 Logo since 1985 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bristol, Connecticut |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 720p (HDTV) (selected matches are upscaled to2160p4K UHD broadcasts on selected platforms) (downscaled toletterboxed480i for theSDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | The Walt Disney Company (80%) Hearst Communications (20%) |
| Parent | ESPN Inc. |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | September 7, 1979; 46 years ago (1979-09-07)[1] |
| Links | |
| Website | espn.com |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| ESPN+ | espn.com/espnplus (American pay-TV subscribers only) |
| Service(s) | DirecTV Stream,FuboTV,Hulu + Live TV,Sling TV,YouTube TV |
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was theEntertainment and Sports Programming Network until 1985[2]) is an American international multiplatform sports media company owned bythe Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) andHearst Communications (20%) through the joint ventureESPN Inc. The company was founded on September 7, 1979 byBill Rasmussen,Scott Rasmussen and Ed Eagan.[2]
ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located inBristol, Connecticut. The network also operates offices and auxiliary studios inMiami,Orlando,New York City,Las Vegas,Seattle,Charlotte,Washington, D.C., andLos Angeles.James Pitaro has been chairman since March 5, 2018, following the resignation ofJohn Skipper on December 18, 2017.[3]
As of December 2023[update], ESPN is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States—down from its 2011 peak of 100 million households.[4] It operates regional channels in Africa, Australia, Latin America, and the Netherlands. In Canada, it owns a 20% interest inThe Sports Network (TSN) and its five sister networks. Despite the network's success,criticism of ESPN includes accusations of biased coverage.[5]
Bill Rasmussen came up with the concept of ESPN in May 1978, after he was fired from his job with theWorld Hockey Association'sNew England Whalers. Rasmussen and his ESPN co-founder Ed Eagan, joined by Rasmussen's sonScott (who had also been let go by the Whalers), first rented office space inPlainville, Connecticut. However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because of a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftopsatellite dishes. Available land to build their own facility on was quickly found inBristol, Connecticut (where the channel remains headquartered), with funding to buy the property provided byGetty Oil, which purchased 85% of the company from Bill Rasmussen on February 22, 1979, in an attempt to diversify the company's holdings. This helped the credibility of the fledgling company; however, there were still many doubters about the viability of their sports channel concept. Another event that helped build ESPN's credibility was securing an advertising agreement withAnheuser-Busch in the spring of 1979; the company invested $1 million to be the "exclusive beer advertised on the network".[6][7]
ESPN launched on September 7, 1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the channel's flagship program,SportsCenter. Taped in front of a small live audience inside the Bristol studios, it was broadcast to 1.4 million cable subscribers throughout the United States.[8] One month after launch,Chris Berman joined the network; he would continue to be an on-air fixture for decades.
ESPN's next big step forward came when the channel acquired the rights to broadcast coverage of the early rounds of theNCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. It first aired its games in March 1980, helping bring attention to what is today known as "March Madness". The channel's tournament coverage also launched the broadcasting career ofDick Vitale, who at the time he joined ESPN had just been fired as head coach of theDetroit Pistons.
In April of that year ESPN began televising theNFL draft, bringing it also to a mass audience and over time creating a television "event". That same month the network began broadcastingTop Rank Boxing on ESPN, marking the beginning of its involvement with televisedprofessional boxing.[9] The show lasted 16 years, and ESPN has since shown boxing live intermittently with other shows includingESPN Friday Night Fights and others. For a period during the 1980s, the network had boxing tournaments, crowning champions in different boxing weight divisions as "ESPN champions".
The next major stepping stone for ESPN came throughout a couple of months in 1984. During this period, theAmerican Broadcasting Company (ABC) purchased 100% of ESPN from the Rasmussens and Getty Oil.[6] Under Getty ownership, the channel was unable to compete for the television rights to major sports events contracts as its majority corporate parent would not provide the funding, leading ESPN to lose out for broadcast deals with theNational Hockey League (toUSA Network) andNCAA Division I college football (toTBS). For years, theNFL,NBA, andMajor League Baseball refused to consider cable as a means of broadcasting some of their games.[10] However, with the backing of ABC, ESPN's ability to compete for major sports contracts greatly increased, and gave it credibility within the sports broadcasting industry.
