosure [agreement]. I can’t talk about it.”
Kaepernick rose to stardom when he led the 49ers to Super Bowl 47, where they eventually fell to the Baltimore Ravens. But by 2017, Kaepernick was out of the league after famously kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
Since that point, Kaepernick has had limited opportunities to return to the NFL.
Perhaps ESPN nixing the documentary would’ve happened either way. But the fact that it happened immediately after the NFL stepped into the ownership picture is more than a little suspect.
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