ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro believes it’s his network’s job to unite people around sports.
The popular sports network has been back in the news lately after Dan Le Batard went on a rant ripping President Donald Trump. It ended a nice run of the network backing off politics in favor of traditional sports coverage. It sounds like the man running the show is very aware of what people do and don’t want to hear when they turn on ESPN.
Stop what you’re doing and watch this.@LeBatardShow responds to the racist “Send her back” and “Go back to your country” attacks against Ilhan Omar and other congresswomen.
“If you’re not calling it abhorrent, obviously racist, dangerous rhetoric, you’re complicit.” pic.twitter.com/ntOC2Seg3b
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) July 18, 2019
“I’ve had this discussion internally with hundreds of our employees that sports is about uniting and ESPN needs to unite people around sports, That’s our role, or one of our roles,” Pitaro recently told the Washington Post.
I’ve ripped ESPN a lot over the years. The network at one point had pretty much become unwatchable outside of the actual games. The political garbage was overwhelming.
Now it looks like the correct man has been found to run the show. Jimmy Pitaro is miles better than John Skipper, and it’s not close.
He’s got his finger on the pulse of the average sports fan in a way Skipper never seemed to, which allowed the network to go off the rails.
With Pitaro in control, I really do think ESPN is going to get back to the roots that made the network such a gigantic success.
Before Le Batard’s outburst, they were already doing an outstanding job. Hopefully Pitaro is able to crush out anybody trying to drag the network back into the politics.
The average sports fan wants to watch highlights, hear some debates, watch the game and drink a beer. They don’t want to be lectured about politics.
It’s that simple, and Pitaro seems to understand that.
