ESPN’s Ex-top Exec Describes How Soccer’s World Cup Was Lost

ESPN’s Ex-top Exec Describes How Soccer’s World Cup Was Lost
Former ESPN president John Skipper leaves federal court after testifying in a corruption case in New York on Feb. 21, 2023. John Minchillo/AP Photo
The Associated Press
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NEW YORK—A former ESPN executive underscored how big money corrupted soccer, testifying in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Feb. 21, that his company’s bid to televise the World Cup might have been sabotaged by two former Fox executives accused of bribing officials to undermine competing offers.

ESPN’s former president, John Skipper, told a New York federal court that ESPN and Univision had jointly bid $900 million—evenly split between the two TV behemoths—for U.S. broadcasting rights to the two most recent World Cups, including the recently completed one in Qatar.