Houston was a lonely place for ESPN 13 years ago, the last time the city hosted the Super Bowl.
Back then, ESPN set up shop across from Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center for its three main outlets — ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNews. CBS carried the 2004 game and didn’t have much of a Super Bowl week presence. Neither did the NFL, which had launched NFL Network just three months before that 2004 game.
Fast forward to 2017, and downtown Houston will look a lot different.
“For us, the biggest change in those 13 years is the amount of other entities that are now involved,” said Seth Markman, ESPN’s senior coordinating producer. “We invented the playbook for Super Bowl coverage. A lot of people have tried to copy that formula.”
That strategy is to try to “own” the coverage during Super Bowl week through the pregame, Markman said. In past years, other media outlets have caught on to that strategy.
This year, the NFL has a huge presence in Houston with Super Bowl Live. The host broadcaster, Fox, also will have a big presence, bringing its studio shows to the city.
Other big changes for ESPN mirror changes in the business over the past 13 years. ESPN will have a much bigger digital and social media presence this year. As an example, Markman cited ESPN reporter Michele Steele, who will be in town to contribute to ESPN’s social network handles.
“We’d never even dream of that position in 2004,” Markman said.
ESPN’s postgame coverage will have a slight change this year, as Steve Levy will host “SportsCenter” from the field. Chris Berman, Steve Young and Randy Moss also will be on the field after the game.
ESPN will produce its NFL studio shows from a set next to Toyota Center. “Mike & Mike,” “First Take” and “Outside the Lines” will broadcast from Lucky’s Pub, and ESPN Radio’s “The Stephen A. Smith Show” and “Russillo and Kanell” will be on Radio Row.
ESPN also plans an hourlong tribute, “Chris Berman: He Did Go All The Way,” on Feb. 2, at 10:30 p.m. ET. ESPN recently announced that Berman was stepping down as host of “Sunday NFL Countdown,” “NFL PrimeTime” and “Monday Night Countdown” following the Super Bowl.
