The Sugar Bowl in New Orleans between the Georgia Bulldogs and Notre Dame Fighting Irish was forced to be postponed after a horrific terrorist attack in New Orleans. Luckily, the area was secured and the game was able to be played only one day later than originally scheduled.
In the wake of the violent attack, many expected the broadcast to treat the national anthem with respect and honor our country’s troops with the utmost reverence. Unfortunately, that was far from what transpired.
Instead, the anthem was given little to no attention. One prominent figure in the sports media landscape did some digging on exactly what went down and the response to it.
“I’ve talked to sports execs and producers at every network this morning — CBS, NBC, and Fox — all of them are in complete disbelief (ESPN) didn’t cover the national anthem and moment of silence for terror victims at the Sugar Bowl. All say it’s one of the most indefensible sports production errors they’ve ever seen,” reported Clay Travis, the founder of Outkick, the day after the Sugar Bowl.
Travis followed it up with more information.
“So far (ESPN) has blamed “timing issues.” They need to fire people. This is exactly what woke DEI culture creates: hate for the country, a lack of understanding of basic sports fans, and, maybe worst of all, fear of speaking out on a bad decision from the non-woke employees. A culture of rot creates this decision.
“This also exposes the ‘sports media’ who covers sports itself too. These sites and individuals fall all over themselves to ‘analyze Tom Brady or Tony Romo in the booth,’ but don’t cover the most indefensible production error/decision in years. In so doing, they expose themselves too.”
I’ve talked to sports execs and producers at every network this morning — CBS, NBC, and Fox — all of them are in complete disbelief @espn didn’t cover the national anthem and moment of silence for terror victims at the Sugar Bowl. All say it’s one of the most indefensible sports…
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 4, 2025
Fans reacted to Travis’ tweets on social media.
“Could this be grounds for conferences/leagues/playoffs to terminate a contract for cause? ESPN has needed to be put in their place for a long time and a full-blown boycott would be a wonderful thing,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“As long as big time games are still on ESPN/ABC, it’s sort of hard for the regular Joe to boycott other than tune out when non live games are in or turn the channel during timeouts to impact advertising rev,” one fan added.
“The anthem was seriously 20 minutes before kickoff, which also was weird. Both teams were in their locker rooms at the time. I only know this because I was there,” added another fan.
It’ll be interesting to see if the broadcasts fix the issue for the upcoming semi-final games.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.