I think it's a weak response by ESPN. Why is the same category that was broadcasted last year not being broadcasted this year. What's the point of being nominated if they can't find room for you to enjoy it in a venue that houses 7100 people. Also Covid as an excuse is getting old, if you were able to manage it last year, you would assume they should be better prepared for this year.
All Dawn needed to do was make a simple phone call to her contacts at ESPN and ask "why did this happen." It's what any mature business leader would do FIRST.
Discover the facts and then respond before shooting your mouth off, uninformed and assessing blame.
Whether you, Dawn or any of us agree with ESPN's reasoning, they in fact did have their reasons for taking the steps they did. It wasn't a conspiracy or SC bias or directed at Boston in any way. They were consistent, across all sports and genders, in how they allocated the invites.
My guess is Dawn knew exactly what she was doing. It is totally on-brand for her to create an "us against the world" narrative. In Dawn's world, SC it seems is always the victim.
But maybe she didn't know the facts. If that's the case, her behavior is just "leader malpractice" -- whining publicly without ANY knowledge of the facts or what was going on. Any reasonably intelligent observer would acknowledge this is nothing remotely close to an issue that should cause "national outrage."
National outrages are school children being massacred or people of color being regularly killed for traffic violations. Not being invited to some relatively meaningless awards event is hardly outrage material.
What any reasonable leader would do is simply pick up the phone and see if the issue can be addressed amicably, quickly and smoothly.
Her fans say "she speaks her mind to improve the game." My opinion: she's only out to build her brand; to hell with the sport. Again, my opinion based on her behaviors.
Moral of the story: find out the facts first.