ESPN filled some air time during their 24-hour fantasy football marathon with a very uncomfortable live fantasy auction draft and many people were unhappy about it. Auction drafts are a staple in fantasy football, wherein members of a league bid on players with fake currency in order to build a team. Rather than just using a snake draft format with players taken best available, first come first serve, a player’s “value” is set by the league members themselves. If you want Antonio Brown, you better pay up for him.
But fantasy sports work because they are imaginary, and you’re only acquiring the statistical output of said players and not the humans themselves. Putting that on a stage and letting it happen live, like a real auction of human beings, is actually pretty uncomfortable and creepy.
Plenty of people were upset about the segment online, saying it looked like a slave auction, and among those upset by what they saw were some notable NBA players. Kevin Durant took it as a sign that ESPN is running out of ideas.
Bum ass espn running out of ideas…. pic.twitter.com/4QVTtncN6R
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 16, 2017
Andre Iguodala was pretty perturbed by the sight.
Soooooo… who approved this???? https://t.co/odDXf3KkN2
— andre (@andre) August 15, 2017
Josh Childress wasn’t happy with the segment at all.
Man this is crazy. 😳😳 https://t.co/vob6RfvfAV
— Josh Childress (@JChillin) August 15, 2017
NFL star Odell Beckham was also rendered speechless by it all.
Speechless. https://t.co/CddZ917y4u
— Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) August 15, 2017
Lou Williams didn’t know exactly what to say, but noted his disapproval.
I don't even know where to start. Smh https://t.co/ReI2vRLBoc
— Lou Williams (@TeamLou23) August 15, 2017
Williams responded to someone that tweeted at him that he knew what they were trying to do, but that doesn’t make it right.
Foh. There's nothing cool or acceptable about that. https://t.co/MSbUScDex2
— Lou Williams (@TeamLou23) August 15, 2017
Dorell Wright thought the scene reminded him of another peek through the looking glass of racism.
Sorry all I can think about is Get Out 🤔🤦🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️ https://t.co/neiyS6dfEb
— Dorell Wright 🏁 (@DWRIGHTWAY1) August 15, 2017
Montrezl Harrell also took issue with the skit.
Wow smh sad man https://t.co/cmKf21Q2xP
— َ (@monstatrezz) August 15, 2017
ESPN gave a statement to USA Today explaining the segment but apologizing for what many felt was offensive.
“Auction drafts are a common part of fantasy football, and ESPN’s segments replicated an auction draft with a diverse slate of top professional football players. Without that context, we understand the optics could be portrayed as offensive, and we apologize,” ESPN said.
The rush to make fantasy football content for TV can lead to some awkward situations like this because when you think about it fantasy football is weird. So are a lot of things, really, especially when you take them out of a context you’re familiar with. I doubt you see another live auction draft on TV anytime soon, which is good, but that doesn’t make it any less strange as a concept. It also brings up an issue of not running ideas through enough diverse viewpoints before green-flagging them. With how quickly this segment was ripped apart on social media, it probably could have been avoided had they asked more people about it before going to air.