Later that year, theU.S. Supreme Court ruled inNCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (1984) that theNCAA could no longer monopolize the rights to negotiate the contracts for college football games, allowing each school to negotiate broadcast deals on their own. ESPN took full advantage and began to broadcast a large number of NCAA football games, creating an opportunity for fans to be able to view multiple games each weekend (instead of just one), the same deal that the NCAA had previously negotiated with TBS.[10] ESPN's breakthrough moment occurred in 1987 when it secured a contract with the NFL to broadcast eight games duringthat year's regular season—all of which aired on Sunday nights, marking the first broadcasts of Sunday NFL primetime games. ESPN'sSunday Night Football games would become the highest-rated NFL telecasts for the next 17 years (before losing the rights toNBC in 2006).[11] The channel's decision to broadcast NFL games on Sunday evenings resulted in a decline in viewership for the daytime games shown on the major broadcast networks, marking the first time that ESPN had been a legitimate competitor to NBC and CBS, which had long dominated the sports television market.
In 1992, ESPN launchedESPN Radio, a nationalsports talk radio network providing analysis and commentary programs (including shows such asMike and Mike in the Morning andThe Herd) as well as audio play-by-play of sporting events (including some simulcast with the ESPN television channel).[6]
On October 10, 1993,ESPN2—a secondary channel that originally was programmed with a separate lineup of niche sports popular with males 18–49 years old (withsnowboarding and theWorld Series of Poker as its headliners) as well as serving as an overflow channel for ESPN—launched on cable systems reaching to 10 million subscribers.[6] It became the fastest-growing cable channel in the U.S. during the 1990s, eventually expanding its national reach to 75 million subscribers.[6]
Ownership of ABC, and thus control of ESPN, was acquired byCapital Cities Communications in 1985.[12] ESPN's parent company renamed themselves as Capital Cities/ABC Inc. Capital Cities/ABC Inc. was then acquired bythe Walt Disney Company in 1996[13] and was re-branded asWalt Disney Television.
Challenges began to appear in the 2000s. ESPN began to shed viewers, more than 10 million over a period of several years in the 2010s even while paying large sums of money for the broadcast rights to properties like the NFL,NBA andCollege Football Playoff.[14]
On April 26, 2017, approximately 100 ESPN employees were notified that their positions with the sports network had been terminated, among them athletes-turned-analystsTrent Dilfer andDanny Kanell, and noted journalists likeNFLbeat reporterEd Werder andMajor League Baseball expertJayson Stark.[15] Further cost-cutting measures taken included moving the studio operations ofESPNU to Bristol fromCharlotte, North Carolina,[16] reducing its longtime MLB studio showBaseball Tonight to Sundays as a lead-in to theprimetime game and adding theMLB Network-producedIntentional Talk toESPN2's daily lineup.[17]
On April 12, 2018, ESPN began a supplementalover-the-top streaming service known asESPN+.[18]
After having last carried national-televisedNHL games in 2004, ESPN and ABC agreed in March 2021 on a seven-year contract to televise games, with some airing onESPN+ andHulu. The contract also awarded four of the seven Stanley Cup Finals to both ESPN and ABC. All other nationally televised games would air onTBS andTNT under a separate deal the league struck withTurner Sports the following month.[19]
On August 8, 2023, ESPN andPenn Entertainment announced a deal to brand Penn's sportsbooks with ESPN branding. Penn's existing Barstool Sportsbook would be rebranded asESPN Bet in late-2023.[20][21]
