ESPN called out for showing demolished Jacksonville landmark during Gator Bowl broadcast
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ESPN was taken to task on Saturday night during its broadcast of the Gator Bowl on ABC, when the network showed the now-demolished Jacksonville Landing after returning from a commercial break before the start of the 2nd half.
When ABC welcomed viewers back for the final 30 minutes of Mizzou‘s bowl game battle against Virginia, the network apparently dipped into some old footage to show a view of Jacksonville that doesn’t exist anymore. The Jacksonville Landing was demolished in 2019, so we’re talking some very old footage just to give Gator Bowl viewers a false sense of what the landmark used to look like as a backdrop to downtown.
The reality is that where the Jacksonville Landing once stood is now just a big patch of green grass and not the image that ESPN’s production on ABC wanted to convey to viewers.
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Gator Bowl viewers familiar with Jacksonville certainly wasn’t fooled, immediately taking notice and reacting in real time:
The now old image of the Jacksonville Landing wasn’t real as the 2nd half got ready to start, and unfortunately for Mizzou the 7-3 lead that the Tigers took into halftime didn’t stay real either.
Not only did Mizzou not win the Gator Bowl, the Tigers didn’t even score in the 2nd half, giving up 10 points in the 3rd quarter on the way to a 13-7 loss.
Mizzou finished its up-and-down season at 8-5, a fact that was very real to Tigers fans on Saturday night, unlike that file image of the Jacksonville Landing that was used in the ESPN production on ABC.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
