The Sports Emmy Awards, or Sports Emmys, are part of the extensive range of
Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Sports Emmys are presented in recognition of excellence in American
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...
television programming, including sports-related series, live coverage of sporting events, and best
sports announcer
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
s. The awards ceremony, presenting Emmys from the previous
calendar year, is usually held on a
Spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season)
Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
Monday night, sometime in the last two weeks in April or the first week in May. The Sports Emmy Awards are all given away at one ceremony, unlike the
Primetime Emmy Awards and the
Daytime Emmy Awards
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...
, which hold a "
Creative Arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
" ceremony in which Emmys are given to behind-the-scenes personnel.
History
The first Emmy for "Best Sports Coverage" was handed out at the
second annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony in 1950, where
KTLA, a local television station in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, won the award for coverage of
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
. The
following year, another Los Angeles-based station,
KNBH, won an Emmy for their coverage of the
Los Angeles Rams American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
team. At the
seventh Primetime Emmys in 1955,
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
became the first major network to win a Sports Emmy Award for its series, the ''
Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
The ''Gillette Cavalcade of Sports'' is an American radio-turned-television program by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) that ran from 1942 to 1960. The program included broadcasts of a variety of sports, although it is primarily remembere ...
''.
In 1979, an Emmys exclusively for sports coverage was held for the first time at the
Rainbow Room
The Rainbow Room is a private event space on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Run by Tishman Speyer, it is among the highest venues in New York City. The Rainbow Room serves cla ...
in New York City. Winners included golf announcer
Jack Whitaker
John Francis Whitaker (May 18, 1924 – August 18, 2019) was an American sportscaster who worked for both CBS and ABC. Whitaker was a decorated army veteran of World War II. He fought in the Normandy Campaign and was wounded by an artillery st ...
, and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
's ''
The NFL Today
''The NFL Today'' is an American football television program on CBS that serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the ''NFL on CBS'' brand. The program features commentary on the latest ne ...
''. The ninth annual Sports Emmy Awards, hosted by actors
Alan Thicke
Alan Thicke (born Alan Willis Jeffrey; March 1, 1947December 13, 2016) was a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is the father of singer Robin Thicke. In 2013, Thicke was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Thicke was be ...
and
Joan Van Ark
Joan Van Ark (born June 16, 1943) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Valene Ewing on the primetime soap opera '' Knots Landing.'' A life member of The Actors Studio, she made her Broadway debut in 1966 in ''Barefoot in the ...
and held on July 13, 1988, became the first Sports Emmys ceremony to be televised; the live telecast was syndicated nationwide by
Raycom Sports.
Dennis Miller
Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian.
He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...
hosted in the 12th Sports Emmys in 1991, which was broadcast on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
.
Rules
Among the Sports Emmy rules, a show must originally air on American television during the eligibility period between January 1 and December 31, and to at least 50 percent of the country.
A show that enters into the Sports Emmys cannot also be entered into any other national Emmy competition. Certain shows and segments that air on sports networks that are more entertainment or news, including award shows, the opening and closing ceremonies of the
Olympics, and the
Super Bowl halftime show, are ineligible for the Sports Emmys.
Entries must be submitted by mid-January. Most award categories also require entries to include DVDs or tape masters of the show. For most program categories, the submitted DVDs should feature up to five excerpts. For most personality categories, there is no limit in the number of segments submitted, but the DVD should not run over a total of 12 minutes.
Voting is done by peer judging panels between February and early March. The Academy solicits anybody with significant experience in national sports production to serve as
judges. The panels are organized so that they only have one representative from each corporate entity (i.e.
Paramount Global
Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...
,
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
,
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primaril ...
,
Fox Corporation
Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated ...
,
Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with Di ...
etc.) Most categories only have a single voting round using preferential scoring system. The top 5 entries in each category are announced as the "nominations", and then the top entry is announced as the Emmy winner later at the awards ceremony.
When a show wins a Sports Emmy, each member of the crew that worked on the production is eligible to purchase an Emmy statue, provided that their job title corresponds to the category that the show won the award in. This policy can result in many different people "winning" an Emmy for a single production; for example, when the
Olympics on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
wins an award for Outstanding Technical Team (Remote), as often occurs, the hundreds of personnel working on the production all have the right to purchase an Emmy statue.
Depending on the production, the show or network that won the award will sometimes pay for the purchase of statues for the entire crew.