On February 6, 2024, ESPN announced a joint venture withFox Sports andTNT Sports known asVenu Sports, including the three organizations' main linear sports channels and associated media rights. It was originally planned to launch in fall 2024.[22] However, following legal issues (including an antitrust lawsuit byFuboTV), the service was ultimately cancelled.[23][24] In May 2025, ESPN announced that it would officially launch anESPN-branded direct-to-consumer product later that year, which will incorporate ESPN's main channels and content from ESPN+, and become the main streaming offering for all ESPN subscribers.[25]
On August 5, 2025, ESPN announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire theNational Football League's NFL Media division, pending regulatory approval. Under the deal, ESPN would get control of the NFL's in-house media properties such asNFL Network,NFL RedZone, and the league's official fantasy football service. The NFL would take a 10% equity stake in ESPN, NFL Network and RedZone would become part of the forthcoming ESPN streaming service, the NFL would license content fromNFL Films to air on ESPN networks, and ESPN will reassign selected games from its NFL broadcast package toNFL Network's exclusive game package. The NFL would continue to produce RedZone for ESPN, and the acquisition excludes properties such as NFL Films andNFL+.[26][27][28][29] Even if the deal gets regulatory approval, most of the above changes might not take effect until at least the 2026 NFL season.[30]
On August 6, 2025, ESPN announced that it had agreed to a five-year deal withWWE to streamWWE live premium events on the forthcoming ESPN streaming service, as well as simulcast select events on ESPN linear channels, starting withWrestlepalooza in September 2025.[31]
Alongside its live sports broadcasts, ESPN also airs a variety of sports highlight, talk, and documentary-styled shows. These include:
Many of ESPN's documentary programs (such as30 for 30 andNine for IX) are produced byESPN Films, a film division created in March 2008 as a restructuring of ESPN Original Entertainment, a programming division that was originally formed in 2001. 30 for 30 started airing in 2009 and continues airing to this day. Each episode is through the eyes of a well known filmmaker and has featured some of the biggest directors in Hollywood.[32] The30 for 30 filmO.J.: Made in America won theAcademy Award for Best Documentary Feature in2017, the first such Oscar for ESPN.[33]
Ultimate Fighting Championship signed a five-year contract with ESPN starting 2019[34] on ESPN and ESPN+ which estimate every quarter 2 event on UFC on ESPN and 6 events on UFC Fight Night on ESPN+.[35]
In March 2019, ESPN announced a new betting-themed daily program,Daily Wager, hosted by the network's gambling analyst Doug Kezirian.[36] The program was ESPN's first regularly scheduled program solely dedicated to gaming-related content. On May 14, 2019, ESPN announced a deal with casino operatorCaesars Entertainment to establish an ESPN-branded studio atThe LINQ Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to produce betting-themed content.[37]
In order to help offset the impact of COVID-19 on its business, Walt Disney CEOBob Chapek indicated during a fourth-quarter fiscal year 2021 earnings conference that the company would increase its presence in online sports betting, including in partnership with third parties.[38][39]
In 2023,The Pat McAfee Show moved to ESPN as part of a five-year, $85 million deal. The show replaced the Noon ET airing ofSportsCenter andThis Just In with Max Kellerman.[40][41]
Since September 2, 2006, ESPN has been integrated with the sports division of sister broadcast networkABC, with sports events televised on that network airing under the bannerESPN on ABC;[42] much of ABC's sports coverage since the rebranding has become increasingly limited to secondary coverage of sporting events whose broadcast rights are held by ESPN (such asNBA games,NHL games, and theX Games and its related qualifying events) as well as a limited array of events not broadcast on ESPN (most notably, theNBA Finals).
