Partnership has its privileges.
The NFL, which has had an array of media broadcast partners for decades, seems to be expanding the extent to which it puts its hooks into those that are otherwise in position to paint Big Shield in a less-than-stellar way.
In the wake of an agreement that, if approved by the current administration, would give the NFL a 10-percent equity stake in ESPN, the league has struck a couple of deals with media outlets that previously had full and complete independence to report on anything/everything that the league would prefer not to be mentioned.
Last week, it was the NFL and FrontOfficeSports.com. Presumably for a sizable fee — and perhaps for the unspoken exercise of discretion — FOS will enjoy expanded “access” to the league.
On Thursday, the New York Times announced a content deal that gives TheAthletic.com access to NFL highlights, presumably for a very sizable fee.
It puts both companies in bed with the league. And it introduces the very fair question of whether either or both will look the other way on stories that could make the league look bad.
The New York Times surely understands the extent to which the deal potentially compromises its independence, given this statement from the announcement: “This agreement with the [NFL] builds on The Athletic’s rigorous journalism.”
How “rigorous” will the journalism be when the NFL now believes it has the ability to call one of the bosses at the Times and complain?
And they do. The NFL expects its partners to behave like partners in all ways, and it reserves the right to piss and/or moan when the reporters and analysts employed by a partner don’t act accordingly.
The end result will be a slow decay of independence. Those partners who don’t behave like partners may not be partners for long, with a competitor that is willing to exercise the right kind of discretion getting preferential treatment when the current contract expires.
It seems that the league’s current goal, deliberate or not, is to compromise as many media outlets as possible, beyond the ones they own. And to ensure that those who have a mortgage payment will play ball with their employers, in the hopes of making the monthly nut.