Throughout its history, ESPN and its sister networks have been the targets of criticism for programming choices, biased coverage, conflict of interest, and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts. Additionally, ESPN has been criticized for focusing too much on the Dallas Cowboys, LeBron James, Los Angeles and New York teams in general (particularly the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees), Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Lionel Messi, the Southeastern Conference (SEC), basketball and American football and very little on other sports such as Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Other criticism has focused on issues of race and ethnicity in ESPN's varying mediated forms, as well as carriage fees and issues regarding the exportation of ESPN content.
Some critics argue that ESPN's success is their ability to provide other enterprise and investigative sports news while competing with other hard sports-news-producing outlets such as Yahoo! Sports and Fox Sports. Some scholars have challenged ESPN's journalistic integrity calling for an expanded standard of professionalism to prevent biased coverage and conflicts of interest. Mike Freeman's 2001 book ESPN: The Uncensored History, which alleged sexual harassment, drug use and gambling, was the first critical study of ESPN. And then in 2011, a detailed oral history about ESPN by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales called Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN was released.
Cost and finances ESPN has also been accused of overpaying for sports broadcasting rights, and that Wall Street analysts have raised concerns that this could be a major drain on Disney as a whole, since the amount of money that can be recuperated from retransmission consent fees and advertising is limited; Disney still profits from the ESPN division but as of 2015 was cutting the network's higher-priced content to ensure long-term profitability. In October 2015, ESPN laid off about 300 employees, citing the rights costs combined with the increasing trend of cord-cutting.
ESPN currently charges the highest retransmission consent fee of any major cable television network in the United States. In 2011, the main channel alone carried a monthly rate of $4.69 per subscriber (nearly five times the price of the next-costliest channel, TNT), with ESPN's other English language channels costing an additional $1.13 per subscriber; these prices rise on a nearly constant basis. By 2017, ESPN's fees had risen to over $7 for the main channel and roughly $3 for its sister outlets. As of 2024, the rate was $9.42 per subscriber, which was steady compared to the previous year and had risen more slowly than TNT and regional sports networks. Part of the cause of this high fee is the amount of money that ESPN pays for sports rights, particularly the NFL. In August 2011, ESPN agreed to pay the NFL $1.9 billion annually for the rights to carry Monday Night Football through 2021; this despite the fact that the broadcast networks pay approximately half that price for their packages, which include lucrative and highly watched contests such as the Super Bowl, conference championships and Thanksgiving games while ESPN's package does not (ESPN's package does include the NFL draft). Cable and satellite television providers condemned ESPN's most recent contract extension with the NFL and have contemplated moving the network to a higher programming tier to mitigate cost increases.Atkinson, Claire (September 10, 2011). Cable operators rip ESPN's $15B rights deal with NFL. The New York Post. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
In 2012, ESPN reportedly paid about $7.3 billion over 12 years for the broadcasting rights to all seven bowl games of the College Football Playoff, an average of about $608 million per year. That includes $215 million per year which they previously agreed to air the Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls, plus $470–475 million annually for the rest of the package. Also in 2012, ESPN and Major League Baseball agreed to an eight-year extension, increasing ESPN's average yearly payment from about $360 million to approximately $700 million. In October 2014, ESPN signed a nine-year extension with the NBA, worth three times as much as the previous deal.
These deals were made when new sports channels like NBCSN and Fox Sports 1 emerged, and so analysts believe that ESPN deliberately drove the prices up as a defensive measure to block these competitors from acquiring live rights.The moves that forced ESPN's cuts. Sports Business Journal. Retrieved December 31, 2015. Wall Street analysts have also raised concerns that the amount ESPN is paying for all of these rights could be a major drain on The Walt Disney Company as a whole, since the amount of money that can be recuperated from retransmission consent fees and advertising is limited; Disney still profits from the ESPN division but as of 2015 was cutting ESPN's higher-priced content to ensure long-term profitability.Crum, Rex (June 29, 2015). Why cash cow ESPN is becoming a drag on Disney. TheStreet.com. Retrieved July 9, 2015. In October 2015, ESPN laid off about 300 employees, citing the rights costs combined with the increasing trend of cord-cutting.ESPN layoffs will gut the network's production staff. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2015. Another 100 employees, mostly in news gathering and including large numbers of public faces of the network, were laid off in April 2017.
John Skipper's time as President of ESPN was tumultuous. During Skipper's tenure (from January 2012 to December 2017) ESPN lost nearly 15% of its subscribers and laid off more than 500 employees. Additionally, ESPN's television ratings declined significantly across the board and ESPN endured criticism from some quarters over the declining quality of its programming.
