SPORTSCENTER

'''SportsCenter''' is a sports news television show shown every day on ESPN since the network was founded on September 7, 1979. Originally a once a day show, ''SportsCenter'' is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major sporting events. As a result of the regular airing, it has been shown more times than any other show in American television, with over 30,000 unique episodes. It celebrated its 30,000th show on February 11, 2007.

Contents

Air times

History

Early years

1990s

2001

2002

2004

2005

2006

2007

The show that nearly wasn't

SportsCenter Sets

Facts

Anchors and reporters

Segments

ESPN Radio

Conditions to showing highlights

Spin offs

See also

References

External links

Air times

''SportsCenter'' normally airs at 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., 6:00 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. ET. The morning shows are generally re-airings of the previous night's 1:00 AM show, except on Saturdays and Sundays. On Saturday the 10:00 a.m. to noon is a new show. On Sunday the 9:00 a.m. and the 10:30 a.m. are new shows. The show is taped in ESPN's HDTV studio facilities in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

History

Early years

George Grande introduced the country to ESPN when he anchored the first ever ''SportsCenter'' on September 7, 1979. He was the lone of the first show, which didn't show a single sports clip. He spent ten more years with ESPN and ''SportsCenter'' until 1989.
Early graphics and music included various kinds of sports balls flying outward, featuring a rapid-fire electronic audio track that was a version of "Pulstar", by Vangelis.

1990s

In 1994, ESPN began the ''This is SportsCenter'' ad campaign to promote their show. ^[1]
On 1998-05-17, ''SportsCenter'' aired its 20,000th episode.

2001

After ESPN, Inc. acquired a share of Canadian sports network TSN, that network's sports news program, ''SportsDesk'', was re-branded as ''SportsCentre'' (using Canadian spelling) in the summer of 2001.
On 2001-09-11, ESPN aired a special edition of ''SportsCenter'', which was anchored by Trey Wingo and Bob Ley (see "The show that nearly wasn't" below).

2002

''SportsCenter'' aired its 25,000th episode on 2005-05-25.

2004

The program began broadcasting in high definition on 2004-06-07, and on the same day began broadcasting the show from studios inside the network's brand-new Digital Center, debuting a new set designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and featuring a robust graphics package entitled "Revolution" designed by Troika Design Group.
During the summer of 2004, ESPN counted down the top 100 sports moments of the past 25 years. Hosted by David Overton Wilson III, ESPN25 consisted of 30-second commercials shown during the 6:00 p.m. ET ''SportsCenter'' each day from 2004-05-31 until the #1 moment, the U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team's victory over the USSR during the 1980 Winter Olympics, was aired on 2004-09-07.

2005

In July 2005, ''SportsCenter'' premiered a segment called "50 States in 50 Days", where a different ''SportsCenter'' anchor traveled to a different state every day to discover the sports, sports history, and athletes of the state.^[2]

2006

On 2006-04-04, ''SportsCenter'' started showing highlights of Major League Baseball games in progress, which were previously an exclusive to another program, ''Baseball Tonight''. This is seen in the 'Baseball Tonight Extra' segment. Prior to that date, highlights of the aforementioned Major League Baseball games weren't shown on ''SportsCenter'' until the games went final (as shown on the ticker at the bottom of the screen, known as the "BottomLine").
On 2006-10-11, ''SportsCenter'' began at 5:00 p.m. ET with its coverage of the plane crash in New York City, which killed New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor. The expanded editions of ''SportsCenter'' continued until midnight ET (when ESPN aired the usual "Trifecta"). A replay of the 11 p.m. ET ''SportsCenter'', which was anchored by John Buccigross and Stan Verrett, aired at 1 a.m. ET.
On 2006-11-03, for the first time on any ''SportsCenter'', the 6 p.m. ET edition was broadcast with a single advertiser. Nike, whose ads come from the Wieden & Kennedy agency in Portland, Oregon, that creates ESPN's ads, was that single advertiser. The idea, Nike spokesman Dean Stoyer said, is to exploit the "synergy" with ESPN airing Wednesday night's Washington Wizards-Cleveland Cavaliers NBA game starring top Nike pitchman LeBron James by having the entire show sponsored by The LeBrons, an ad set featuring James playing three different alter egos and himself. A public outcry followed, as viewers commonly called into question the already questionable journalistic integrity of the network when dealing with the biggest stars of professional sports.
Also on 2006-11-03, ESPNEWS started airing ''SportsCenter'' on nights ESPN broadcasts ''The NBA on ESPN'' doubleheader. This practice was discontinued in February 2007, when ESPN2 canceled ''Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith'' due to very low ratings.

