The new political battlefield: ESPN

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/306724-the-new-political-battlefield-espn
""Inside ESPN, however, some feel the lack of tolerance of a particular political philosophy is a problem," he wrote.

"Many ESPN employees I talked to — including liberals and conservatives, most of whom preferred to speak on background — worry that the company’s politics have become a little too obvious, empowering those who feel as if they’re in line with the company’s position and driving underground those who don’t."

To that point, ESPN personalities and hosts taking a side on political issues and controversies is painfully obvious to anyone who watches the network. Much like cable news is veering more toward opinion than straight news, the sports network is less about pennant races, box scores, ERA and quarterback ratings, and more about opinion and debate programming.

Examples: On its slightly self-serving annual sports award program, "The ESPYs" (yup, it named an award show after itself), the 2015 edition gave Caitlyn Jenner its annual heroism award, over a double-amputee Iraq War veteran who now competes in hard-core CrossFit events. "