My spin is that ESPN believes in representing the athletes of basketball and football, both college and pro, that they are representing their best interests.
These sports are predominately played by black players. Blacks in recent elections vote overwhelmingly Democrat, which is tantamount to saying they vote for liberal causes.
The problem ESPN has is that the people who pay the bills are overwhelmingly white, and vote Republican, which is much more conservative.
They may serve their athletes, but not their audience, hence the failure.
Baseball is overwhelmingly non-black athletes, a big difference.