While ESPN usually televises the honor guard and the singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” prior to games, they have decided instead to televise the singing of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing”—the song designated as the black national anthem. The sports network is also reportedly set to “show social justice movements, actions, as they happen,” according to Breitbart.
“Our policy is to cover the anthem when it’s newsworthy. That’s not going to change,” ESPN Executive Vice President of Event and Studio Production Stephanie Druley told reporters. “We are going to continue as we’ve done with the NBA and the WNBA. We will cover social justice movements, actions, as they happen. We’re not going to shy away from that.”
Druley stressed that ESPN does not view the social justice protests as being political, despite Black Lives Matter and Antifa primarily advocating for political change.
“Look, we’re going to keep our main rule, which is when it intersects with sports, we’re going to cover it, and look, we don’t see the social justice movement as being political. It’s social justice,” said Druley. She won’t say if they’ll show the anthem for half the season or just two of 10 games. “I don’t know. We will make a judgment call every week. But I can tell you that Week 1, that first game, you will see the anthem — and you will see ‘Lift Every Voice.’”
As Front Office Sports reported: “The normally crowded NFL sidelines will look very different to millions of TV viewers this season. The league is strictly limiting the number of people with field access to avoid infecting coaches and players.”
“TV sideline reporters like ESPN’s Salters and CBS’ Wolfson will have to do their jobs from the stands. There will not be military/police honor guards on the field or on-field performances of the national anthem. Ditto for cheerleaders, marching bands and team mascots.”
“The NFL’s 1,700 players, meanwhile, will be encouraged to salute victims of police brutality by placing decals with their names on their helmets. The league will also stencil social justice statements such as ‘End Racism’ and ‘It Takes All Of Us’ in end zones this season. The league will play “’Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ before each game during opening weekend.”
ESPN’s first Monday Night Football game is scheduled for September 14, when the New York Giants will face the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans with take on the Denver Broncos.
The Washington Times reported on the effect social justice advocacy has had on professional sports, reporting: “Sports Media Watch, a website that tracks sports television ratings, the NBA saw its national ratings decline 4% from its pre-pandemic average through the league’s first week of returning to action.”
“While the NBA has struggled to rediscover its ratings mojo in a post-pandemic television landscape, NHL fans seem more than happy to follow the sport into the uncharted territory of playoff hockey in August. NBC Sports touted that its hockey ratings were up 39% for the NHL’s qualification round compared to its regular-season average.”
“Baseball, too, has seen a surge with ESPN reporting Thursday that the network’s MLB viewership jumped 29% to an average 1.2 million viewers. A company spokesman said viewership is up across key demographics, including adults 18-49 (57%) and 18-34 (69%). And the league’s premiere opening night matchup — the World Series champion Washington Nationals against the New York Yankees, carried on ESPN — was the most-watched regular-season baseball game since 2011 with 4 million viewers.”
The NHL and MLB have taken part in the nationwide support against police brutality following the death of George Floyd—a black man who died while in police custody at the end of May.