Comments on: ESPN, Patriots create an obvious conflict of interest

By: Patsfan1776

Patsfan1776 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:29:48 +0000

Kraft walks into Bristol and says “The only reason I’m here visiting is that we (nfl) might buy this dump.”

By: Devils Advocate

Devils Advocate — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:23:02 +0000

Florio you 2 faced BASTARD
you are taking money from NBC and you slam their biggest competitor. You are in bed with the big boys now and you want us to think you are impartial. give us a friggin break
Conflict of interest thats hilarious – do you live in America? do you now how things work.
Look I will be the first one to say ESPN = Entertainment Sports Prostitutution Network. But your hardon for them has more to do with your money than a conflict of intrest. Mr Florio – trying to be Mr. Impartial – now thats a “conflict of interest”

By: texasPHINSfan

texasPHINSfan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:33:05 +0000

ESPN is crap. we all know this. i’m not surprised. Hey maybe Kraft can put his son on some committee at ESPN?

By: Franchise

Franchise — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:57:28 +0000

Do you know what else ESPN and the Pats have in common?
Both suck.
ESPN lost its relevence about 5 years ago, and the Pats should be 0-2, and are the most overrated team in the league.

By: Patsfan1776

Patsfan1776 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:43:00 +0000

CliveRush,
How do you get to park so close to the stadium? Just a wonderful idea Mr. Kraft and your salmon tie. Build a strip mall in the parking lot next to the stadium and don’t worry about parking.
Florio,
Kraft and crew have a ton of businesses in the strip mall next to the stadium that need advertising because you need to be insane to shop there when there is a game or concert going on in the stadium.

By: Raiders own the Steelers

Raiders own the Steelers — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:41:30 +0000

The Patriots suck and cheat, this season they will be lucky to win 4 games.

By: daffy87

daffy87 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:22:20 +0000

ESPN is biased towards the Patriots? In other breaking news water is wet, the sky is blue, and fire is hot. Who didn’t already know that ESPN loves their Patriots, they cream their jeans on a daily basis over them even though they haven’t won a superbowl since the ’04 season.

By: CliveRush

CliveRush — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:19:00 +0000

So does this mean I will not have to pay $50.00 to park a mile from Gillette. After the hike past the expensive lots, which you cannot exit from for hours, then we get to climb Mt. Foxborough, the ramps leading up to the nose bleed seats. The entertainment business has bought the league and we the fan are expected to pay through the nose. My cable bill is rising faster than other utilities to the point where I cannot afford the HD sports channels. Pat Summeral, where have you gone?

By: username

username — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:17:52 +0000

The only journalistic intergrity issue it raises is why Florio considers this an issue but doesn’t mention that much greater conflicts are prevelant. For example Fox sports radio host John Tournour (aka J.T. the Brick) is an employee of the Oakland Raiders.

By: researchALLwars

researchALLwars — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:12:06 +0000

Amen Abe!

By: tmj

tmj — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:10:36 +0000

re: “why is there even an espnBoston.com?” – it’s a brilliant business decision by espn to rollout these local sites (espnChicago was the first one.) Traditionally people got their info from newspapers; that has shifted to the web. So people get their local sports stories from their newspaper’s dotcom site. The only problem is that newspapers are losing a ton of money. Some have folded and others will soon follow. And in the meantime to save money many are scaling back, which means, among other things, fewer sports columns.
So who is going to fill the void if I only want to read about my local sports team? That’s where these local sites come into play. Espn is playing it smart, trying out a couple as beta sites and seeing what works and what doesn’t. I’m sure there will be one in every pro sports market within a year or so. Boston is a good choice for one of the first sites because their biggest newspaper is having huge financial problems and they’ve announced plans to soon charge consumers to access their online site. In addition they have four pro teams that all have a sizeable fanbase. Further down the road each of their national entities – espn.com and espn tv – can use the info gained from their local sites on stories about a specific team or player. Same hold true with their network of radio stations.
We all may dislike espn for some of their content (around the horn, for example) but I can’t help but respect them as a well run business.

By: chapnasty

chapnasty — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:10:21 +0000

I watched Sportscenter this morning while on the treadmill at the gym and it was the worst episode of all time. They had 2 women hosting and I kid you not there were 5 Brittany Spears references including “It’s Brittany Baby” and an extended report on the WNBA. I am obviously not blaming the quality on the women as a lot of the women in sports broadcasting do a fantastic job but the content in which they spoke was absolutely terrible.

