The president of US cable sports giant ESPN has told producers at the network to stop talking about New York Jets quarter back Tim Tebow.
ESPN has long devoted a large portion of their coverage to a player who, contrary to the interest in him would suggest, has made little impact on the New York Jets’ season and has been responsible for passing or running for a miserly total of just 126 yards this year. He has been used as a punt protector or a wildcat quarterback, effectively relegating him to the position of a specil teams player rather than the star quarter back he was expected to be when he arrived in the NFL amid huge fanfare.
Tebow moved to the Jets from the Denver Broncos in the off season and ESPN sent cameras to the Jets training camp in pre-season, to cover the side’s preparations and Tebow’s assimilation to life at his first pro home outside Denver.
But the ESPN president, John Skipper, didn’t feel this was over exposure of the one story or person. The inability to get away from the story of the failing Tebow has worried Skipper far more,"I said, 'Guys, we didn't handle this very well.' Going to training camp wasn't a problem. We just stayed on it relentlessly and too long".
Skipper told Sports Business Journal he realised the depth of the problem when he heard a former ESPN analyst, Doug Gottleib, had been told that while on an ESPN show, “you can’t talk enough Tebow”.
Skipper admitted that realisation caused him to re-consider the effects of this intense focus on one storyline and one individual, "The quote that I hated was from Doug Gottlieb. ... I didn't love that. I want people to think about what works for the next 10 minutes might not be the best thing for us for three years. That one hit home with me."
As a result Skipper has specifically ordered ESPN producers they are not to focus on Tebow as much: "We've had some good discussions internally about trying to be careful. In some ways, the more difficult internal conflict is between long-term story-telling and ratings. We all know that if you focus on the Tebow story, for the next 10 minutes you're going to do better. But the question is trying to take a long-term perspective and saying, 'Guys, let's not get over excited about one story and hyping it.'"
