When Mike Florio of the blog Pro Football Talk first broke the news that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had been accused of sexual assault, major sports networks like ESPN could be forgiven for not sending a team of reporters out to cover the story.
After all, even though PFT recently became part of NBC Sports and, as a lawyer, Florio would know better than to post these kinds of allegations if they weren't true, his site still had the scarlet letter of ""blog"" attached to it. However, as this week has gone by and many news outlets—including both major Pittsburgh newspapers, The Associated Press and countless blogs—have all covered the story, ESPN has yet to even discuss it.
In fact, the only mention the World Wide Leader makes of the case is a single sentence in Roethlisberger's online player profile.
This all raises the question: Why is the biggest sports network in the country staying silent while one of the most recognizable stars in professional football—a reigning Super Bowl champion quarterback—is accused of a terrible crime?
According to ESPN, it's because the allegations against Roethlisberger are in civil court, not criminal, meaning he will not face jail time even if found liable. So unlike in the Kobe Bryant case, where the basketball star could have gone to prison if found guilty, Roethlisberger's accuser is only asking for money.
So perhaps ESPN's rationale is that reporting the case would be an unnecessary intrusion into an athlete's personal life, since the story will not affect their ability to play.
But that view doesn't take into account the fact that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell could suspend Roethlisberger if he is found liable. Given the other NFL stars in trouble with the law recently I would not be surprised to see Big Ben suspended for a number of games depending on the outcome of his case.
I'm not saying ESPN should blanket the country with reporters the way it has for some stories (see: Favre, Brett), but the network should at least be reporting on it. To simply remain mute, saying nothing and hoping the allegations go away, is not only irresponsible, it discredits ESPN as a news organization.
Updated at 5 p.m. on July 23, 2009: ESPN has now broken their silence about the allegations against Roethlisberger and has started posting stories about it on ESPN.com. Still, waiting so long to so much as mention something this important is unacceptable from a company that dominates the sports news world like ESPN does.
