The NBA’s restarted season has tipped off, and the highlight reels are once again putting such stars as LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo on display. You could almost forget that just last week, it was reported that NBA academies in China were physically abusing children.
ESPN’s bombshell report on the abuses at the academies lit up the news for a solid two or three hours before vanishing from the airwaves. With its collection of news and opinion talk shows, only one ESPN program covered the report on air. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer had NBA commissioner Adam Silver on for a 16-minute interview the night the report dropped and didn’t pose a single question about it.
ESPN publishing its initial report was more surprising than the network keeping the report off its airwaves. ESPN extended its exclusive contract with the Chinese company Tencent, which has a streaming monopoly in the country as well as a deal with the NBA worth $2.7 billion per year. TNT is also a part of that deal, and CNN is its sister network under Time Warner.
The NBA has also stayed silent on the report, with Silver opting instead to weigh in on the kneeling protests. With the NBA redoubling its social justice efforts, networks such as ESPN and CNN have decided to aim their focus there, as have reporters at post-game press conferences.
The fanless experience at the bubble has also helped the NBA dodge scrutiny for China. Fans made the league’s black eye even more noticeable when teams ejected fans who chanted “Free Hong Kong” or holding pro-Hong Kong and pro-Uighur signs.
The NBA is hoping that with the goodwill of the media, it can let this latest indictment of its outreach to China slip by. After all, how do you defend yourself when former league employees compare the camp atmosphere to World War II Germany?
Between the national anthem protests and the general mayhem of a presidential election year, the NBA wants this story to get lost in the shuffle. Silver and the league have had time to prepare for it. They knew the story was coming and instructed current and former employers not to speak to ESPN about it. They’re hoping that, between the league’s woke credentials and its network partners and media allies, they can avoid having to comment at all. And so far, it’s working.