ESPN2 was launched on October 1, 1993. It carried a broad mix of event coverage from conventional sports—includingauto racing,college basketball andNHL hockey—toextreme sports—such asBMX,skateboarding andmotocross.[43] The "ESPN BottomLine", aticker displaying sports news and scores during all programming that is now used by all of ESPN's networks, originated on ESPN2 in 1995.[44] In the late 1990s, ESPN2 was gradually reformatted to serve as a secondary outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports programming.[45]
ESPNews is a subscription television network that was launched on November 1, 1996, originally focusing solely on sports news, highlights, andpress conferences. Since August 2010, the network has gradually incorporated encores of ESPN's various sports debate and entertainment shows and videosimulcasts ofESPN Radio shows, in addition to sports news programming. Since the 2013 cancellation ofHighlight Express,[46] programming consists mainly of rebroadcasts ofSportsCenter. ESPNews also serves as an overflow feed due to programming conflicts caused by sporting events on the other ESPN networks.
ESPN Deportes (Spanish pronunciation:[i.es.piˈendeˈpoɾtes], "ESPN Sports") is a subscription television network that was originally launched in July 2001 to provide Spanish simulcasts of certain Major League Baseball telecasts from ESPN. It became a 24-hour sports channel in January 2004.
ESPNU is a subscription television network that launched on March 4, 2005, that focuses oncollege athletics including basketball, football,baseball, college swimming, andice hockey.
SEC Network is a subscription television network that launched on August 14, 2014, focusing on the coverage of sporting events sanctioned by theSoutheastern Conference. Created as a result of a 20-year broadcast partnership between the two entities, the network is ajoint venture between the conference and ESPN Inc., which operates the network.[47][48]
Launching on August 22, 2019, theACC Network is a subscription television network that focuses on the sporting events of theAtlantic Coast Conference as part of a current agreement extending to the 2036–37 academic term as a joint venture of network operator ESPN Inc. and the ACC.[49]
ESPN8 The Ocho is a special program block showcasing seldom-seen obscure sports that airs on the networks of ESPN Inc. The Ocho is also offered as a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel on the Roku Channel, Prime Video and DirecTV Stream.
ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by the ESPN division of the Walt Disney Company, in partnership with ESPN Inc.
ESPN launched itshigh definitionsimulcast feed, originally branded asESPNHD, on March 30, 2003, with anOpening Day broadcast of theTexas Rangers andAnaheim Angels.[50] All current ESPN content is broadcast in high definition.
"Pardon the Interruption" andAround the Horn began airing in HD on September 27, 2010, with the relocation of the production of both shows into the facility housing theWashington, D.C., bureau forABC News.[51]
ESPN broadcasts HD programming in the720p resolution format, because ABC executives proposed aprogressive scan signal that resolves fluid and high-speed motion in sports better, particularly during slow-motion replays.[52] The network's Digital Center itself natively holds2160pUHD/4K operations and equipment.[53][54] In 2011, ESPNHD began to downplay its distinct promotional logo in preparation for the conversion of its standard definition feed from a4:3 full-screen to a letterboxed format (via the application of theAFD #10 display flag), which occurred on June 1 of that year.
