Sports Tonight is an American sports news television program that aired onCNN from 1980 to 2001, and onCNN/SI from December 12, 1996 to the channel's demise on May 15, 2002. It normally aired at 11 p.m. ET/10 p.m. CT.
When CNN went on the air on June 1, 1980 one of the first newscasts was a sports bulletin wherebaseball andNorth American Soccer League highlights were shown. Later, a nightly program calledSports Tonight went on the air in late night. During this time,Nick Charles andFred Hickman became established as the program's co-hosts. In addition, CNN aired a weekend program calledSports Saturday andSports Sunday.
One of the program's most popular features was called "Play of the Day" (later known as the "Replay of the Day"), which showed a highlight (i.e., a spectacular play) from that day's action.
In 1996, CNN launched a new station calledCNN/SI.Sports Tonight was renamedCNN/Sports Illustrated, and was replayed many times throughout the night on CNN/SI, likeESPN was doing (and continues to do) withSportsCenter.
The program reclaimed itsSports Tonight name shortly afterwards, and when CNN pre-empted the show in late 2000[1] due to the coverage of the disputed2000 presidential election, producers decided to differentiate the format fromSportsCenter's highlights.Sports Tonight was relaunched in 2001 with asports talk format, where viewers interacted with the hosts via theInternet andtoll-free phone lines about their favorite teams and players. By then, Charles was no longer hosting; Hickman andVince Cellini were the program's hosts.[2]
Sports Tonight continued on both CNN and CNN/SI until September 2001. When theterrorist attacks occurred on September 11, 2001,[3] CNN went to all-news programming.[4] Three days later, CNN announced that the program would no longer air on CNN,[5] but remain on CNN/SI. In May 2002, CNN/SI shut down operations,[6] andSports Tonight ended after a 21-year run.
Since the cancellation ofSports Tonight, CNN has aired various programming at 11 p.m. ET, includingConnie Chung Tonight,Lou Dobbs Tonight,Anderson Cooper 360,Erin Burnett OutFront,Don Lemon Tonight,CNN Tonight and currentlyLaura Coates Live .
CNN International airs a similar show,World Sport, that airs several times a day as of 2023.
In 2024, as part of its launch of a nightly sports block programmed byTNT Sports, sibling networkTruTV began airing a 6 p.m. ET news show titledTNT Sports Tonight (originally announced asTNT Sports Update), which is produced by CNN and hosted byCoy Wire.[7]K As of March 2025, it is no longer on truTV's schedule.
