ESPN is hoping its approach to a national anthem policy goes over better than the NFL’s.
While player protests during the national anthem have made for a firestorm of controversy in recent years, the Worldwide Leader thinks it can stay above the fray by not changing anything about its “Monday Night Football” broadcast.
“We generally have not broadcasted the anthem, and I don’t think that will change this year,” ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro said. “Our plan going into this year is to not broadcast the anthem. Again, that could change. It’s unpredictable what would happen in the world, but as of now, we’re not.”
Pitaro has tried to stress in the past ESPN as a non-political organization, but the network has found itself mired in political controversies both of its own making and not.
Choosing not to broadcast the anthem – or rather, to continue its policy of not doing so – is unlikely to win friends or change minds on either side of the debate, and Pitaro certainly left the door open to change his mind.
For now, though, concerned parties will just have to guess which players stood or knelt for the national anthem – and whether the singer remembered the words.