Jim Irsay, ESPN and double standards

When an athlete does something wrong these days, you hear about it. There is an initial rumor of wrongdoing, a confirmation of the wrongdoing, a team or league mandated suspension, an (often unsuccessful) appeal, a long wait and finally a return. Each stage of the process seems to come with its very own block on the SportsCenter rundown, with no development going unnoticed. We’ve become accustomed to this circus when it comes to an athlete’s transgressions, but what about an owner?

I am talking of course about Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. On March 16, 2014, Irsay was arrested on suspicion of intoxicated driving. Irsay was also charged with four felony counts of possession of a controlled substance. Blood tests revealed he had “oxycodone and/or hydrocodone” in his system that March night, according to court documents. Irsay would eventually plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Commissioner Roger Gooddell suspended the Colts owner for 6 games and fined him $500,000. After serving his six game suspension, Jim Irsay went back to work.

On Oct. 17, the Irsay story re-emerged. TMZ, the as-of-late worldwide leader in sports, posted the dash cam footage of the Irsay incident which was released by police officials.The video shows Irsay stumbling out of his car and failing the field sobriety tests administered by police officers. As we’ve learned with Ray Rice, a video can add fuel to the smoldering ashes of a story and bring it back to a blaze.

At everyone’s favorite four-letter network, this isn’t the case. There are some stories about Irsay  running on ESPN currently, but most are about his return from suspension and make no mention of the surfacing of video evidence. There has been no escalation of the story; if anything, there’s been the opposite. ESPN is currently running a longform investigative piece by Shaun Assael with the Colts owner that will run in the Nov. 11 edition of ESPN the Magazine. The article is titled “The shadow life of Jim Irsay,” and explores Irsay’s personal struggles. It also details at length his charitable efforts. I do not want to drag Irsay’s name through the mud, I wish him nothing but health and peace going forward, but it seems like ESPN has made up their mind with the direction they want to take Irsay stories.

ESPN not reporting or making mention of the dash cam video as of 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19 directly shows its willingness to selectively report. Why would it do such a thing? Maybe it’s because it doesn't like the way the a stumbly Jim Irsay fits into the 5,000+ word narrative already crafted about him by Assael. Maybe Jim Irsay, a businessman worth $1.6 billion, has a friend or two at ESPN that could push down a headline. Maybe ESPN thinks the NFL needs some positive air time in light of the gauntlets just run. Whatever the reason, there is a double standard at ESPN when it comes to covering suspensions.

There has been enough disciplinary news from ESPN in the past couple months to last a lifetime, and I’m not saying that I want more of that sort of thing. I also acknowledge that a player’s name recognition might make suspension information more worth reporting than for an owner. More people know the name Ray Rice than know the name Jim Irsay, and ratings numbers and clicks are definitely important. Despite all this, ESPN is alone in not reporting the story. NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Deadspin, TMZ and others have all made mention of the video but ESPN still has not. It’s hard not to see that ESPN is more interested in painting a good picture than painting a true one.