Sports Emmy Award Nominations: ESPN, Fox Sports Lead Networks; E:60 and Super Bowl LIV Top All Programs By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, March 26, 2020 - 2:24 pm
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The nominees for the 41st Annual Sports Emmy Awards were unveiled today, as ESPN and Fox Sports led the way with 58 and 48 nods, respectively. Meanwhile, ESPN's E:60 (10) and Fox Sports Super Bowl LIV (seven) received the most nominations per program. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announced earlier this month that Sports Emmys ceremony, which had been schedules for April 28 in New York City, would be postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. CLICK HERE for the full list of nominees.
Nominations were announced in 42 categories including Outstanding Live Sports Special, Live Sports Series and Playoff Coverage, as well as technical awards the George Wensel Technical Achievement, Outstanding Technical Team Remote, and Outstanding Technical Team Studio categories among others. This year's competition marks the debut of a new category for Outstanding Esports Coverage.
In addition, Lesley Visser will become the first woman to receive the Sports Lifetime Achievement Award at the 41st Annual Sports Emmy Awards.
The Breakdown: ESPN and Fox Lead the Way
ESPN and Fox Sports' haul of nominations were followed by NBC Sports Group (24), CBS Sports (20), Turner Sports (17), HBO Sports (16), MLB Network (12), NFL Network (12), Netflix (six), Showtime Sports (four), and Univision and YouTube (three).
As for the nominations by program, E:60 and Super Bowl LIV are followed by 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup NFL on FOX, HBO's 24/7, and ESPN's SC Featured with five apiece and ESPN's College GameDay, and HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel with four each. Three nods apiece went to The Masters (CBS Sports), MLB Tonight (MLB Network), NASCAR on FOX, NFL 360 (NFL Network), NFL on CBS.
In terms of nominations by individual networks Fox pulled in 39 nominations followed by ESPN (36), FS1 (23), CBS (19), NBC (18), HBO (16), MLB Network (12), NFL Network (12), TNT (12), NBCSN (11), ESPN Deportes (9), ABC (7), and Netflix (6).
Technical Categories: Fox Lands Three Wensel Awards Nods
The prestigious George Wensel Technical Achievement Award category features three nominations for Fox Sports along with one apiece for ESPN, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports. The nominees are the C360 PylonCam-MarkerCam on ESPN Monday Night Football/ESPN College Football; Fox Sports' UHD HDR production of Super Bowl LIV; CBS Sports' Every Shot, Every Hole production at The Masters; two nominations for NASCAR on Fox for its use of Broadcast Analytics and a Virtual Set; and NBC's use of Augmented Reality on the Tour de France).
The Outstanding Technical Team Remote category features nominations the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship (ESPN), The Masters (CBS Sports), MLB on FOX (Fox/FS1), Sunday Night Baseball (ESPN), Tour de France (NBC/NBCSN).
Outstanding Technical Team Studio nominations went to the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup 2019 (FOX/FS1), 2019 NFL Draft (NFL Network), College GameDay (ESPN), Fox NFL Sunday at Super Bowl LIV (Fox), MLB Tonight (MLB Network).
Live Sports Programs: Fox Leads Live Sports Special Category
Competing in Outstanding Live Sports Special will be the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final (FOX), 2019 Stanley Cup Final (NBC), The 61st Daytona 500 (FOX), The 115th World Series (FOX), The 145th Kentucky Derby (NBC), The Masters (CBS), and Super Bowl LIV (FOX)
The Outstanding Live Sports Series competition will be a football-only affair between ESPN/ABC College Football, NFL on CBS, NFL on FOX, SEC on CBS, and NBC'S Sunday Night Football.
In terms of Outstanding Playoff Coverage, the 2019 College Football Playoff Semifinal (Clemson Tigers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes) on ESPN, 2019 NBA Playoffs on TNT, AFC Playoffs on CBS, NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on TBS/CBS/TNT/truTV, and the NFC Wild Card (Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints) on Fox will be in the running.
Studio Shows: NFL Shows Lead Weekly, ESPN Rules Daily Category
NFL programming dominated the Outstanding Studio Show Weekly category with College GameDay (ESPN), Football Night in America (NBC), FOX NFL Sunday, FOX NFL Thursday taking four of the five spots - joined by Inside the NBA (TNT)
ESPN snagged three of the six Daily Studio Show nominations with Outside the Lines, Pardon The Interruption, and SportsCenter. Also nominated were The Dan Patrick Show (B/R Live/DirecTV/NBCSN), MLB Tonight (MLB Network), and NHL Live (NBC/NBCSN).
Nominations were dolled out in the Outstanding Studio Show Limited Run category to Fox's 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, TNT's Inside the NBA: 2019 NBA Playoffs, MLB on FOX: The Postseason, NFL Network/NFL Films' NFL 100 All-Time Team, and TBS/CBS/TNT/truTV's Road to the Final Four
Esports Joins the Sports Emmy Party
This year's competition marks the debut of a new category for Outstanding Esports Coverage with the 2019 ELEAGUE on tbs tbs Road To The Rocket League World Championship, 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals on YouTube (Epic Games/NGE/Victory Pictures), EXP APEX Legends Pro Am on ABC/ESPN (ADVNCR), EXP Invitational Apex Legends at the X Games on ESPN2 (So-Hi Media), FIFA eWORLD Cup Grand Final 19 London on FS2 (FIFA TV), and the League of Legends World Final on YouTube (Riot Games) competing.
NASCAR, NFL Headline Audio Categories
As usual, NASCAR and NFL properties dominated the audio categories this year. Outstanding LIve Event Audio/Sound nominations went to MLB on FOX, NASCAR on FOX, NASCAR on NBC NFL on CBS, and NFL on FOX.
Meanwhile Post-Produced Audio/Sound nods went to Radioactive: The Championship Race on FS1 (NASCAR Productions), Road To The
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Sports Emmy Award Nominations: ESPN, Fox Sports Lead Networks; E:60 and Super Bowl LIV Top All Programs By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
