National anthem protests are once again expected to be a big topic of discussion across the NFL this season, but ESPN is making an effort to keep the focus on football during its broadcasts.
On Friday, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro confirmed that the network will not be including the national anthem as part of its coverage before “Monday Night Football” games in 2018.
1/2 ESPN will not be broadcasting the National Anthem on Monday nights this year.
"We generally have not broadcasted the anthem and I don't think that will change this year. Our plan going into this year is to not broadcast the anthem …
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 17, 2018
2/2 " … again that could change. It's unpredictable what could happen in the world but as of now, we're not. We have communicated that back to the NF. They have not asked but as courtesy and good partners we have let them know what our plans are." – ESPN Pres. Jimmy Pitaro
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 17, 2018
Pitaro added that ESPN will cover instances where sports and politics intersect but emphasized that the World Wide Leader is not a political organization.
Pitaro: "ESPN is NOT a political organization. It's not our job to politics, purely, but we'll cover the intersection of sports & politics. "When something happens, when Eagles disinvited from White House, when someone takes a knee, if we think newsworthy were going to cover it."
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) August 17, 2018
ESPN has tried to distance itself from the national anthem debate and the issues the NFL has had with Donald Trump, and we saw the most glaring example of that when a popular on-air personality was suspended for going after Trump on Twitter. The network has actually avoided broadcasting the anthem for years, though there were a few instances last season where they deemed it newsworthy and broke from standard procedure.