2007

On 2007-02-11, after the NBA game between the Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns, the 30,000th ''SportsCenter'' show aired. In that milestone show, Bob Ley recapped the events (and no-so-great moments) during the first 10,000 shows, Chris Berman did the same during the middle 10,000, as did Dan Patrick during the remaining 10,000. Steve Levy and Stuart Scott were the anchors on that 30,000th show.
Also on 2007-02-11, ''SportsCenter Minute'', which is a web-streaming one-minute ''SportsCenter'' update seen exclusively on ESPN.com, was introduced.
On 2007-02-16, the 11 p.m. ET edition was again broadcast with a single advertiser. Sprint's Nextel brand, which sponsors NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series, was that single advertiser this time around. This was to promote the start of the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season, featuring various Nextel commercials centering around NASCAR.
On 2007-03-12, a special 6 p.m. ET edition of ''SportsCenter'', which aired for 2 hours, was entirely devoted to "America's Bracket." That 2-hour broadcast, which was anchored by Jay Harris and Linda Cohn, aired 24 hours after the men's NCAA Basketball Tournament brackets were revealed.
The 11 p.m. Eastern Time edition on 2007-05-06 saw another major change, as ''SportsCenter'' introduced a "rundown" graphic across the right side of the screen. This feature appears only during the overnight show Monday through Saturday and on the main Sunday night program.
The 6 p.m. ET edition of ''SportsCenter'' moved up to 5 p.m. ET on 2007-05-28, and -- for the first time ever -- it was extended to three hours. The reason for the early start time for that particular edition, and for it to be extended to three hours, was that ESPN aired live coverage of Roger Clemens' second start for the New York Yankees' minor league club in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
On 2007-06-26, the 11 p.m. ET edition of ''SportsCenter'' was broadcast with a single advertiser once more. The single advertiser for that particular edition was ''Live Free or Die Hard'', a 2007 film starring Bruce Willis, who appeared in ESPN promos that tied in with the movie. ''Live Free or Die Hard'' is released by 20th Century Fox.
The 11pm ET edition of ''SportsCenter'' on 2007-08-07, which was anchored by John Buccigross and Cindy Brunson, showed live coverage of Barry Bonds's 756th career home run, which broke the old MLB record set by Hank Aaron, who had 755 career home runs. The game in which Bonds hit his 756th career home run, aired on sister channel ESPN2. The San Francisco Giants (the team in which Bonds plays for) lost that game to the Washington Nationals, 8-6.

The show that nearly wasn't

On September 11, 2001, ESPN interrupted regular programming at 11:05 a.m. Eastern Time to cover the immediate aftermath of the attacks on America through a simulcast of ABC News. The network considered not airing ''SportsCenter'' that night, and debated the topic for about an hour. Finally, a half-hour version aired which announced the cancellations of major U.S. sporting events that had been announced up to that time.^[3]
If the program had been canceled for the day, it would have been the first (and only) day since the network's launch without at least one ''SportsCenter''.

SportsCenter Sets

Facts

★ Since 2004-06-07, ''SportsCenter'' has been broadcast from their new high definition center at the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.

★ ESPNEWS used ESPN's standard BottomLine for its ''SportsCenter'' broadcasts.

Anchors and reporters

For the numerous different anchors and reporters that make up ''SportsCenter'', see ''List of SportsCenter anchors and reporters''.

Segments

For the numerous different segments that make up ''SportsCenter'', see ''List of SportsCenter segments and specials''.

ESPN Radio

ESPN Radio also has ''ESPN Radio SportsCenter'' with radio highlights airing three times an hour on the ESPN Radio network.

Conditions to showing highlights

Depending on the sport and the network, ESPN may air as long as three minutes of highlights of a game that aired on a network it does not own.
Some sports leagues and organizations, including the NBA, NHL and college sports conferences, allow for brief highlights to be shown while the game is in progress. Major League Baseball allows them only as part of the ''Baseball Tonight'' mini-programs, as mentioned above. The NFL does not allow in-progress highlights at all outside of its own live game broadcasts.
ESPN began to show more Olympics highlights on-air and online beginning with the 2006 Winter Olympics; they received these extended rights from NBC as part of the deal that saw ABC release Al Michaels from his contract, so he could join John Madden and key production personnel for the new ''NBC Sunday Night Football''.^[4] However, ''SportsCenter'' is still restricted to five minutes per day—spread over three different shows—and cannot show that day's events in highlight form until the following day.
In addition, there are many anecdotal reports of various TV networks (such as CBS Sports and NBC Sports) that will not release highlights of certain sporting events to ESPN unless its name is labeled across the screen for the entire length of the highlight, which can be perceived as a form of visual pollution. (In some cases, the same stipulation is made to competing programs like ''FSN Final Score'', but not in all.)
Also, as of the 2007 NASCAR season, the names of NASCAR's NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series races are no longer used by ''SportsCenter'' anchors or shown in graphics unless the sponsor pays a promotional consideration fee to the network (for example, Allstate 400 at the Brickyard), or a major race like the Daytona 500. In some cases, the actual race name is not used, but a presenting sponsor of the telecast is instead substituted (example: the 2007 Sharp Aquos 500 was re-dubbed "NEXTEL Cup Series presented by Principal Financial"). This is one of the stipulations in the contract that began in 2007 in which ESPN (and ABC) returned to cover NASCAR races after a seven-year absence.

Spin offs

★ ''BassCenter'' (2003–2006)

★ ''SportsCenterU'' (2006–present)

★ ''X Center'' (2005–present)

See also

★ 50 States in 50 Days

★ This is SportsCenter

★ List of SportsCenter anchors and reporters

★ List of SportsCenter segments and specials

★ ESPNEWS (a 24-hour sports news network from ESPN)

★ ''SportsCenter Asia'' (the Asian version of ''SportsCenter'')

★ ESPN BottomLine

★ ''SportsCentre'' (the Canadian version of ''SportsCenter'')

References

1. This is SportsCenter
2. http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/fiftyfifty/index 50 States in 50 Days]
3. ''Sports Illustrated'', Sep. 24, 2001
4. Associated Press report, Jan. 18, 2006


★ Press Release: CONSISTENT WEEKDAY SPORTSCENTER ANCHOR TEAMS BEGINNING SEPT. 5

External links

★ Official SportsCenter show page

★ Official ESPN site

★ Sportscenter in Brazil

★ SportsCenter Altar — a comprehensive fan site