As professional sports turned political, fans dropped like flies. They stopped tuning in after NFL stars offended patriotic Americans by protesting the national anthem. ESPN is feeling the pinch, too, as its viewership continues to fall. That has a lot to do with how it has demonized conservatives as opposed to doing what it should: broadcast sports.

But as they say, the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem and ESPN’s public editor, Jim Brady, has seen the error of the company’s ways:

“One notion that virtually everyone I spoke to at ESPN dismisses is what some have perceived as unequal treatment of conservatives who make controversial statements vs. liberals who do the same.

“ESPN is far from immune from the political fever that has afflicted so much of the country over the past year. Internally, there’s a feeling among many staffers -- both liberal and conservative -- that the company’s perceived move leftward has had a stifling effect on discourse inside the company and has affected its public-facing product. Consumers have sensed that same leftward movement, alienating some…. For most of its history, ESPN was viewed relatively apolitically. Its core focus was -- and remains today, of course -- sports. Although the nature of sports meant an occasional detour into politics and culture was inevitable, there wasn’t much chatter about an overall perceived political bias. If there was any tension internally, it didn’t manifest itself publicly.”

Bob Ley has been with the sports network since its launch, and he told Brady that ESPN has no “diversity of thought.” Other employees have said similar things, adding that conservatives have to “talk in whispers.” It isn’t hard to understand why when ESPN journalist Jemele Hill says things like, “I would challenge those people who say they feel suppressed. Do you fear backlash, or do you fear right and wrong?”

It’s attitudes like that which has not only alienated employees but viewers as well. ESPN’s clear anti-conservative mission has been widely covered here at TruthRevolt. In the last year alone, ESPN has fired baseball legend Curt Schilling for speaking out against Islamic terrorism and North Carolina’s transgender bathroom law while at the same time praising San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his “courage” in sitting out the national anthem to protest America's supposed systemic racism. The network also handed the pro-Black Lives Matter University of Missouri football team the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE “humanitarian” award for going on strike from practice and games which forced the “racist” university president to resign. And that’s just a few examples.

But conservatives know how to fight back and where it hurts most: not in protest lines or shutting down freeways, but in the pocketbook.

H/T DailyWire