Bob Ley never imagined that ESPN would be what it is today when he joined the network on just its third day of operation in 1979.
“We didn’t even have a functioning restroom,” Ley recalled.
In the time since, ESPN and Ley have grown together into respective icons of the sports world. In fact, as quoted initially in a 2018 article by The Ringer, ESPN on-air talent Chris Berman once referred to his longtime colleague and friend Ley as the network’s “conscience.”
Others followed suit, with Jay Bilas and Mike Greenberg echoing the sentiment upon hearing the news of Ley’s retirement from the network in 2019.
Although Berman and others were referring to ESPN in their use of “conscience,” this metaphor can be extended to all of sports journalism.
During his illustrious 40-year-career—making him ESPN’s longest-tenured anchor—Ley was the epitome of exceptional sports journalism: his delivery was always direct, his demeanor polished, and his journalistic integrity never in doubt. The stories he covered went “Outside the Lines”—as the title of his Emmy-award winning show suggests—as he delved into controversial issues, breaking news or in-depth topics.
Who better, then, to discuss the current state of sports journalism than the “conscience” of the field itself?
Ley rejects the narrative that sports journalism is a “dying” industry—a belief that has proliferated alongside the popularity of audiovisual media over what he calls “the written word.”
“It’s an easy and perhaps even lazy narrative to say that sports journalism is in dire danger of being choked off and [that] it ‘no longer exists,’” Ley said. “I don’t buy into that necessarily.”
He mentioned how no one could have envisioned the changes the media industry has undergone in the past decade—changes like the consolidation of the industry, the growth of streaming and the need for journalists to build their own platforms, which have had an indirect impact on sports journalism.
“What the metrics for success are…keep changing,” Ley said. “[So sports journalism’s] not on its deathbed, but it's certainly facing challenges.”
When it comes to these challenges, Ley listed several:
“To be on the right platform, to be telling the right stories, and to be telling them free of influence or oversight as best you can,” Ley said. “And if it can’t fit on the phone, it’s almost not worth doing because that’s how people—especially young folks—are consuming all their information.”
“I mean, people get their news from TikTok—an idea that chills me to utter,” he added.
Ley said that the number of platforms makes for “parallel realities of media consumption” in the U.S. To illustrate this, he shared his surprise upon learning about the anonymous social media app Fizz, as reported in an article by The Setonian.
“There are just so many avenues and platforms that you could take five people sitting in a row on an airplane and ask them where they get their news from, and, depending on their age, their place in life and maybe where they went to school, they’ll all have different [answers],” he said.
In addition to the number of platforms, Ley also said he believes that the sheer volume of content available today presents a challenging experience for consumers of sports journalism.
“There is just such a ‘fire hose’ of content out there,” he said. “Understanding what is worth paying attention to—that’s a challenge.”
And yet, Ley stressed that, although challenging, this experience is rewarding.
“But it’s a good exercise to go through,” he added. “Because it teaches you what’s good and what’s bad, what you like and what you don’t like, [and so forth].”
If he were “king for a day,” Ley wishes there were a better way to filter this “fire hose of content” so he could make more informed decisions about what to consume.
“Everyday it’s FOMO—[I’ll think to myself,] ’Is there a major story that I missed?’” he said. “I wish that there was a relatively secure way to know that you’re finding out what you need to know.”
Ley also noted that cultural forces outside of the industry—such as declining readership, increasing economic pressure and the lack of social/national cohesion—pose challenges to sports journalism.
“We live in a country where fewer and fewer people read down to the third paragraph,” he said. “And so much of what is important in the culture is the latest quarterly report, and ‘What’s in it for me?’”
“I think the greatest generation, those who won World War II, talked about the reward of being part of something larger than yourself,” he added. “And I don’t know if that’s a prevalent feeling right now.”
Rather than focusing solely on the challenges sports journalism faces today, Ley also mentioned what he sees as its current strengths—among them, the accessibility of and opportunity that social media affords aspiring journalists who want to stand out.
“Today, there’s nothing holding anybody back: you can create your own platform, your own voice, your own brand,” he said.
As such, Ley tries to encourage aspiring sports journalism students at SHU to capitalize on the opportunities that social media offers.
“That’s why when I speak to students, I urge them to steep themselves in the basics—who, what, when, where, why, the ability to write well, [and so forth],” he said. “But at the same time, [I urge them] to recognize that it is important to put themselves out there on the marketplace.”
“You are a brand,” he added. “So why not distinguish yourself?”
In fact, Ley said that “nothing gives me a greater thrill than working with students” and that he wishes he could be on campus in South Orange more often to do so.
“Travel being what it is, family obligations and whatnot…keeps me pretty busy,” he said. “But driving on campus is like coming home even after all these years.”
This thrill and school pride is what motivated Ley to co-found SHU’s Center for Sports Media (CSM) in the fall of 2021. With the center, Ley hopes to “provide opportunities to students to develop the full set of skills they’re going to need” in the ever-changing sports journalism industry.
He noted that the set of skills—what he calls the “tool belt”—of the next generation of sports journalists will be much larger than his was when he graduated from SHU in 1976.
In this way, Ley is simply offering students a similar opportunity that WSOU offered him when he was a student. Reflecting on his time in high school, he said that SHU was the only school he applied to, with the station being the reason why.
“Back in those days, WSOU was the only outlet for Pirate basketball—I mean, it was a major flipping event when one of our games was on TV,” he said. “So WSOU was it, and you had to be good because you were the only conveyors of those stories.”
“And so, it was something that captured my imagination, and I was fortunate enough to be able to find opportunities,” he said. During his time with WSOU, Ley did play-by-play for SHU basketball and baseball games and served terms as both sports and programming director.
Ley said that WSOU prepared him for his professional career after SHU—something he hopes he can achieve for today's students through the CSM.
“It could not have prepared me anymore in terms of the breadth of different experiences and the reps I got doing things,” he said. “The expectations were always on a professional level, and I still think that’s the case today—and may that never change.”
For students aspiring to have a career like his someday, Ley offers three simple yet key pieces of advice—placing the most emphasis on the last one:
“Do as many different things as you can, especially at this age; never say no to an opportunity; and be a good person,” Ley said. “And [being a good person] is not a problem at SHU—we see that all the time.”
“We’ll all have our moments and meet people in our lives who disappoint us,” Ley added. “But if you’re known as trustworthy, a person of your word, and someone who treats people with respect—that’s what matters.”
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
