Eventually, there could be a documentary about the scrapping of ESPN’s Colin Kaepernick documentary.
The news that Spike Lee’s collaboration with Kaepernick won’t be televised by ESPN has sparked predictable speculation regarding its potential connection to the NFL acquiring 10 percent of ESPN. Even if the creative differences between Lee and Kaepernick predated ESPN’s transaction with the NFL, the timeline will make reasonable people wonder whether the league and/or ESPN put the kibosh on the project.
It’s an item in Monday’s edition of Sports Business Daily, with this title: “Speculation grows as Spike Lee’s Kaepernick doc won’t air on ESPN.” The item links to an article from Tom Jones of Poynter, which explores the perception that the ESPN-NFL deal doomed the documentary.
It’s impossible to tell Kaepenick’s story without exploring his claim that the league colluded against him after he became a free agent in 2017. Without exploring the evidence that his attorneys had developed. Without delving into the eventual settlement of the claim. Without examining the ill-fated joint workout the league arranged in November 2019. Without saying things the NFL would prefer not be said.
Then there’s the fact that the ESPN-NFL merger requires regulatory approval. Given the manner in which the current president reacted to the anthem protests sparked by Kaepernick, it would have been impossible to ignore that wrinkle in the eight-part series. Could things said in the Kaepernick documentary have become the sticking point for the administration?
Again, the creative differences between Lee and Kaepernick may have been destined to derail the documentary. The ESPN-NFL deal will nevertheless cause plenty of people to believe that the league pressed the Playmakers button. Or that ESPN, in the exercise of its programming discretion, opted to kick the plug out of the wall before anyone asked for it to be pulled.
This is the kind of thing that becomes unavoidable, now that the NFL is in line to own 10 percent of ESPN. Whether there’s something to it or whether there isn’t, any time ESPN makes a decision that tends to shield The Shield from scrutiny, reasonable people will think that the NFL asked for it — or that ESPN made the move pre-emptively.
Is it worth it? That’s for the NFL and ESPN to decide. But it’s safe to say folks won’t get used to this one. The question of whether ESPN’s coverage of the NFL will be influenced by its business relationship with the NFL will from now on be an integral part of the coverage of ESPN.
Read the full article here
