NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
ESPN is developing a reality show with former National Basketball Association bad-boy Dennis Rodman in a move that could risk angering the sports establishment again, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Just a few weeks ago, the channel, majority-owned by Walt Disney Co. (DIS: Research, Estimates), had denied it was working on a Rodman reality show, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site.
ESPN said the show wouldn't dwell on some aspects of Mr. Rodman's biography the league didn't find amusing, such as multiple suspensions and generally flamboyant behavior, according to the newspaper.
But it comes not long after ESPN's football drama "Playmakers" finished its run this week, riling the National Football League with its depiction of pro football.
NBA Commissioner David Stern declined to comment Wednesday on the Rodman show, the newspaper said.
But he told the paper last month that he was "puzzled" by ESPN's recent moves into entertainment programming and its decision to hire conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for its NFL pregame program.
" 'Playmakers,' Limbaugh and the Rodman scenario are not ESPN's strongest moments," he told the newspaper last month, the paper said.
|