Seen on Screen: ESPN's NFL Live To Relaunch With New Team in August; NBA, Formula 1 Brace for Return to Play By SVG Staff
Wednesday, July 1, 2020 - 10:09 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Seen on Screen provides a roundup of the current sports programming landscape as networks deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In this week's edition, major networks like NBC Sports, Fox Sports, and ESPN are combating the silence of no live sports with previously-released, taped, or archival content. Many networks have also continued producing live studio content - often with on-air talent located remotely.
ESPN will relaunch NFL Live, the year-round weekday NFL news and information show, in August with new host Laura Rutledge and a consistent roster of daily analysts that features Marcus Spears, Dan Orlovsky, Keyshawn Johnson, and Mina Kimes, who moves into a new NFL analyst role.
NFL analyst Ryan Clark will join NFL Live on Fridays. In addition, ESPN NFL reporters, insiders and news-breakers Jeff Darlington, Dan Graziano, Kimberley A. Martin, Chris Mortensen, Louis Riddick, Dianna Russini, Adam Schefter, and others will continue to contribute to the weekday show.
Rutledge joined the company as an SEC Network reporter in 2014 and has consistently expanded her portfolio of responsibilities across ESPN and SEC Network over the past six years, most recently joining Get Up as a permanent contributor last fall. Rutledge has hosted SEC Network's Saturday college football pregame show, SEC Nation, the past three years - a role she will continue doing in addition to hosting NFL Live. Rutledge has also contributed to live-event programming for college football, basketball, gymnastics, baseball, and softball and been a mainstay in ESPN's championship event coverage, including the College Football Playoff.
In addition to Rutledge, NFL Live will now feature a consistent panel of analysts throughout the week.
Spears, who has signed a new multi-year ESPN extension, will now appear daily on NFL Live as he moves into a pro football-centric analyst role. The eight-year NFL defensive end originally joined SEC Network in 2014 and has worked with Rutledge for years on both SEC Nation and Get Up. Spears debuted on NFL Live last fall in addition to traveling to SEC Nation and appearing regularly on Get Up, SportsCenter, First Take, and other shows.
Orlovsky, who played 12 NFL seasons at quarterback, will now appear daily on NFL Live, while continuing to call a weekly college football game for ESPN and ABC. Orlovsky, who joined the company in 2018 and began appearing on NFL Live a year ago, has worked consistently with both Rutledge and Spears on Get Up. He and Spears also developed a great rapport working together the past year on NFL Live.
Kimes, who has been widely praised for her NFL feature writing and football analysis on ESPN Digital and Audio platforms the past six years, moves into a new NFL analyst role. She will appear on NFL Live while continuing to host The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny football podcast. She will also continue to write for ESPN.com and contribute to programs like Around the Horn and Highly Questionable. During the NFL offseason, Kimes will continue to be a contributor to the ESPN Daily podcast which she launched as the host in October 2019.
Johnson, who has signed a new multi-year extension, will continue to have a host role on ESPN Radio while also making regular appearances as an analyst on NFL Live. A Super Bowl champion and 11-year NFL wide receiver, Johnson was a member of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown pregame shows from 2007-2015. The past four years, he has served as a Los Angeles-based analyst in addition to co-hosting the Mornings with Keyshawn, LZ, and Travis radio show on ESPN LA 710.
Spears, Orlovsky, Kimes, and Johnson will all continue to appear on Get Up, SportsCenter, First Take, and more in addition to NFL Live
ESPN and ABC will combine to televise 20 live NBA seeding games from Walt Disney World Resort starting Friday, July 31. The opening stretch will include 10 live game telecasts in ESPN's first four days of the season resuming. As part of its seeding games slate, ESPN will carry three conclusive NBA games on Friday, August 14, which is the last night of the regular season before the NBA Playoffs begin.
ESPN's coverage resumes on July 31, when the Boston Celtics and Jayson Tatum take on the first place Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo at 6:30 p.m. ET. In addition, the Houston Rockets and James Harden will battle the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic at 9 p.m. on ESPN.
The Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James will square off with the Defending NBA Champion Toronto Raptors on Sunday, August 1, at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.
The NBA on ABC resumes on Sunday, August 2, with two blockbuster matchups. The Bucks will collide with the Rockets in prime time at 8:30 p.m., while the Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard battle the Celtics at 3:30 p.m. in a special matinee broadcast. All NBA games on ESPN and ABC are also available to stream via the ESPN App.
Click here for the full schedule of seeding games
Turner Sports, in its 36th consecutive year of NBA coverage, will tip off the league's comeback with a blockbuster NBA on TNT doubleheader, Thursday, July 30. In the NBA's first regular season game since March, the New Orleans Pelicans and rookie standout Zion Williamson will take on the Utah Jazz and Donovan Mitchell at 6:30 p.m. ET. Two of the Western Conference's top teams will follow - the Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James and Anthony Davis vs. the LA Clippers with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George - at 9 p.m.
TNT will present a total of 18 games, highlighted by Tuesday doubleheaders and Thursday tripleheaders throughout the remainder of the regular season,
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
Seen on Screen: ESPN's NFL Live To Relaunch With New Team in August; NBA, Formula 1 Brace for Return to Play By SVG Staff 