Bias towards certain teams and players
ESPN has been accused of having a bias towards certain sports teams and a "love affair" with superstar players and big market franchises, particularly teams and superstars that play in Los Angeles and New York City. ESPN's ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber, responded to these criticisms by saying that the industry is ratings-driven. Since MLB Network launched on January 1, 2009, Baseball Tonight has been the target of criticism because of its perceived bias in favor of certain teams such as the Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and the New York Yankees, both based within driving distance of ESPN's studios in Bristol, Connecticut. One opinion was expressed by former major-leaguer Heath Bell:
Additionally, the network's daytime debate shows (especially First Take and Get Up) have been criticized for focusing too much on the NBA and NFL, choosing narratives and drama over actual sports analysis. Athletes over the years have called out ESPN (and to a lesser extent its rivals like Fox Sports) for putting too much pressure on them and setting up a negative image on them, to which it’s analysts have declined to accept accountability. By far, the league with the most negative impact with ESPN has to be the NBA. Many viewers and players have accused the network for causing the fanbase to become more toxic than ever, from discriminating players that haven’t won a championship, to bias for big market teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics.
ESPN's NFL coverage has been criticized for having too many topics regarding the Dallas Cowboys, particularly in seasons where the team struggles to win and fails to make the playoffs. The Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones has been the target of ESPN’s criticisms, to the annoyance of viewers who complain about the network milking their topics regarding the Cowboys. In the early 2010s, the network’s flagship program First Take has been criticized for what is perceived by many as its excessive coverage of the career of Tim Tebow. During his tenure with the New York Jets, in which he did not start in a game, and threw just eight passes the entire season, Tebow was nonetheless often a leading topic on the show.
Carriage disputes
Dish Network On August 4, 2009, Dish Network sued ESPN for $1 million in a federal breach of contract lawsuit, alleging that the network violated the "Most Favored Nations" clause by not extending the same carriage terms that it provided to Comcast and DirecTV for ESPNU and ESPN Classic. On August 5, ESPN announced it would fight the lawsuit and stated in a press release that "we have repeatedly advised Dish that we are in full compliance with our agreement and have offered them a distribution opportunity with respect to ESPNU and ESPN Classic consistent with the rest of the industry. We will not renegotiate settled contracts and will vigorously defend this legal action, the apparent sole purpose of which is to get a better deal."
Dish Network moved ESPNU from its "America's Top 250" package to its "America's Top 120" package on September 30, 2009. However, the provider claimed that the change had nothing to do with the lawsuit. On June 22, 2010, ESPN majority owner The Walt Disney Company pulled the high definition feeds of ESPNews, Disney Channel, Disney XD and ABC Family from Dish Network's lineup, although the standard definition feeds of all four channels remained on the provider. In March 2014, Disney signed a comprehensive carriage deal with Dish Network for its networks (along with several new networks, such as Disney Junior, Longhorn Network, and SEC Network), including high definition feeds and TV Everywhere access for the networks and ABC owned-and-operated stations, and the ability to distribute their networks on a planned over-the-top internet television service. As a condition of the new deal, Dish Network agreed to disable the ability to use the automatic commercial skipping function on its Hopper DVR on ABC programming within 72 hours of its original airing. In December 2014, Dish Network reached a similar new carriage deal with CBS, restricting the use of AutoHop on CBS programming for seven days after its original airing.
Disney's channels went dark again on Dish and Sling TV on September 30, 2022. The blackout ended almost 48 hours later.
Verizon FiOS In April 2015, ESPN Inc. sued Verizon for offering ESPN and ESPN2 as part of an optional sports theme package under its new "Custom TV" offering for its FiOS service, breaching a requirement for the two networks to be carried as part of the basic service.
YouTube TV On December 17, 2021, YouTube TV stopped carrying all Disney-owned channels including ESPN due to a contract expiration. The channels were restored on the service the next day, after the companies reached a new agreement.
Another contract expiration dispute occurred on YouTubeTV beginning October 30, 2025. The Disney owned channels including ESPN were restored on November 15.
Charter Spectrum ESPN and sister Disney networks went dark on Charter Spectrum on September 1, 2023, interrupting coverage of the college football season opener and the US Open. Charter claims it intends to offer cheaper, non-sports packages to customers, as a way to fight cordcutting and to prepare for ESPN's potential launch of a full-service over-the-top subscription. On September 11, 2023, all Disney networks returned to the lineup.
DirecTV