First, I don’t know if you had seen this, but ESPN has an Ombudsman who commented on this case soon after next broke. It’s a really interesting take from “inside but outside,” and addresses many of the issues you raise here: http://espn.go.com/blog/ombudsman/post/_/id/96/was-espn-sloppy-naive-or-compromised.

Second, I was in attendance when PBS held a panel for the project at TCA Press Tour in August, which the Ombudsman cites as one of the catalysts for ESPN’s departure. They cite a particularly “sensational” trailer as the cause, but many critics also asked the ESPN representative on the panel for comment based on these kinds of concerns, and even then they were adamantly and publicly in support of the project. The shift in branding was notable more broadly, but for critics in the room it was particularly powerful given how firmly ESPN had insisted their support only weeks earlier.