ESPN the Magazine

FINALIST—REPORTING

For those who look forward to Sunday as an opportunity to shed their worries, the most recent NFL season was as disappointing as the performance of a 1–15 team. Instead of commentary on screen passes and nickel defenses, we were treated to angry tweets about politics and race. Fortunately, we had a frequent Ellie winner—ESPN the Magazine—to help us understand what was going on. As the Ellie judges wrote: “The NFL is a fortress. Getting inside is all but impossible. But in this gripping ESPN series, Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham offered a groundbreaking, inside-the-room view of the power brokers behind America’s most popular sport. From a minute-by-minute account of the confrontation between owners and players to a revealing look at the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, this impressively reported series showed football fans how the NFL really works.”