Categories
At that inaugural ceremony in 1979, there were 12 categories. The 36th ceremony in 2015 had 40 categories:
*
Outstanding Live Sports Special
The Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Special has been awarded since 1976. It is awarded to a network for their coverage of one specific sporting event in a calendar year, which means it should not be confused with the award for Outsta ...
*
Outstanding Live Sports Series
The Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Series has been awarded since 1976. Unlike the award for Outstanding Live Sports Special, this award is given to networks for a weekly series in which a specific sport is televised live.
List of wi ...
*Outstanding Edited Sports Coverage
*Outstanding Edited Sports Special
*Outstanding Playoff Coverage
*Outstanding Sports Documentary
*Outstanding Sports Documentary Series
*
Outstanding Studio Show - Weekly
*
Outstanding Studio Show - Daily
*Outstanding Sports News Anthology
*Outstanding Sports Journalism
*Outstanding Short Feature
*Outstanding Long Feature
*Outstanding Open/Tease
*Outstanding New Approaches – Sports Event Coverage
*Outstanding New Approaches – Sports Programming
*Outstanding New Approaches – Sports Programming Short Format
*
Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio Host
*
Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play
*
Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio Analyst
*
Outstanding Sports Personality, Sports Event Analyst
*
Outstanding Sports Personality, Sports Reporter
*Outstanding Technical Team Remote
*Outstanding Technical Team Studio
*Outstanding Camera Work
*Outstanding Short Form Editing
*Outstanding Long Form Editing
*The Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing Award
*Outstanding Music Composition/Direction/Lyrics
*Outstanding Live Event Audio/Sound
*Outstanding Post-Produced Audio/Sound
*Outstanding Live Event Graphic Design
*Outstanding Post-Produced Graphic Design
*Outstanding Studio Design/Art Direction
*Outstanding Production Design/Art Direction
*The George Wensel Technical Achievement Award
*Outstanding Sports Promotional Announcement
*Outstanding Live Sports Coverage in Spanish
*Outstanding Studio Show in Spanish
*Outstanding On-Air Sports Personality in Spanish
*
Sports Lifetime Achievement Award
The Sports Lifetime Achievement Award is a special award given away each year at the Sports Emmy Awards. It was first given away in 1989. It is always announced days before the nominations are.
List of recipients
*1989: Jim McKay
*1990: Lindsey N ...
Defunct categories
*
Outstanding Host or Commentator
The Emmy Award for Outstanding Host or Commentator was awarded from 1968 to 1992. It was awarded to a sports broadcaster who was best at hosting an event from a studio or commentating on an event as it was taking place. In 1981, the category's nam ...
*
Outstanding Analyst
*
Outstanding Achievement In Content For Non-Traditional Delivery Platforms
**This award made its debut in 2006, and was given for content made especially for devices such as
iPods and
PDAs. It was replaced by the three subcategories for Outstanding Broadband, which are listed above.
Multiple wins by a Series
9 wins
*''
NBC Sunday Night Football
''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, with the Pro Football Hall of Fa ...
''
8 wins
*''
College GameDay''
*''
Inside the NBA
''Inside the NBA'', branded for sponsorship purposes as ''Inside the NBA presented by Kia'', is the postgame show for '' NBA on TNT'' broadcasts. The program features host Ernie Johnson with analysts Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille ...
''
*''
Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
''
7 wins
*''
NFL GameDay/Sunday NFL Countdown''
6 wins
*''
MLB Tonight
''MLB Tonight'' is the signature program that airs on MLB Network and is simulcast on MLB Network Radio. The show offers complete coverage of all Major League Baseball games from 6pm ET – 1am ET during the regular season, and gives news from al ...
''
5 wins
*''
Inside the NFL
''Inside the NFL'' is an American weekly television sports show that focuses on the National Football League (NFL). It originally aired on HBO from 1977 through 2008. Following Super Bowl XLII, HBO announced that it would be dropping the progra ...
''
*''
NFL on CBS
The ''NFL on CBS'' is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. The network has aired NFL game telecasts sin ...
''
*''
The NFL Today
''The NFL Today'' is an American football television program on CBS that serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the ''NFL on CBS'' brand. The program features commentary on the latest ne ...
''
4 wins
*
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
's coverage of the ''
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament''
*''
Fox NFL Sunday
''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under t ...
