ESPN, Fox Sports Top Sports Emmy Awards; CBS Sports' The Masters Wins Key Tech Categories Foxs Super Bowl LIV bests all events with four awards By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor Wednesday, August 12, 2020 - 10:46 am
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It was fitting that, on a night unlike any other, CBS Sports' coverage of The Masters would take home three of the top prizes at the Sports Emmy Awards, earning statues for Outstanding Live Sports Special, Outstanding Technical Team Remote, and the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award. The ceremony, held virtually for the first time ever because of the pandemic, saw ESPN lead all networks with eight Emmys, followed by Fox Sports with seven, including four for its Super Bowl LIV coverage.
The 41st Sports Emmys ceremony, held virtually because of the pandemic, was hosted by NBC News' Craig Melvin (left) and Fox Sports' Lindsay Czarniak from their home.
Just behind ESPN and Fox were CBS Sports and HBO Sports with five apiece, Turner Sports with four, MLB Network and NBC Sports Group with three, and NFL Network with two. Netflix, Red Bull TV, UFC, and YouTube earned one apiece.
Super Bowl LIV led the way for all individual programs with four wins, followed by CBS's The Masters coverage and HBO's 24/7 with three. ESPN's E:60, NFL coverage, and SC Featured, Fox Sports 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, and NFL Network's NFL 100 received two apiece.
Although Fox Sports' Super Bowl LIV took the most awards of any single program, CBS's coverage of The Masters dominated the live-production and technical categories.
What an incredible win for CBS, said CBS Sports Executive Producer/SVP, Production, Harold Bryant, accepting the final award of the night, for Outstanding Live Sports Special. Thank you to this production team on golf. This is an all-star group, and you guys do an incredible job. You put so many long hours and hard work into it, and you put on a special broadcast. Thank you to our operations team. You guys make us look great. And thank you to my core group, all the guys and women behind the scenes; you guys are phenomenal. And thank you to the folks at Augusta for your partnership.
Said CBS Sports EVP, Operations and Engineering, Patty Power in accepting the award for Outstanding Technical Team Remote, This is just an amazing team effort at one of the biggest and most complicated shows we do. Thank you most of all to my tremendous CBS Sports operations and engineering team. You guys are awesome. You amaze and inspire all of us as you continue to set the gold standard in our industry. I'm just so proud of all of you. So thank you again.
Fox Sports received the Outstanding Technical Team Studio statue for its 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup efforts in France.
This is such a great award to win, and I know how much work went into it, said Fox Sports SVP, Technical and Field Operations, Mike Davies. The architects of what happened in France were [VP, Field Operations and Engineering,] Kevin Callahan and [VP, World Cup Operations,] Rod Conti. They literally spent months in Paris working out a location that proved to be incredibly challenging. From the weather to historic museum challenges, to riots and insurrection, these guys persevered. But they didn't do so without a lot of help [from the rest of the Fox Sports team]. So thank you. It's an amazing opportunity for these guys to hopefully get back and do what they do best.
In addition to three wins for The Masters, CBS also won the Outstanding Live Sports Series category for its NFL on CBS coverage and was a co-winner with Turner Sports for Outstanding Playoff Coverage with the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
On behalf of the entire CBS Sports team as well as our partners at Turner Sports, we want to thank the voters for this great honor, said CBS Sports VP, Remote Production, Steve Karasik in accepting the Playoff Coverage award. There's no sporting event in the world that matches the excitement and intensity of the tournament, and we're happy to bring every game, buzzer-beater, and moment to all the viewers at home. We obviously didn't have an NCAA Men's Tournament this year, but we're hopefully looking forward to bringing all the shining moments to our viewers next March, for some more madness. On behalf of all the men and women of Turner Sports and CBS Sports, thanks again. This is a huge honor.
Two of the usual studio-production heavyweights won the studio-show categories. Turner Sports' Inside the NBA once again received the award for Outstanding Studio Show - Weekly; MLB Network's MLB Tonight took home the award for Daily. NFL Networks' NFL 100 All-Time Team won for Outstanding Studio Show - Limited Run.
Two other key live-production categories saw NFL on ESPN win for Outstanding Live Graphic Design and NASCAR on NBC win for Outstanding Live Event Audio/Sound.
A trio of ultra-unique offerings won the multi-platform categories this year. Red Bull TV's virtual production of the Red Bull Rampage won for Outstanding Digital Innovation; MLB Network's #SandlotToTheShow, Outstanding Social TV Experience; and NFL Networks' NFL 100 Greatest & All-Time Team, Outstanding Trans-Media Sports Coverage.
In its first year of existence, the Outstanding Esports Coverage category was won by YouTube/Riot Games for coverage of the League of Legends World Final.
Hosted by Fox Sports' Lindsay Czarniak and NBC News' Craig Melvin, the 41st Sports Emmy Awards also honored CBS Sports' Lesley Visser with the Lifetime Achievement Award and presented the Jim McKay Memorial Scholarship to Jonathan Burkhart of Saint Clairsville High School, St. Clairsville, OH.
Honorees were announced in more than 35 categories during the livestream. CLICK HERE to watch the fu
