The modern age of sports television is shifting towards entertainment rather than objective reporting, and Monumental Sports, the company that owns the Washington Wizards, Capitals, and Mystics, is no exception.
Those familiar with the Washington Wizards broadcast spoke on the condition of anonymity Ben Strauss of the Washington Post, telling him that higher-ups at the network have pushed for more team-friendly content.
Truthfully, we’d be naive to think that a network, which owns the team and the team’s media rights would do anything but. In the instance where both the team and team network are not owned by the same person, there’s more room for non-partisan sports talk, allowing room for criticism, instead of carrying water for the team, at the expense of team-friendly content.
For example, the New York Mets were purchased in 2020 by Steve Cohen, but the rights to the team’s regional sports network, SportsNet New York (SNY) are still in the hands of the previous owners — Sterling Entertainment Enterprises (Fred and Jeff Wilpon) in partnership with cable providers Charter and Comcast.
Needless to say, there isn’t exactly a push for team-friendly content, as the broadcasters are often not afraid to be critical, especially when it comes to the Mets.
According to WaPo, when longtime Wizards star John Wall returned to D.C. as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers in 2022, the broadcast was reportedly told not to air a package that commemorated his nine seasons there, even though it had already been put together by staffers.
In another instance, the broadcast was reportedly informed that it spent too much time praising the effort of Anthony Davis, who put together a 50-point performance in a Los Angeles Lakers win over the Wizards last December.
“Our instruction to talent is to play the ball where it lies. Our fans are smart, and they get it. We don’t need gratuitous comments on either side of the ledger,” said Zach Leonsis, President of Media & New Enterprises for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and the son of Ted.
Neither a tribute to Wall or praising a 50-point performance seems “gratuitous,” but we digress.
However, according to WaPo, this is just what the RSN model looks like now. It’s about entertainment. And this is what entertainment looks like now.
One person who has been involved in the network said this was just a sign of the times. RSNs across the country used to do more reporting on their teams, the person said, but that has changed at most networks. “I don’t think Monumental is any different than any other ownership group,” the person said. “I think everyone knows, at the end of the day, this is entertainment now.”
For better or worse, the modern age of sports television is moving away from objective reporting in favor of entertainment, and perhaps Monumental Sports will be the ones leading the charge. At the very least, they seem to have learned well from their neighbors in Baltimore regarding how to manage broadcasters and what they’re allowed to say.
[WaPo]