''
*''
Major League Baseball on Fox
''MLB on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox MLB'') is an American presentation of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by Fox Sports, the sports division of the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), since June 1, 1996. The broadcaster has aired the Worl ...
''
*''
NASCAR on Fox
''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox television network in the United States since 2001. Speed, a motorsports-focused cable channel ...
''
*''
SportsCenter''
3 wins
*''
Pardon the Interruption
''Pardon the Interruption'' (abbreviated ''PTI'') is an American sports talk television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stor ...
''
2 wins
*''
ESPN SpeedWorld
''ESPN SpeedWorld'' (formerly ''Auto Racing '79–'86'') is a former television series broadcast on ESPN from 1979–2006. The program that was based primarily based around NASCAR, Champ Car, CART, International Motor Sports Association, IMSA, Fo ...
''
*''
ESPN Sunday Night Football
''ESPN Sunday Night Football'' is the ESPN cable network's weekly television broadcasts of Sunday evening National Football League (NFL) games. The first ESPN Sunday night broadcast occurred on November 8, 1987, while the last one aired on January ...
''
Multiple wins by a Personality
23 wins
*
Bob Costas
Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 19 ...
16 wins
*
Cris Collinsworth
Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional American football player. Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with ...
*
John Madden
John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pl ...
9 wins
*
Jim McKay
James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist.
McKay was best known for hosting ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' (1961–1998). His introd ...
*
Mike Emrick
7 wins
*
Joe Buck
Joseph Francis Buck (born April 25, 1969) is an American sportscaster.
The son of sportscaster Jack Buck, he worked for Fox Sports from its 1994 inception through 2022, including roles as lead play-by-play announcer for the network's Nation ...
*
Al Michaels
Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television sportscaster currently working as the play-by-play announcer for '' Thursday Night Football'' on Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on n ...
6 wins
*
Ernie Johnson, Jr.
Ernest Thorwald Johnson Jr. (born August 7, 1956) is an American sportscaster for Turner Sports. Johnson is currently the television voice and a studio host for Major League Baseball on TBS, hosts ''Inside the NBA'' for NBA on TNT, TNT, and N ...
4 wins
*
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on NBA on TNT, TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons ...
*
Dick Enberg
Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including N ...
*
Bill Raftery
William Joseph Raftery (born April 19, 1943) is an American basketball analyst and former college basketball coach.
High school and college years
Raftery attended Saint Cecilia High School in Kearny, New Jersey, where he starred in basketball an ...
3 wins
*
Terry Bradshaw
Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...
*
James Brown
*
Kirk Herbstreit
Kirk Edward Herbstreit (; born August 19, 1969) is an American sportscaster and former college football player. He serves as an analyst for ESPN's '' College GameDay'', a television program covering college football, and he also provides color ...
*
Keith Jackson
*
Tim McCarver
James Timothy McCarver (born October 16, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to , most prominently as a member of the St. Louis Cardina ...
*
Harold Reynolds
Harold Craig Reynolds (born November 26, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a second baseman from to , most prominently as a member of the Se ...
*
Tom Verducci
Thomas Verducci (born October 23, 1960) is an American sportswriter who writes for ''Sports Illustrated'' and its online magazine SI.com. He writes primarily about baseball. He is also a reporter and commentator for Fox Major League Baseball and ...
2 wins
*
Joe Morgan
Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...
*
Jim Nantz
James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has ancho ...
*
Ken Rosenthal
Ken Rosenthal (born September 19, 1962) is an American sportswriter and reporter. He serves as a field reporter for '' Fox Major League Baseball'' since 2005, and was an in-studio reporter for MLB Network from 2009 to 2022. Since August 2017, ...
*
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya is an American former sportscaster. From 2011 to 2022, she was a reporter for NBC Sports, primarily as a sideline reporter for ''NBC Sunday Night Football''. She currently works as a political advisor and makes television appear ...
See also
*
*
List of American television awards
This list of American television awards is an index to articles about notable awards that are or were given by several organizations for contributions in various fields of television in the United States.
General
Emmy awards
An Emmy Award ...
*
List of sports journalism awards
This list of sports journalism awards is an index to articles that describe notable awards for sports journalism, including both broadcast and print media. It also includes books about sports.
List
See also
*Lists of awards
* List of journal ...
References
External links
*
{{Television in the United States
Sports mass media in the United States
+Sp
Sportscasting awards
American sports trophies and awards