Posted on 08/23/2013 6:38:05 AM PDT by John W
Pressure from the National Football League led to ESPN’s decision on Thursday to pull out of an investigative project with “Frontline” regarding head injuries in the N.F.L., according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation.
“Frontline,” the PBS public affairs series, and ESPN had been working for 15 months on a two-part documentary, to be televised in October. But ESPN’s role came under intense pressure by the league, the two people said, after a trailer for the documentary was released Aug. 6, the day that the project was discussed at a Television Critics Association event in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Chris LaPlaca, an ESPN spokesman, said Thursday that ESPN’s decision was not based on any concerns about hurting its contractual relationship with the N.F.L. Rather, the network said in a statement, it was ending its official association with “Frontline” because it did not have editorial control of what appeared on the public television public affairs series.
But Raney Aronson-Rath, the deputy executive producer of “Frontline,” said that ESPN executives had for more than a year understood the ground rules of the collaboration: “Frontline” would keep editorial control of what it televised or put on its Web sites, and ESPN would have control of everything it televised or posted on the Web.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
MMA I would imagine doesn’t have nearly the long-term effects on the brain as boxing and potentially not as much as football.
Not even close. However since you don’t watch it I wouldn’t expect you to know that, I am not criticizing you, just pointing out the facts. Many of the matches are decided by submissions, and there isn’t nearly the number of violent shots taken to the brain as in boxing.
It may well survive okay but if they start changing the rules to not having kick-offs anymore which might eventually happen, they might lose a lot of their fanbase.
That’s right! The concussion-thing is just another part of the globalist conspiracy!
I doubt it. MMA is the biggest thing going at the moment. People want to see blood sport these days.
I think that contact will have to be sbove the knee and below the shoulder with no pads......but the need for blood and violence is satisfied in RUGBY!!!!
Completely fair ball, techworker. I don’t watch and perhaps that’s because of how its promoted. I do enjoy watching amateur boxing, though, since supposedly it’s judged on the number of scoring blows landed. Professional boxing is another matter completely.
I also freely admit I haven’t really given MMA a fair shot. That’s my fault as much as anyone’s but when all I see are these huge knockouts and ground pounding on television it tends to turn me away from watching.
I love watching rugby, especially sevens. Come to think of it, some of the new rules changes in the NFL will lead to more straight-up,rugby-type tackling (although contact below the knees is of course still allowed in football).
Your cynicism did not go unrecognized.
Colonel in a world with many entertainment choices, choosing to not watch something, not a big deal. I sometimes avoid things for awhile that I intend to get into at some point and end up not (Ron Swanson for instance).
I do happen to like MMA. If you’ve ever been around something like NCAA Wrestling, many of your greatest MMA fighters were amazing wrestlers back in their college days. Though I haven’t verified my 18 year old son who is himself an athlete in college loves this stuff and tells me that Heavyweight Champ Cain Velasquez didn’t nose an NCAA wrestling match his last two years of school.
Now don’t get me wrong, the wrestlers have to ground and pound, but having been in a few fights and losing one in a ground and pound situation, the blows weren’t quite as strong with me on my back and him punching from his knees. Though I did get a nasty black eye. I of course was a boxer and basketball player and the dang wrestler types knew the only chance they had was to get me down and this guy did it. I can assure you stand up boxing with gloves, the full punches were far worse (and as stupid teens we didn’t wear the amateur head gear).
Cynicism? I just don’t believe the concussion-thing is a controversy manufactured by other sports in order to promote themselves, and diminish the NFL.
NBA, MLB, NASCAR, NHL could all gang up and hold a gun to ESPN’s head and they wouldn’t have caved. NFL is so big that everyone who in any way makes money from it is deathly afraid of poking too hard on any issue—PEDS, concussions, gambling, thuggery; a raised eyebrow would have been enough. The NFL drives sports media today in the US, freeze-out from NFL would be disastrous. That’s why PBS doesn’t care.
FReegards
No more Tom Bradys, Brett Favres, Drew Brees, the Mannings. It'll hurt the league, no doubt. They'll all play baseball instead, probably.
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