ESPN's John Skipper: 'We do not have a frat-boy culture'

ESPN's John Skipper: 'We do not have a frat-boy culture'

Speculation has been building about the release of the new book, Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, on May 24. During ESPN's upfront presentation to advertisers Tuesday, executive vice president of content John Skipper blasted the perception of "a frat-boy culture" on the company's Bristol, Conn., campus.

"We do not condone that kind of activity," Skipper said in response to a question from Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch. "In fact, we've taken lots and lots of steps to create policies. We're fairly stringent when people do things. We suspend people. We fire people."

"It is clear to everybody who works for us we are not going to tolerate it. It's just human nature, human behavior. No, we don't have a culture run amok. It's a phrase everybody likes to use now. We have a culture of hard work, and achievement and serving fans. We have a lot of employees. A few of them, every now and then, do something stupid."

Matthew Barnaby was the latest ESPN analyst pulled off the air after being charged with a felony over a domestic incident with his estranged wife in Amherst, N.Y.. He pleaded not guilty to five criminal charges, said there was no violence between and him and his soon to be ex-wife and and apologized for the "unfortunate incident."

In other news from ESPN's upfront:

• During ESPN/ABC's final 10 NASCAR races this year, it will use split-screens to simultaneously air ads and live racing action. While ESPN hasn't used this in the past, the idea has been around for years and revolves around this issue: Advertisers like that viewers will stick around for ads, rather than channel-surf or, say, go make a sandwich, but they wonder if viewers are really paying attention to the ads if they can keep watching the action.
• ESPN funnyman Kenny Mayne will host an original digital series debuting this fall called Kenny Mayne's Wider World of Sports.
• ESPN also announced ex-Florida coach Urban Meyer will serve as a college football analyst this fall.
• ESPN unveiled research which says that TV sports ratings are up 21% over the last five years vs. a 6% increase for overall TV ratings.

Contributing: Michael Hiestand

See photos of: ESPN

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