By: freekwhc

freekwhc — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:57:41 +0000

” 56. sim448 says: September 24, 2009 11:56 AM
…really, moron? dont forget that Belichick won 2 super bowls as the defensive coordinator with the Giants, went to the super bowl in 96 with the Pats as Parcells top asst, again, and had a lot to do with the Jets revival of the late 90′s. Oh, before Art Modell pulled the rug from under him and sold the Browns, they were coming off an 11-5 playoff season, and they were 3-1 when that went down. Get a clue, you have no idea what you are talking about. Belichick is and always will be a top 3 coach in the nfl. Ask Parcells how many titles he has won since Belichick left him.”
Sims,
Belichick won superbowls as a coordinator, isn’t that special. His stint in Cleveland was not good. .450 winning % is hardly a good thing. Then he comes to the Jets, assists Parcells (who ran the defense, in case you were unaware) and rides his coattails to a job with the Pats. After a God awful first season, the Jets do him a favor and knock Bledoe out, Brady comes in, and the rest is history. So he gets lucky with a 6th round draft pick turning into one of the best QBs ever and that makes him a “genius”? Look at his draft record, for every good “diamond-in-the-rough” pick there’s about 3 horrible ones. He is way overrated, a good defensive mind, but not the “genius” people make him out to be. He’ll miss Scott Pioli (the real genius behind the Pats teams) and once Brady declines and retires, Belichick will go back to his status as average head coach.

By: ampats

ampats — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:23:42 +0000

DCfan, must be a product of the DC school system as a geography major!

By: tj.52

tj.52 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:22:40 +0000

Kraft owns a paper company too, does that mean that ESPN can’t use his paper?
Don’t be ridiculous. Kraft Sports is totally unaffiliated with the Patriots organization, it is a totally seperate entity.
And to all the “ESPN is in bed with the Pats” idiots: ask a Patriots fan how complimentary ESPN has been towards their team the last few years.
Some of the “serious” comments on this board are scarily ignorant. Must be registered voters.

By: TheDudeNH

TheDudeNH — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:17:45 +0000

Was there something going on under a rock between September 2007 and March 2008 that every PFT poster besides me took part in?

By: DaBruinz

DaBruinz — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:00:53 +0000

I find it amazing that all you Pats haters think that ESPN has been supporting the Patriots all these years. I have news for you people. ESPN has hated the Patriots for years. Tom Jackson and Mark Schlereth have been slamming BB and the Pats for the better part of a decade. It was ESPN and idiots like Greg Easterbrook who made the Camera incident out to be more than it was. It was ESPN who ran with the story about that liar who used to work for the Pats right before the SB. I just loved the tapes they showed.. Especially of the one in San Diego where they were focused on the Cheerleaders Butts. I bet that really had an impact on the game…
As for Florio and this article. Seriously dude. You need to stop making like everything is some conspiracy by the Patriots. If you are going to claim conflict of interest, then you need to go and look at all the teams that have things like that. Not just the Patriots.. Or are you that poor of a journalist that you can’t be bothered?

By: Abe Froeman

Abe Froeman — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:58:39 +0000

There’s a lot of cynical people who say, “So what, we’ve seen this a thousand time.”
That’s the problem with America today. Just because you feel that way doesn’t mean people shouldn’t try to fix things for the better.
People just accept this crap because they are completely dis-empowered over their own lives.
People need to realize they need to stand up to the powers that be.
Just accepting what’s going on as “well that’s the way the world is” is horrible. You might as well be dead.
Don’t accept that which is wrong.

By: Ken1313

Ken1313 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:49:46 +0000

ESPN has been anti-Patriots for a long time. The fact that their flagship is in CT means. Go back a couple years and see the bogus reports coming out of ESPN about the Patriots…….anyone who thinks that ESPN is a shill for the Patriots…is either blind, deaf, or just a hater. As for analysts….don’t even get me started on Tom Jackson, Merril Hodge or the worst shill of all time…. Sterling Sharpe. But hey…it’s chic to pile on the Patriots….right? Carry on haters

By: Dave Mac

Dave Mac — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:25:42 +0000

Florio, your in idiot. Please do me a favor. Let the other writers do stories about the Patriots. WE ALL KNOW YOU HATE THEM BUDDY

By: WoPhat

WoPhat — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:21:23 +0000

As Leone510 pointed out, this story was on espn.com the other day. I rarely visit the site, but after Florio's questioning how the world wide leader would treat the situation in light of the Big Ben avoidance, I did go look. In fact, you can still find it through the main site, but the link now points to the story at espnBoston.com. http://search.espn.go.com/brady/new-england-patriots/articles/last-7-days/4294803574-9-19

By: Rob0729

Rob0729 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:19:20 +0000

Who cares anymore? Anyone looking at ESPN for legitimate sports news is kidding themselves. ESPN have already shown repeatedly that they lack objectivity and will not write unfavorable pieces on their business partners in sports. Why would we expect any different now?

By: Opie

Opie — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:17:01 +0000

I would like to nominate myself for the position of ombudsmen for PFT.
Truthfully, it “may” be a conflict of interest from an opinion on newsworthy information, but business wise, well it makes perfect sense. Who has deeper hooks into the Boston community than the Krafts? That leads to ad sales, which at the end of the day, is what drives revenue for this new ESPN venture.
Watch how it all plays out with ESPNDallas, etc. Local businsesses with connections driving revenue dollars. Sports Marketing has always worked that way. Large corporations hiring smaller, local companies to run events, etc.
No worries.

