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E:60, Outside the Lines & Motorsports Lead the Way; First Nomination for ESPN Deportes
New Programming Honored:  Three Each for “30 for 30” Films and SportsNation

ESPN, Inc., earned 54 Sports Emmy Award nominations, the most of any submitting company for the ninth time in 10 years, it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  The total matches the company’s record, set last year.  The winners will be announced Monday, April 26.  

ESPN’s nominations encompassed the entire scope of the company’s efforts – studio and event production, including editorial/creative and technical categories for both; original programming from ESPN Content Development; three each for ESPN.com and promotional spots; as well as the first nomination for Spanish-language ESPN Deportes (for The Lost Son of Havana about former baseball pitcher Luis Tiant in the Sports Documentary category).  In addition, numerous individual commentators received nominations:  Mike Breen, Chris Fowler, Jon Gruden (for his first year on Monday Night Football), Kirk Herbstreit, Mike Tirico and Jeff Van Gundy.

ESPN2’s newsmagazine, E:60, topped all competitors with seven nominations, including Best Edited Series and four nominees between the Short and Long Features categories.  Five motorsports submissions were nominated, including the Indy 500 on ABC for Best Live Special and three for NASCAR.  Outside the Lines – winner of 11 Sports Emmy Awards in its history – received four nominations (Best Daily Studio Show, and three in the Long Feature category).

Other notes:

• Four nominations in studio show categories (SportsCenter, Outside the Lines First Report and Pardon the Interruption for Daily Shows; College GameDay for Weekly Shows, which it won in 2008)
• Three nominations or NFL (Monday Night Football for Production Design/Art Direction and Tech Team Remote, NFL Draft for Tech Team Studio)
• Three nominations for Grand Slam tennis programming (Live Series, Production Design/Art Direction and Writing)
• Three nominations for the “30 for 30” film series (for Best Edited Series, and The Legend of Jimmy the Greek and Without Bias in Sports Documentary)
• Three nominations for ESPN2’s new weekday SportsNation (Production Design/Art Direction, Tech Team Studio and Graphic Design).
• Three nominations for ESPN.com – which has won six Sports Emmys in four years of eligibility (“Super Bowl MVPs” and “Unspeakable” in Sports Programming, and “Sincerely, Lou” in Short Format)
• Three nominations for promo spots, in the Institutional category, for NASCAR, This is SportsCenter and One Game Changes Everything.

Overall, ESPN has won 128 Sports Emmy Awards in 22 years of eligibility.  ABC Sports won 160 from 1980 – 2008.

ESPN’s nominations by category (all are ESPN, except as noted):

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