ESPN was duped into broadcasting a high school football game between IMG Academy, a legitimate high school football powerhouse, and their opponent, Bishop Sycamore. Towards the end of the game, ESPN’s announcers directed their attention to how Bishop Sycamore was allowed into the contest in the first place, given the clear mismatch of talent. IMG Academy won the game 58-0 and had also defeated Bishop Sycamore 56-6 the previous season.
ESPN uses Paragon Marketing Group to help select matchups, create schedules, obtain sponsorships for games, and handle game-day logistics. Bishop Sycamore claimed to have several Division I prospects. Though unable to confirm any such prospects were on the roster, Paragon still scheduled Bishop Sycamore to play in the nationally televised game.
It’s been suggested Bishop Sycamore may not even be a real high school at all. Rather, it appears it might be an online charter school that intentionally fooled Paragon Marketing Group with a fake roster to lie their way into the game broadcasted by ESPN. Paragon’s president, Rashid Ghazi, had little insight to answer for buying into the fabrication. Ghazi acknowledged Paragon should have executed more due diligence before vouching for Bishop Sycamore but conceded it’s challenging to find teams willing to be scheduled against IMG Academy.
Bishop Sycamore also allegedly competed in a game on Friday, just two days before their matchup with IMG Academy on Sunday. Ghazi reported if he had known this information, he would have canceled the game with IMG. A spokesman for Paragon said the roster they received a month ago was different than the roster used for the game. The spokesman also added Paragon will need to dig deeper into rosters, check coaching staffs and recruiting rankings, and review schedules from previous seasons to exercise more care in the future.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine tweeted Tuesday afternoon that he was “concerned by the recent reports and questions raised about Bishop Sycamore.” Governor DeWine coordinated with the state education department to follow up on the school and check their compliance status with Ohio law and “ensure the school is providing the educational opportunities Ohio students deserve.”
Bishop Sycamores’ physical address is listed as a recreation center in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio Department of Education doesn’t currently list Bishop Sycamore as a charter school but did list them last year as a “non-charted, non-tax supported school.” If Paragon had noticed, this fact would have indicated a significant red flag in scheduling the high school football game. Andre Peterson, former Youngstown State athlete who founded and directs the school, told USA Today Bishop Sycamore does have an academic component, despite the lack of acknowledgment as a charter school by the Ohio Department of Education.
Now-former head coach, Roy Johnson, has been fired amidst the contention following Sunday’s game. According to MaxPreps, Bishop Sycamore is on an eight-game losing streak that began last year and was outscored 227-42 during the 2020 season. Not exactly a promising track record for a team being scheduled for an ESPN-broadcasted game against the dominant IMG Academy.
ESPN said in a statement, “We regret that this happened and have discussed it with Paragon, which secured the matchup and handles the majority of our high school event scheduling. They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward.”
ESPN could foreseeably make a case that it suffered reputational and financial harm resulting from Paragon’s negligence in scheduling the controversial matchup on Sunday. Scheduling an obviously mismatched football game that could easily lead to an increased likelihood of player injury is detrimental to a reputation. And decreased viewership could constitute financial losses for the sports media conglomerate. While not likely, if ESPN did pursue legal remedy, Bishop Sycamore could be drug into the mix for their intentionally deceitful statements and actions to Paragon. The more probable course of action will be to put Sunday’s blunder in the past and seek more diligence from Paragon Marketing Group in their efforts to come.
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