It’s likely that ESPN should have known better. Bleacher Report should have shown everyone why it’s a bad idea to upload a social media graphic that aims to be all-inclusive. Their notorious 2019 World Cup promotional image, which featured Oprah, Tom Cruise, Miley Cyrus, and the Friends ensemble, has become a shorthand for “WTF were they thinking?”
As part of their extensive marketing campaign for their new direct-to-consumer service, the SportsCenter X account shared a graphic on Thursday, however it wasn’t precisely the same.
The image said: “All the icons. All the moments. All of ESPN. And All in one place,”
SportsCenter got bullied into deleting their graphic of “all the icons” that consisted of:
• 11 WNBA players
• 10 NFL players
• 5 College Football players😭🗑️ pic.twitter.com/yMU52VfWyK
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) August 22, 2025
What’s the controversey around the Sportscenter graphic ?
The image, which resembled the memified Bleacher Report image, lacked imaginary characters and celebrities. Fans, however, pointed up a few aspects of it that they found objectionable.
Most notably, 11 WNBA players were allegedly included (we won’t sit here and count), which is more than the number of NFL players (10) and college football players (5). The absence of the world’s top golfer, Scottie Scheffler, was another noteworthy aspect. Additionally, only two MLB players were featured.
The truth is that the graphic designer was probably told to concentrate on leagues and sports in which ESPN has a substantial interest in broadcasting and marketing, despite the fact that some uninformed viewers would suggest that ESPN is “going woke” or attempting to further some agenda. They probably overindexed on the sportsmen and celebrities because the visual was intended to expressly advertise ESPN’s DTC service.
