There "might not be a group of people with more to lose" during the sports shutdown than ESPN's flagship show, "SportsCenter," according to Brady Langmann of ESQUIRE. Without highlights, without "anything to preview, and with very little non-virus-related news, the people behind the live show -- including its anchors, beat reporters across the country, producers, and behind-the-scenes players -- are trying to figure out: What is 'SportsCenter' without sports?" ESPN Senior VP/Production & Content Strategy Jill Frederickson said that the program "doesn't have the technology to go fully remote yet." The show must be filmed live from Bristol at 12:00pm ET, 6:00pm and 11:00pm, with sometimes more broadcasts on weekends. The morning show was a "casualty, but for the other editions, there's a small team working in Bristol." They are "reducing the amount of cameras in the studio, increasing the distance between anchors, and doing their best" to sanitize. The shutdown "gameplan is (and will be for the foreseeable future) flashbacks and features." Frederickson: "We're all trying to be creative, because not only do we have our own shows to fill but, we're also trying to create more for us and for the fans" (ESQUIRE.com, 4/8).
GETTING CREATIVE: In Boston, Ben Volin wrote he has "enjoyed 'SportsCenter' -- and sports coverage in general -- more than when live sports were being played." The programming the last three weeks has been "far more creative, and funny, and heartfelt than under normal circumstances." The flagship show has been "hilarious," from Scott Van Pelt's "compilation of 'bad beats' to the airing of Burundi Premier League soccer highlights to the daily Top 10 lists." Van Pelt: "We are literally figuring this out every day. There is no plan, there is no map where we know what we're going to do tomorrow. You got to try to figure out what the happy place is and try to put people there" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/7).
MAKING IT WORK: THE ATHLETIC's Sean Fitz-Gerald noted TSN ran "SportsCentre," its flagship news program, after the NBA and NHL suspended play last month. But it was then "quietly removed from the air as COVID-19 forced real-world shutdowns across Canada, and TSN filled some of the programming gaps with its ESPN-generated counterpart, SportsCenter." After two weeks, the Canadian version returned on Monday. On Tuesday, the 30-minute show "included news (the CFL delaying the start of its season) and hockey talk (from escrow payments to imagined NHL playoff scenarios)." It was rebroadcast on a loop through yesterday morning. TSN VP & Exec Producer Ken Volden: "A lot of this is us learning on the fly. ... I can't see us doing anything less than what we're currently doing. But how much we many expand will depend, quite frankly, on how good we get at doing this, technically." Volden said that the whole show is "created remotely, except for one technical worker" at the net's HQ in Toronto. The show is "not broadcast live" (THEATHLETIC.com, 4/8).
