While different ESPN regimes have had different rules, one regulation has seemingly stood the test of time as a cardinal sin for the Worldwide Leader.
You criticize players and coaches. You can criticize leagues (but not too much). You can even criticize fans.
Don’t, however, criticize each other.
But while ESPN-on-ESPN crime has always been inevitable considering the personalities involved — and is at least in part a reason why websites like this one exist — the company has seemingly enjoyed a calmer atmosphere under chairman Jimmy Pitaro’s leadership. Sure, Pat McAfee caused a shitstorm when he publicly accused longtime ESPN executive Norby Williamson — who has since left the company — of being a “rat” who was trying to sabotage his show and there’s always the occasional on-air dustup on show like First Take, but such run-ins have typically been the exception to the rule in Bristol in recent years.
That was until December 2024.
Whether it’s the result of coincidence or something deeper, these last few weeks have seemingly brought more examples of ESPN-on-ESPN crime than we’ve seen in the last few years combined. For the uninitiated, a rundown:
On Dec. 10, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers ripped ESPN for its “unfounded or asinine” takes, specifically noting “both non-former players and former players who are trying to stay relevant fame-wise” during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, which airs on ESPN. That led to a series of responses from ESPN personalities, including NFL analyst and former safety Ryan Clark, who Rodgers replied to — again on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN — by begging to know whether or not he was vaccinated for COVID-19(?) Clark has since responded in kind.
And then there’s the matter of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, which the network covered in a curiously negative manner over the weekend, despite being the postseason’s exclusive rightsholder. That included Kirk Herbstreit not only questioning the postseason’s selection process following a series of first-round blowouts, but also taking aim at Ohio State fans and First Take for their criticism of Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day.
That unsurprisingly prompted responses from both Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe, with the latter issuing a stern warning to Herbstreit. The Hall of Fame tight end even invoked ESPN’s policy against company-on-company crime, stating: “If we’re going to be on the same team, if we’re gonna work for the same network, don’t do that. Kirk, Chris Fowler, I promise you, if you ever mention any platform that I’m on again talking about ‘I wonder what they’re going to say as negativity,’ I promise you, ESPN ain’t got enough bosses to keep me off y’all for what I’m going to say… don’t play with me.”
Roughly 12 hours later, ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast booth seemingly took a more subliminal dig at its own network’s coverage of the College Football Playoff, with both Troy Aikman and Joe Buck taking issue with the constant retroactive negativity regarding the selection process.
“I think the disappointment is for those that want to question whether those teams belong [in the CFP]… We see teams in the Super Bowl that lose by large margins…” – Troy Aikman
“I think what it does is it diminishes the job that the teams that won did.” – Joe Buck 🏈🎙️ pic.twitter.com/GKRSk8IZ49
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 24, 2024
Traditionally, the idea of a high profile athlete like Rodgers repeatedly using an ESPN platform to criticize and mock ESPN talent without any pushback or ESPN’s top college football analyst simultaneously feuding with one of ESPN’s top shows and his NFL counterparts would have been one of the biggest stories of the year. And yet, somehow, both have happened in the last two weeks alone.
So what’s happening here?
There’s no clear answer, but there’s also no indication this will be slowing down anytime soon. As ESPN continues in its superstar era, personalities only seem more emboldened, especially after having seen what McAfee has gotten away with for more than a year now.
Speaking of McAfee, it’s been impossible not to notice him having a role in all of this while also absolving himself from being at the center of any of it. It’s his show that has provided the platform for Rodgers to take aim at ESPN and its talent on multiple occasions (something McAfee, himself, also hasn’t been shy to do), and his College GameDay colleague and friend in Herbstreit who finds himself at the center of the company’s current controversy. In between Sharpe and Smith’s response and Aikman and Buck’s more subtle shade on Monday, Herbstreit appeared on The Pat McAfee Show, where he did his best to take a more measured approach to his recent comments while also standing his ground.
Perhaps ESPN is taking a page out of the playbook of McAfee’s former employer, Barstool Sports, which has thrived by leaning into a “show behind the show” approach. That’s not to say we should be expecting Surviving SportsCenter anytime soon. But there’s something to be said for viewers having an investment beyond the realm of traditional television.
The more likely answer, however, is that this is all a result of eight-figure talents realizing that their employer’s policy — real or implicit — regarding ESPN-on-ESPN crime is less of a rule than it is a suggestion, at least as far as they’re concerned. And while there hasn’t been anything from all of this that has warranted a suspension — let alone a firing — just yet, it will certainly be worth monitoring whether this becomes a blip to close 2024 or a trend that continues into 2025.
