As we approach tonight’s official unveiling of ESPN’s brand spanking new 9,700 square foot SportsCenter studio inside the new 194,000 square Digital Center 2 (a.k.a “The All-New Powerful Death Star“), we think how the network’s signature program has evolved over the years.
It began as the program to provide all of the scores and highlights from all of the major sports happenings of the day. In the early days of ESPN, SportsCenter aired at 6 p.m. ET, 11:30 p.m. ET and 2:30 a.m. ET. Now it’s on 16 hours a day spanning three networks (ESPN, ESPNews and in some cases, ESPN2).
As ESPN has evolved, so has SportsCenter. During a media event at the new building last month, anchor Steve Levy said, “The way the show has changed is certainly in length now. We laugh at two hours. Two hours is no problem, we do that on a regular basis. Listen, we’ll do two hours now, and not get every game in. So think about the comparison there and some of the reason for that is some of the long form features (we air).”
In a conference call last week, Levy said the anchors won’t necessarily be tied to the desk. The whole idea to have the anchors walk around to display the features of the new studio, “The way I understand it in doing rehearsals, we are almost never, never going to be sitting behind the desk. That might be an opening shot, an establishing shot, a shot for a serious story or a serious discussion, but we’re going to be all over the place, and the place is massive.”
Levy said having the desk allows him to be more comfortable having his papers in front of him, but walking around will be different, “I think it’s going to be a lot looser. I think the show is going to be a lot looser. I think it’s going to be a lot more on the fly. I think that leads to a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, and in turn, better television, so that’s something we’re all kind of looking forward to, as well.”
Craig Bengston, ESPN’s Vice President of News added, “You know, what’s great about the studio is we finally have a studio that was built to support a 24/7 show. We’re currently working off a studio that was built at a time when we were live only three hours a day, and now we’re live 18‑plus hours a day. What that means in general, I think it’s going to be initially a dramatic change in the experience for viewers for a variety of reasons. Number one, because the studio is built for 24/7 program, the programs will be differentiated in different ways by where they stand on the set, because the set has many multiple anchor locations.”
But will viewers notice? Those of us who monitor the sports media and are TV geeks will notice the changes along with new graphics packages that will accompany the new set, but will average viewers care? Will a new set bring viewers to a program that airs throughout the day?
“I think there’s probably going to be some growing pains. The studio is jumping, I don’t have the exact figures, but is it three times bigger? Four times bigger? And 20 times the television monitors? And 20 times everything,” Levy said. “I think there’s going to be a growing period, a feeling‑out phase, and again, I think the SportsCenter we do on Sunday night will look vastly different from the one we do in even three months from now, and certainly in six months and a year from now and going forward, as we get comfortable with all the new toys.”
According to ESPN President John Skipper, the building will advance as technology advances allowing for conversions to new video standards such as 4K and 8K.
Not only will new technology be incorporated, but so will social media. Expect to see a social media area as part of the new set plus the engagement of viewers through Twitter. Is this a good idea? Levy seems to think so, “Twitter catches mistakes. Our audience is so smart and so locked into our show, that they bail us out from time to time ‑‑ I would say a couple of times a night.”
Bengston adds, “You know, we certainly understand the importance of Twitter in the social conversation of sports on a daily basis, and we’re just going to try to use the set and the environment to connect it better than we can now.”
So we can expect to see plenty of new bells and whistles on the new SportsCenter set plus a heavy social media element. Viewers will come in expecting to see highlights, analysis and the anchors, but may get something totally different. The key is being able to get viewers to watch and keep them from changing the channel. And using the right mix of news, information, highlights plus technology all depends on whether viewers find the latest incarnation of SportsCenter palatable.
