What's a conflict of interest when money is to be made?
SportsBusiness Daily is reporting that ESPN has hired Kraft Sports Group to sell local advertising for the fledgling ESPNBoston.com. Kraft Sports Group. As in Robert Kraft. As in the owner of the New England Patriots. Okay, do you get it? ESPN is a sports news outlet entering into a significant business partnership with one of the handful of teams that will be covered by the ESPNBoston.com site.
Did everybody loses consciousness at the exact same time or is this a conflict of interest?
The blog, profootballtalk.com, notes that the civil suit against Tom Brady is not mentioned, despite the serious claims made against one of the top quarterbacks in the league, on ESPN main site, not even on the ESPN.com AFC East blog. There is a mention of it in the ESPNBoston.com site-- as if they are keeping it away from the larger sports audience.
Did ESPN.com get together with members of the Kraft group to strategy for mentioning the Brady lawsuit on a scaled-down basis? Were they trying to avoid the type of criticism they got for looking the other away when the news of the civil lawsuit against Ben Roethlisberger emerged?
Shouldn't the relationship between ESPN and the group that owns an NFL team invite scrutiny?
Tags: NFL ESPN
