The “This is SportsCenter” campaign is every bit as iconic a part of ESPN’s history as its flagship show and its theme song. The first commercial in the campaign debuted in 1994. The ads ran regularly until 2019.
Typically, the ads starred a mix of ESPN personalities, star athletes and team mascots. Some SportsCenter anchors became fan favorites in the commercials.
ESPN is debuting the right ad for the occasion too. The first new “This is SportsCenter” ad will feature US Women’s National Team members Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Sophia Smith and SportsCenter anchor Nicole Briscoe enjoying orange slices as Syracuse mascot Otto the Orange looks on in horror.
“This is SportsCenter is iconic, and a campaign that everyone knows and loves. It is at the core of who we are at ESPN, and we’re thrilled it’s returning at a key time in the sports calendar,”Laura Gentile, Disney’s and ESPN’s Executive Vice President of Commercial Marketing, said in a press release. “This is SportsCenter featured timeless creative dating back to the mid-1990s, and it’s our job to uphold this standard and build upon it in new ways.”
More new ads in the campaign are set to debut throughout 2023.
Adam Silver wants NBA team governors to know that he wants to keep working for them. The league commissioner addressed rumors that he is on a short list of potential successors for Bob Iger when he steps down from the CEO role at The Walt Disney Company in 2024.
Silver, whose contract with the NBA happens to expire in 2024, was asked directly if he had spoken with Iger or anyone else at Disney.
“I love my job at the NBA,” he reportedly said at a Board of Governors meeting. “I have no intention of going anywhere.”
The inclusion of Silver’s name on Iger’s list makes a lot of sense. The NBA and Disney have had a great relationship predating Silver taking over the commissioner’s role. ABC and ESPN are expected to renew their TV deal with the league this summer.
The two sides also partnered on a live entertainment complex at Disney Springs on Walt Disney World property in Florida called The NBA Experience. It closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At 60 years old, Adam Silver is likely in no hurry to retire. When his contract with the NBA expires, it will be up to him whether he wants to remain the commissioner of the league or not.
McGinest is currently in the middle of a lawsuit resulting from an incident in an LA-area restaurant in December. He is being sued and faces up to eight years in prison for allegedly attacking a fellow customer.
Since news of the investigation became public, NFL Network has kept Willie McGinest off the air.
McCarthy reached out to McGinest and NFL Network. Neither offered a comment at this time.
NFL Media has been busy this week as the company looks to reduce its expenses. Willie McGinest joins Jim Trotter and Rachel Bonnetta on the list of on-air talents that have lost their jobs at NFL Network.
ESPN reporter Holly Rowe has signed a multi-year extension to remain with the company.
Rowe works as a sideline reporter for ESPN/ABC’s coverage of college football — including the College Football Playoffs, the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and the Women’s College World Series, among other high-profile assignments.
“I feel like I am living my best life and I am so grateful to ESPN for letting me keep doing this,” Rowe told The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch.
Earlier this year, Rowe was named the 2023 Curt Gowdy Media Award winner from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for her electronic media work.
Rowe joined ESPN in 1998, and signed her last contract extension with the network in 2018 shortly before she announced she had undergone her final chemotherapy treatment in August of that year after a melanoma diagnosis in 2016.
According to Deitsch, Rowe’s contract was set to expire next month.
