ESPN and the NFL have regularly insisted that the equity stake will have no bearing on the network’s reporting of the league. And just last month, ESPN published a triple-bylined investigative report on the NFL’s Rooney Rule that offered a very critical look at the efficacy of the league’s hiring protocols. If ESPN was planning to neuter its reporting on the NFL because of its new equity arrangement with the league, it hasn’t been very overt about it. A Rooney Rule report published in late July isn’t necessarily as impactful as one published at the height of the NFL coaching carousel following the season. But it’s something that, as time goes on and there are more examples of what ESPN’s NFL reporting looks like after its equity deal with the league, is certainly worth paying attention to.