When it comes to instances of the playground that is sports intersecting with real world news, ESPN has historically shown an impressive ability to adapt.
That history is what made it so jarring to see “The Worldwide Leader” seemingly caught flatfooted as the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade resulted in a mass shooting that left at least one person dead and more than 20 injured.
For the uninitiated, ESPN’s first on-air mention of the shooting came more than 40 minutes after most national news stations began reporting on it and more than a half-hour after FS1 shifted its on-site coverage of the parade to a Fox News simulcast. As stations elsewhere reported on the shooting, ESPN’s NBA Today carried on, with host Malika Andrews first making mention of the shooting at 3:57 p.m. ET.
The show — which is pre-taped — continued with a lighthearted Valentine’s Day segment, before turning things over to NFL Live at 4 p.m. ET. The NFL Live panel consisting of Laura Rutledge, Marcus Spears, Adam Schefter and Louis Riddick exclusively covered the shooting before turning coverage over to ABC’s Kansas City affiliate, KMBC, at 4:17 p.m. ET. SportsCenter proceeded to go on air at 5:30 p.m. ET — a half-hour earlier than scheduled — with anchors Kevin Negandhi and Elle Duncan covering the shooting extensively, including an interview with on-the-ground ABC News reporter Alex Perez.
While ESPN’s coverage rounded into form eventually, it took the network far too long to get there. Allowing NBA Today — which again, is pre-taped — to carry on with trivial basketball matters and laughing about Valentine’s Day while nearly every other network covered the shooting was a particularly tough look.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2024
ESPN finally breaks into the end of NBA Today with Malika Andrews reporting the news of the KC parade shooting before ending the show with a Valentine's Day segment. NFL Live is currently covering the story now at the top of the hour. pic.twitter.com/JMw7Hr4N44
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 14, 2024
The thing is, this is where ESPN used to thrive.
Compare Wednesday’s coverage of the shooting in Kansas City to the network’s coverage of the bombing at the Boston Marathon in 2013. At the time, ESPN quickly pivoted to two of its most respected journalists, Bob Ley and Jeremy Schaap, to anchor coverage of the tragedy on SportsCenter.
“The result gave ESPN live coverage of the horrific tragedy that was at or above the level of any news network,” Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder wrote in a 2013 year-end wrap up. “That day the network showed an uncanny ability to adapt to a major breaking news story and offer a meaningful newscast and putting its best face forward. It was an excellent decision that showed ESPN at its very best.”
Even just four years ago, ESPN quickly adapted as news broke of Kobe Bryant’s death during its coverage of the NFL Pro Bowl. While the network’s decision to keep Pro Bowl coverage on ESPN was controversial — and may have been the result of its contract with the NFL — ESPN2 quickly shifted to the SportsCenter duo of Zubin Mehenti and Michael Eaves to anchor wall to wall coverage.
“They did a phenomenal job under stressful and heartbreaking circumstances,” Sports Illustrated‘s Jimmy Traina wrote at the time. “The duo interviewed several people throughout the day while keeping up with the continuing breaking news and did so masterfully, with each anchor hitting the right tone throughout the afternoon.”
Fast forward four years and here was ESPN more than a half-hour behind its contemporaries — an eternity, considering the circumstances — and hanging its daily NBA show out to dry, before turning coverage over to a football-focused show (which did an admirable job) and local television coverage. When all was said and done, SportsCenter‘s coverage began more than two hours after the shooting occurred.
So what happened?
Taking a look at ESPN’s coverage as a whole on Wednesday, it was hard not to think of the company’s de-emphasizing of traditional journalism and the talent departures — both in front of and behind the camera — that it has resulted in. This time around, there wasn’t a Bob Ley to throw it to. And there also either wasn’t a crew capable of taking over NBA Today‘s coverage on short notice — or worse, anyone in charge who realized that’s what the situation called for.
At a minimum, ESPN should have had a crawl on screen to let viewers know that it was aware of the shooting and that live coverage would commence soon. Instead, the network looked unaware and ill-prepared for a situation that would have previously showcased its versatility.
But those previous instances came at a time when ESPN still prioritized hard news. And whether it be because of layoffs or otherwise, the network now seems to lack the institutional knowledge — and perhaps physical bodies — to adjust on the fly as nimbly as it did when covering Bryant’s tragic passing just four years ago.
It goes without saying that breaking news is difficult, especially when it comes to a situation as sensitive as a mass shooting. But when it came to ESPN’s coverage on Wednesday, the network was anything but “The Worldwide Leader.”
