ESPN to remove BottomLine ticker for college football broadcasts

ESPN is set to remove its BottomLine ticker during college football games this season in a move to free up more on-screen real estate, per a report by Ryan Glasspiegel in Front Office Sports.

The move will bring all of ESPN’s college football broadcasts in line with its major events, like the College Football Playoff or NBA postseason games, which already do not feature the on-screen ticker. This season, all college football games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNU, and ESPNEWS will go without the BottomLine.

Awful Announcing has been calling for this change for quite some time, as the ticker has become an unneeded distraction in the world of smartphones, when every score for every game can be seen in an instant, whenever the viewer wants.

“We’re always looking for ways to better serve sports fans. By removing the BottomLine during live action, we’re creating a cleaner presentation that keeps the focus where it belongs—on the field,” an ESPN spokesperson told Front Office Sports.

ESPN will still give score alerts throughout game broadcasts at “specific times during each quarter,” the report reads. Programming updates, like if kickoff of a game will be moved to a different network because another game is running long, will be given in a graphic at the top-right corner of the screen. Viewers of the Little League World Series might’ve gotten a sneak peak at what that will look like earlier this week.

ESPN’s Little League World Series coverage with a… different Program Alert graphic, complete with SportsCenter jingle. Changes to the BottomLine coming? Maybe leaving it off screen even for college football and basketball? pic.twitter.com/wtJBqSdYnk

— Morgan Wick (@morganwick) August 25, 2026

While some would argue this change is overdue, viewers will certainly appreciate the cleaner feel on ESPN’s college football telecasts this season. Now, the question is whether other networks will follow.

Fox, CBS, and NBC already do without the on-screen ticker during games on their broadcast networks. FS1 kept the ticker on during games last season, while Big Ten Network did not.