ESPN Takes Home Company Record 13 Sports Emmys At Last Night’s Ceremony

ESPN has won a company-record breaking 13 Sports Emmy awards at last night’s ceremony, bringing the network’s total to 246 in its 36 years of eligibility.

What’s Happening:

  • At the 44th Annual Sports Emmy Awards ceremony Monday night, ESPN won in 13 categories—setting a company record as the National Academy of Television and Sciences honored the best in sports media. ESPN has now won 246 Sports Emmy Awards in 36 years of eligibility, surpassing its own record this year for most wins; ESPN’s previous record of 11 wins was set in 1996 and matched in 2015 and 2022.
  • ESPN was recognized in a range of categories, reflecting its commitment to diverse storytelling, quality programming, and innovative excellence. Wins were received across a variety of properties, including the NFL, college football, the NHL, and the NBA.

  • ESPN’s on-air commentators received four trophies Monday night, including Lisa Salters for Reporter, Peyton Manning for Event Analyst and Ryan Clark for Studio Analyst. In addition, Mike Breen was recognized as Outstanding Personality/Play-by-Play for the second consecutive year. ESPN’s four personality Sports Emmy Awards are the most in a single year in ESPN history. Clark’s first Sports Emmy Award was ESPN’s fifth in the studio analyst category.
  • For the second consecutive year, ESPN won in the Outstanding Live Series category for its Monday Night Football productions. Following ESPN’s win for MNF with Peyton & Eli in 2022, 2023 saw its signature NFL presentation earn the nod for live series, featuring Emmy winners Joe Buck and Lisa Salters alongside Troy Aikman and John Parry. This marks ESPN’s seventh win in the category.

  • For the second time in three years, SportsCenter won the Outstanding Daily Studio Show category, its 19th Sports Emmy all time, including two for Outstanding Studio Show before the category was split into daily and weekly. Overall, ESPN has won 25 times in the studio show category.
  • E60: Remember the Blue and Yellow was recognized for Outstanding Journalism. This is ESPN’s 15th Sports Emmy in this category and E60’s 20th Emmy since its 2010 launch. Reporter Wright Thompson and the E60 team crossed several countries while telling the inspiring story of the Ukraine Men’s National Soccer Team and its journey to try and play while its nation is at war.
  • ESPN took home a pair of Emmys in the Short and Long Feature categories. ESPN Films’ Betsy & Irv and Jump Around from College GameDay & ESPN’s Features Unit each reigned supreme in their respective categories, helping ESPN hit its 30th Emmy win overall in the feature categories. College GameDay earned its 13th Sports Emmy with Monday night’s victory.
  • ESPN also captured another pair of Emmy wins in the editing categories, including Edited Event Coverage for Welcome to the NHL: 2022 NHL Draft, the third Sports Emmy recognition for ESPN’s NHL production since its return to ESPN platforms in 2021, and Editing – Short Form for Outside The Lines – Without You. Outside The Lines Without You also won The Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing Award – Short Form. The feature is OTL’s look at Jackie Robinson, who gave the possibility of equality a name and a face.

  • The world’s first-ever real vs. virtual tennis match emerged victorious in the Outstanding Digital Innovation category, as McEnroe vs. McEnroe captured ESPN’s first win in the category for its presentation of John McEnroe taking on his virtual self.
  • Congratulations to this year’s Sports Emmy Award winners from ESPN:
  • Personality/Event Analyst
    Peyton Manning (ESPN2, ESPN+)
  • Digital Innovation
    McEnroe vs. McEnroe (ABC, ESPN, ESPN+)
  • Long Feature
    Betsy & Irv (ESPN+)
  • Short Feature
    College GameDay: “Jump Around” (ESPN)
  • Personality/Reporter
    Lisa Salters (ESPN, ABC)
  • Edited Event Coverage
    Welcome to the NHL: 2022 NHL Draft (ESPN+, NHL Network)
  • Editing – Short Form
    Outside the Lines – “Without You” (ESPN)
  • Journalism
    E60: “Remember the Blue and Yellow” (ESPN, ESPN+)
  • Personality/Studio Analyst
    Ryan Clark (ESPN, ESPN2, ABC)
  • Personality/Play-by-Play
    Mike Breen (ABC)
  • The Dick Schaap Writing Award – Short Form
    Outside the Lines – “Without You” (ESPN)
  • Live Series
    Monday Night Football (ESPN)
  • Studio Show – Daily
    SportsCenter (ESPN)

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Tony Betti
Originally from California where he studied a dying artform (hand-drawn animation), Tony has spent most of his adult life in the theme parks of Orlando. When he’s not writing for LP, he’s usually watching and studying something animated or arguing about “the good ole’ days” at the parks.