WatchESPN was a website fordesktop computers, as well as anapplication forsmartphones andtablet computers that allowed subscribers of participating pay-TV providers to watch live streams of programming from ESPN and its sister networks (except for ESPN Classic), including most sporting events, on computers, mobile devices,Apple TV,Roku andXbox Live via theirTV Everywhere login provided by their cable provider. The service originally launched on October 25, 2010, as ESPN Networks, a streaming service that provided a live stream of ESPN exclusive toTime Warner Cable subscribers.[55]ESPN3, an online streaming service providing live streams and replays of global sports events that launched in 2005 as a separate website,[56] was incorporated into the WatchESPN platform on August 31, 2011.[57] Likewise,ESPN+ was launched in April 2018 as an add-on subscription for $4.99 per month.[58] On June 1, 2019, WatchESPN was discontinued with the service's full merger into the ESPN app.[citation needed]
ESPN Regional Television (formerly branded as ESPN Plus) is the network'ssyndication arm, which produces collegiate sporting events for free-to-air television stations throughout the United States (primarily those affiliated with networks such asThe CW andMyNetworkTV orindependent stations). ESPN Plus syndicates college football and basketball games from theAmerican Athletic Conference,Big 12 Conference,[59]Mid-American Conference,Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference,Sun Belt Conference and theWestern Athletic Conference.[citation needed]
ESPN distributes various content onSnapchat Discover, including a Snapchat-only version ofSportsCenter.[citation needed]
ESPN MVP (initially known as Mobile ESPN) was a 2005 attempt at operating amobile virtual network operator with exclusive mobile content, first as a phone feature, then after its termination into aVerizon Wireless paid service. Technologies developed for it have since been transferred to the network's successful mobile strategy in thesmartphone era.[citation needed]
ESPN Classic was a subscription television network that launched in 1995 as Classic Sports Network, founded byBrian Bedol and Steve Greenberg. ESPN Inc. purchased Classic Sports Network in 1997 for $175 million,[60] rebranding the channel as "ESPN Classic" in 1998. The channel broadcast notable archived sporting events (originally including events from earlier decades, but later focusing mainly on events from the 1990s and later), as well as sports documentaries and sports-themed movies. It was discontinued on December 31, 2021.
TheLonghorn Network was a subscription television network that launched on August 26, 2011, focusing on events from theTexas Longhorns varsity sports teams of theUniversity of Texas at Austin.[61] It features events from the 20 sports sanctioned by the Texas athletic department, along with original programming (including historical, academic and cultural content). It was discontinued on June 30, 2024, a day before the Longhorns' move to theSoutheastern Conference.
ESPN owns and operates regional channels in Brazil,Caribbean,Latin America, Netherlands,Oceania andSub-Saharan Africa. In Canada, ESPN is a minority owner ofThe Sports Network (TSN) and the French-languageRéseau des sports (RDS). ESPN also has a minority stake inJ Sports in Japan.
ESPN moved into thesports betting scene in November 2023 with plans to launch their sportsbook app "ESPN Bet" on November 14.[62] In a partnership withPenn Entertainment, ESPN Bet began in 17 states, and featured betting odds from their own sportsbook on their content.[citation needed] A mutual early termination of the agreement, and a new contract awarded toDraftKings commencing December 1, 2025, was announced on November 6, 2025.[63]
ESPN has been criticized for focusing too much on men's college and professional sports (particularly the NBA and NFL), and very little on women's sports or extreme sports.[64]Baseball,ice hockey, andsoccer fans have also criticized ESPN for not giving their respective sports more coverage.[65][66] Other criticism has focused on ethnicity in ESPN's varying mediated forms, as well as carriage fees and issues regarding the exportation of ESPN content.[67] Some critics argue that ESPN's success is their ability to provide other enterprise and investigative sports news while competing with other hard sports-news-producing outlets such asYahoo! Sports andFox Sports.[68] Some scholars have challenged ESPN's journalistic integrity, calling for an expanded standard of professionalism to prevent biased coverage and conflicts of interest.[69]
On October 8, 2019,Deadspin reported that an internal memo was sent to ESPN employees instructing them to avoid any political discussions regarding thePeople's Republic of China andHong Kong in the aftermath of a tweet byHouston Rockets general managerDaryl Morey.[70]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(March 2022) |
ESPN has won 232 Sports Emmy Awards in 35 years of eligibility.[72] In 2024, ESPN apologized for submitting fake names for Sports Emmy award consideration over many years, and returned 37 trophies that had been awarded to ineligible recipients to theNational Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.[73]
The sports television landscape was changed forever on September 7, 1979, with the launch of the world's first all-sports, satellite-delivered cable television network. The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, based in Bristol, Conn., is beamed to affiliate systems nationwide on Satcom I, Transponder #7 and is now seen in approximately four million U.S. households. ESPN is led by former NBC Sports president Chester R. Simmons.
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