There’s clear incentive for media outlets that air live sports to promote the leagues they broadcast in a favorable light. But most outlets take measures to keep some semblance of editorial independence.
Apparently, not Fox.
Appearing at the Front Office Sports “Tuned In” conference on Tuesday, Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks didn’t beat around the bush when discussing how his company covers the leagues it broadcasts. “We do view ourselves as kind of the unpaid marketing arm for all of our [league] partners. So we use our best judgment for what we think can make their sports more popular.”
That’s a great thing to hear if you own Fox stock. But if you’re a sports fan interested in consuming dispassionate coverage about a league, it’s past time to start looking elsewhere.
Fox’s incentives are clearly aligned with making its league partners happy. For one, promoting a league’s product can help attract more viewers to your network. But moreover, outright promoting a league puts your network in better standing for future negotiations.
Time to renew rights? Well, Fox Sports promoted the heck out of us and steered clear of those unsavory stories other outlets covered. Maybe we should renew with them. Time to make the schedule? Let’s throw Fox a bone and give them better games because they’ve treated us well.
These aren’t one-to-one, quid pro quo transactions. But it’s the type of thing leagues think about when deciding who to enter into business with.
It’s no secret that covering leagues favorably is in the best interest of networks. It’s just not often you hear the head of a prominent sports outlet call themselves an “unpaid marketing arm” for the leagues out loud.
Let’s be clear, Fox Sports is far from the only television network to treat its league partners in a way that might raise some journalistic red flags. But they might be more aggressive than others in their approach.
The network, which owns a majority stake in Big Ten Network, is blatantly promotional for the conference, taking its pregame college football road show to a Big Ten contest every week, regardless of whether it’s actually a game of national importance. Fox recently bought a one-third stake in IndyCar owner Penske Entertainment after acquiring broadcast rights to the racing circuit last year. For a property like the NFL, which is largely existential to Fox’s overall business, coverage can border on effusive (an issue that is hardly exclusive to Fox).
There’s plenty of examples elsewhere. CBS’s relationship with Augusta National Golf Club, which controls rights to the Masters, comes to mind. Augusta National exercises a level of editorial control over CBS not common in other live sports properties. ESPN just agreed to sell a 10% stake of itself to the NFL in exchange for NFL Network. TNT owns a stake in Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league it airs. There are conflicts of interest all over the place.
But even when these relationships exist, there’s still a line that shouldn’t be crossed. Calling yourself an “unpaid marketing arm” makes it seem like a league partner could tell you to jump and you’ll ask, “How high?” That’s not how this is supposed to work. There needs to be some level of autonomy or you risk losing the viewers’ trust.
Though, if that type of coverage helps networks retain the live sports rights they so desperately need to keep their businesses humming, it’s not all that surprising that this is what the industry has come to.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.