ESPN, Inc. Receives 37 Sports Emmy Nominations

NASCAR, Football & Studio Programming Lead the Way

March 13, 2008 -- ESPN, Inc., earned 37 Sports Emmy Award nominations, the most of any submitting company for the seventh time in eight years, it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. ESPN networks garnered 27 nominations, ESPN on ABC programming four, and ESPN.com six. The winners will be announced Monday, April 28.

Highlights of ESPN’s nominations:

* NASCAR returned to ESPN and ABC in 2007 and resumed its great tradition in the Sports Emmys with three nominations. (ESPN won 17 Sports Emmy Awards for NASCAR in the 1990s.) In addition, ESPN2’s NASCAR Now was nominated in the Studio Show – Daily category.
* ESPN’s football coverage received eight nominations, five for NFL programming – Monday Night Football in Live Series, Sunday NFL Countdown’s feature “Fear” (with author Stephen King) in the Short Feature and Editing categories and the show’s Tom Jackson (Studio Analyst), and the NFL Films documentary Super Bowl 360 (Edited Special) – plus two for College GameDay (Studio Show – Weekly, Short Feature for “Martel Van Zant”) and one for Arena Football (Live Sound).
* NBA coverage was nominated in Live Series and in the Graphic Design category for ABC’s open to the NBA Finals.
* ABC’s 2007 British Open was nominated in Live Special.
* ABC received two nominations in the Open/Tease category, in which it received two Sports Emmys last year, for the National Spelling Bee and the Indianapolis 500.
* ESPN took three of the five nominations for Studio Show Daily – SportsCenter, Pardon the Interruption and ESPN2’s NASCAR Now.
* ESPN garnered three of the five nominations in Short Feature (from College GameDay, Sunday NFL Countdown and MLB 2007: Never Miss a Game) plus two more for Long Feature (from Outside the Lines and E:60).
* The new E:60 received two nominations, one in the Writing category for a feature on Gunnar Esiason and one in Long Feature for “Ray of Hope” about the University of North Carolina mascot. He was killed in a traffic accident and, through donations, his organs gave new life to many people.

* College basketball’s Jay Bilas received his second straight nomination in the Studio Analyst category
* ESPN.com received six nominations in the three “New Approaches” categories – two for fantasy sports programs (Fantasy Focus Baseball and Fantasy Football Now) in the Coverage category, plus “Ray of Hope” in Long Form and three entries in General Interest (“An UnAmerican Tragedy,” “Death Race 2007” and “Don’t Be Like Mike”).

Nominations by category (all are ESPN, except as noted):

Live Special British Open (ABC)

Live Series Monday Night Football

NBA

Edited Special Super Bowl 360

The Natural: Major League Baseball Celebrates an Epic (ESPN2)

Unsettled Scores (ESPN2)

Sports Documentary Jonestown: The Game of Their Lives

Triumph & Tragedy: The Ray Mancini Story (ESPN Classic)

Studio Show/weekly College GameDay

Studio Show/daily NASCAR Now (ESPN2)

Pardon the Interruption