On Friday at ESPN’s Football Media Day, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro said that the network won’t televise the national anthem on Monday Night Football.
“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. Again, that could change. It’s unpredictable what could happen in the world, but as of now, we’re not.”
ESPN showed the national anthem during three NFL games last year, and historically hasn’t done it much (this is the same for other networks that show NFL games). The national anthem at NFL games remains a substantial story over the last three years, and player protests have continued during this preseason.
Notably, President Donald Trump has frequently blasted NFL players for protests during the anthem.
On Tuesday night during his rally in West Virginia, Trump reprimanded ESPN for their decision to not show the anthem.
By making the announcement on their decision to not show the anthem during Monday Night Football, ESPN likely wanted to “avoid getting trapped” in the anthem controversy as the New York Post stated last week.
"It seems they may have just made themselves a Trump target instead," cited a Yahoo Sports commentator.
As ESPN remains desperate to avoid getting trapped in the anthem controversy, 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.
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