- Joined
- Mar 22, 2006
- Messages
- 7,474
- Reaction score
- 11,325
Pilot Flying J retaliates against ESPN over story of Browns dysfunctionMichael Smith of SportsBusiness Journal reports that Pilot Flying J, the company owned and operated by the Haslam family, has taken steps to end prematurely an advertising deal with ESPN in retaliation for Seth Wickersham’s in-depth story regarding dysfunction and disharmony of the Browns under the leadership of co-owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam.
Per the report, Pilot Flying J and ESPN are negotiating a termination of the contract, which is believed to be worth low-to-mid seven figures per year and which has two years left on its four-year duration.
Among other things, Wickersham’s story cited unnamed sources, who claimed that Dee Haslam at one point said, “We just don’t know what we are doing” and “If we’d known how hard it would be, we never would have bought the team.”
The team denied that Dee Haslam ever said this.
Seth "unnamed sources" Wickersham went too hard this time.