When you combine the Sports Emmy Award nominations for ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN.com, the sports behemoth has a massive 52 nods. It doesn’t mean that they’ll win them all, but that’s a very big number. In case you’re wondering, ESPN has 22 nominations, ABC with 13, ESPN2 has 9, and both ESPN Deportes and ESPN.com with 1.
Some of the notable nominations include Chris Berman and Scott Van Pelt for Outstanding Studio Host, Tom Jackson and Kirk Herbstreit for Outstanding Studio Analyst, Jon “This Guy” Gruden in the Outstanding Game Analyst category, last year’s World Cup, Monday Night Football, College GameDay, E:60, The Two Escobars, among others.
Let’s take a look at this long press release which has every of the ESPN family of networks and platforms 52 nominations.
ESPN, Inc. – Industry Leading 52 Sports Emmy Nominations
FIFA World Cup – Most-Honored Entrant; E:60 & NFL Also Lead the Way;
First Nomination for ESPNU; Debut of ESPN 3D Cited for Technical AchievementESPN, Inc. earned 52 Sports Emmy Award nominations, the most of any submitting company for the 10th time in 11 years, it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The winners will be announced Monday, May 2.
ESPN’s nominations were led by 12 for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, more than the number earned by any other single production effort from any entrant. Fittingly, as the largest commitment to a single event in ESPN’s 31-year history, it also earned the most nominations for any single entity ever for ESPN. The nominations ranged from Outstanding Live Special for the final on ABC to ESPN Content Development’s I Scored A Goal in Edited Special to a variety of technical categories, including Technical Team Studio, Camerawork, Graphics and Music (two).
NFL programming garnered five nominations: Chris Berman (Studio Host), Tom Jackson (Studio Analyst, won in 2009), Monday Night Football (Live Series), Jon Gruden (Event Analyst, second nomination in his two years on MNF), and “ESPN NFL Unmasked” (a behind-the-scenes player profile regularly on Sunday NFL Countdown, in Production Design/Art Direction).
ESPN’s two critically acclaimed news magazine programs focusing on issues and personalities in sports combined for 10 nominations. E:60 totaled six (Edited Series, Journalism, three in Long Feature and Short Fetaure) while Outside the Lines earned four (Documentary, two for Long Feature and Short Feature).
NBA content drew four nominations. The NBA Finals on ABC were cited in Live Special, Jeff Van Gundy earned a second straight nomination in Event Analyst; and the NBA Draft received two nominations (Open/Tease and Production Design/Art Direction).
ESPN Content Development also received four nominations. In addition to I Scored a Goal, two “30 for 30” films were cited — “June 17, 1994” in Documentary and Editing and “The Two Escobars” in Documentary for its premiere on ESPN Deportes.
Among ESPN commentators, in addition to Berman, Jackson, Gruden and Van Gundy; Kirk Herbstreit, the 2010 winner, was again nominated in Studio Analyst; Orel Hershiser was a first-time nominee in Event Analyst; and another first-timer, Scott Van Pelt in Studio Host.
Other notable nominees:
- Three nominations combined in the two categories for Promotional Announcements: “30 for 30” and The Open Championship in Episodic Promos, and “Is it Monday Yet?” in Institutional Promos.
- Two nominations for Technical Achievement: ESPN 3D (debuted June 2010) and “Enhanced Visual Accompaniment,” a virtual studio technology used in a variety of ways, including Center Circle (soccer), Ultimate Uplink (NBA), and Virtual Pitch (MLB).
- ESPNU’s first nomination, for College Football Whiparound in Graphic Design
- The Breeders’ Cup World Championship in Live Special
- ESPN College Football in Live Series
- College GameDay in Weekly Studio Show (won in 2008 and 2010)
Overall, ESPN has won 135 Sports Emmy Awards in 23 years of eligibility. ABC Sports won 160 from 1980 – 2008.
ESPN’s nominations by category (all are ESPN, except as noted):
Live Special
Breeders Cup World Championship
2010 FIFA World Cup (ABC)
The NBA Finals (ABC)Live Series
College Football
Monday Night FootballLive Event Turnaround
World Series of Poker Final TableOutstanding Playoff Coverage
2010 FIFA World CupEdited Special
I Scored a Goal (ABC)Sports Documentary
June 17, 1994
Outside the Lines: Robben Island: A Greater Goal (ESPN2)
The Two Escobars (ESPN Deportes)Edited Series
E:60 (ESPN2)Studio Show/weekly
College GameDayStudio Show/daily
Pardon the Interruption
SportsCenterJournalism
E:60 – Children of Bhopal (ESPN2)Short Feature
E:60 – A League of her Own (ABC)
Outside the Lines: Santa Anita, A Dark HistoryLong Feature
E:60 – Josiah’s Time (ESPN2)
E:60 – Survival 1 (ESPN2)
E:60 — Unbreakable
Outside the Lines – Asian Carp
Outside the Lines – The Power of DylanOpen/Tease
2010 FIFA World Cup (ABC)
NBA DraftNew Approaches – Short Format
Sport Science (ESPN.com)Studio Host
Chris Berman
Scott Van PeltStudio Analyst
Kirk Herbstreit
Tom JacksonEvent Analyst
Jon Gruden
Orel Hershiser
Jeff Van Gundy (ABC)Technical Team Remote
Winter X Games 14 (ESPN/ESPN2)Technical Team Studio
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)Camerawork
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)Editing
2010 Scripps Howard Spelling Bee (ABC)
June 17, 1994Writing
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ABC)Music
2010 FIFA World Cup: Day One Tease (ESPN/ABC)
2010 FIFA World Cup: U2 7 Soweto Gospel Choir (ESPN/ESPN2/ABC)Graphic Design
2010 FIFA World Cup
ESPNU College Football Whiparound (ESPNU)
Sports ScienceProd.Design/Art Direction
2010 FIFA World Cup (ESPN/ESPN2/ABC)
NBA Draft
“ESPN NFL Unmasked”Technical Achievement
ESPN 3D (ESPN 3D)
“Enhanced Visual Accompaniment”Promo – Institutional
“Is it Monday Yet”Promo – Episodic
ESPN Films: “30 for 30”
The Open Championship
That’s it.