By: tmj

tmj — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:16:57 +0000

People are making this out to be a bigger deal than it is. Kraft Sports Group is handling the advertising, not the editorial content. They’re not part owners (like many pro teams and newspapers or cable networks.) Second of all it’s for espnboston.com, not espn.com. They hired a local company for a localized site, big deal.
In regards to the Brady wedding story, espn would be hypocritical if they covered that story on their main site. Frankly any site that covers stories like the Roethlisberger case is just creating more incentive for money grubbers to get their 15 minutes of fame and try to legally extort money.
As for Bristol loving the Patriots, I wouldn’t characterize the way espn covered the team during spygate as ‘slurping’ with their comments and stories. Espn led the media charge in one-sided reporting of wild speculation and outright lies on that one, beating a dead horse to get every last drop of ad revenue, ratings and web hits out of that story.
And as far as espn hiring Tedy Bruschi as ‘proof’ they love the Patriots, here’s a clue: he’s not exactly the first ex-player they’ve hired. I guess that also means they love the Steelers (Hoge, Schlereth), Bears (Ditka), Broncos (Jackson), etc.

By: Patsfansince73

Patsfansince73 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:15:49 +0000

HAD TO comment on those saying that ESPN has been sucking on the Patriot teet for years. That is FAR from the case. Before they won the first superbowl ESPN always considered the Patriots a doormat, or an also-ran.
The first year they won the superbowl ESPN called them a “surprise team” and that the win was “a shocker”.
The following year when they didn’t make the playoffs ESPN considered them a “one and done” team that “had potential to be a contender” the following year, but “not championship material”.
When they won the second superbowl then they started taking notice of the team and gave them a bit of credit. They still noted the “luck” in some instances but did say that they had a good year.
It was only after the Patriots went back-to-back on the Superbowl wins and won the 3 out of 4 years that ESPN FINALLY gave the Patriots some credit.
Since then I think they have overdone the making up for years past. So any of you haters that think they are biased and sucking on the teet here just STFU! We fans had to endure all the crap up to just a few years ago from that sports tabloid. It’s about time we had our due.

By: hayward giablommi

hayward giablommi — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:12:28 +0000

bobinpuertorico says:
Florio, This might be news for any other cable network, but not for ESPN – the Everyone Supports the Patriots Network!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sure bob, except when ESPN is spreading false allegations like wildfire and employing some hack named Mike Fish to try and dig up disgruntled former employees who might have an axe to grind, even though there’s not an ounce of evidence or truth to be found. So, no bob, you’re wrong AGAIN.

By: brian91388

brian91388 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:02:48 +0000

It’s too funny to hear Steelers fans getting mad about Tedy Bruschi, saying teams shouldn’t have a representative…umm, have you seen Merril Hodge? The guy has picked the Steelers to win every week for the last, oh I don’t know, 8 years now? Obviously Bruschi isn’t objective about his old team, but how could he be? The guy spent about 15 years there, recovered from a stroke, and was embraced by the fans. I’d rather have a guy be honest than act like he has no bias (yeah, I see you Tom Jackson). I think Patriots fans and non Patriots fans get too worked up about ESPN. There are some analysts on ESPN who straight up do not like New England, and can’t be objective. But there are some who like them, and can’t be objective. Everything evens out…it’s better than them acting like Florio who tries to stir the pot for no reason every once in a while with every team, as if he screaming “hey look at me, I have no biases”.

By: sim448

sim448 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:56:33 +0000

“Citizen Strange says:
September 24, 2009 11:33 AM
The Patriots begin and end with the deaf, dumb and blind luck of accidentally drafting of Tom Brady in the sixth round.
Once Brady is no longer an elite QB, Belichick will lose his world-wide media proclaimed “Genius” status and go back to being a below average coach and the Pats will go back to having thousands and thousands of empty seats in their stadium like they have for all but 10 years of their existence.”
really, moron? dont forget that Belichick won 2 super bowls as the defensive coordinator with the Giants, went to the super bowl in 96 with the Pats as Parcells top asst, again, and had a lot to do with the Jets revival of the late 90′s. Oh, before Art Modell pulled the rug from under him and sold the Browns, they were coming off an 11-5 playoff season, and they were 3-1 when that went down. Get a clue, you have no idea what you are talking about. Belichick is and always will be a top 3 coach in the nfl. Ask Parcells how many titles he has won since Belichick left him.

By: John

John — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:55:44 +0000

mvlonergan says: Wow. For a lawyer you’re really naive.
—-
You misspelled ‘willfully ignorant’.

By: JRC007

JRC007 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:54:24 +0000

Hey genius, how is this a conflict for ESPN? They hired Kraft; Kraft works for ESPN not the other way around. So what, ESPN would not report bad things about the Patriots so that the Kraft Group would still sell advertising for ESPN? ESPN is the client here; they have no incentive to cover for the Patriots. SBD doesn’t bat an eye because your theory makes no sense. Also, I assume you checked with NBC to see whether it uses the Kraft Group for its advertising in Boston. I look forward to your report on whether NBC has any ties to any of the owners.