The new look SportsCenter. As of June 22nd, you will see new graphics and opening. SportsCenter will be originating from a brand new building (more on that here) and we’ll see some new animation and hear some new music.
ESPN’s Steve Levy and Craig Bengtson, Vice President, Director of News, joined some media members today on a call to discuss the debut of SportsCenter from its new home in the 194,000-square foot Digital Center 2 Sunday at 11 p.m. ET (or immediately following Sunday Night Baseball).
The signature melody will stay the same, the trademark riff you know will not change, but ESPN has prepared three different themes for day time, night time and serious news events.
Here’s more photos and videos of all the new gadgets, gizmos and toys that will accompany the new SportsCenter.
(Video) The future transition from live sporting event to commercial break #SCMediaDay https://t.co/SzZ1smrbDV
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) May 22, 2014
Here are the new SportsCenter graphics
And here’s the new desk:
“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,” said Bengston.
“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. The lighting in the morning is different than the lighting at night. The music in the morning is slightly different than the music at night.”
Here’s more on the new building that will be home to the new SportsCenter.
“The walk at 10:50 pm from the news room to the studio for the 11 pm SportsCenter is still thrilling,” SportsCenter Anchor Steve Levy told the media.
“The excitement is palpable. I mean, you can’t walk five steps on campus now without anybody saying, ‘Did you see the new set?’ ‘What’s the new set like?’
‘Have you seen this corner of the new set?’ So for veterans like Stuart (Scott, co-anchoring with Levy Sunday night) and myself, guys who have been doing the show, really the same show for 20 years, the butterflies are back.”
“It’s a really cool experience, and I think it’s going to translate to the audience, and I think it’s going to progress,” Levy said.
The new ESPN SportsCenter also coalesces with Social Media.
“We’ve tried to adjust with everything that’s happening in the marketplace in terms of new technology and the type of information that people consume, so social media, the SportsCenter app, will be part of the show on a daily basis. What’s happening in the Twitter space, which obviously as we all know is really today’s newswire, will be an important part of the show, and we’re just going to be able to deliver that information to people in a way that can help drive the conversation in those spaces, not just on television, but also in the digital space,” said Bengston.
The new Digital Center 2, or DC-2, 194,000 square foot facility that will be the new home to SportsCenter and the studio programming covering the NFL, will have five control rooms and about 10,000 square feet devoted to SportsCenter alone.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on talk radio stations across the world. Banks has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, the Washington Times, NBC and The History Channel. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)
