ESPN, Fox Lead 42nd Sports Emmy Nominations

ESPN College Gameday
(Image credit: ESPN)

NEW YORK—The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for the 42nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards, with ESPN and Fox leading all networks in total nominations.

“In a year where sports production literally ground to a halt, we received a record number of submissions. From innovative solutions to the constraints of production during the pandemic to the superb storytelling that confronted the social justice issues of our times, we are so proud of what our nominees were able to achieve,” said Justine Gubar, executive director, Sports Emmy Awards.

NATAS announced nominations in 46 categories. ESPN received a total of 54 nominations across its different networks and website. Fox was the second most-nominated network with 31.

The single most-nominated program of the last year was CBS’ production of Super Bowl LV, which garnered 11 nominations. Other high profile sporting events that received nominations include Nickelodeon’s NFC Wild Game production and NBC/Olympic Channel/NBCSN’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games coverage, which netted two nominations for its promotional campaigns despite being postponed.

Here is a breakdown of some of the nominations:

Outstanding Live Sports Special

  • 2020 NBA All-Star Game on TNT, TNT
  • The 116th World Series, Fox
  • The 146th Kentucky Derby, NBC  
  • The Match on TNT, TNT 
  • Super Bowl LV, CBS 

Outstanding Digital Innovation

  • The Last Ascent, RBTV 
  • NBA on TNT’s AT&T Holovision, TNT 
  • NFL Media virtual production, NFL Media Group 
  • SportsNation Football Visualization Platform, ESPN/ESPN+/ESPN.com/Twitter 
  • Super Bowl LV “As One: The Lombardi Comeback,” CBS 

Outstanding Digital Innovation 

  • College Football Playoff National Championship, ESPN 
  • Fox NASCAR, Fox/FS1 
  • The Masters, CBS 
  • NBA Bubble, ESPN/TNT/NBA 
  • Super Bowl LV, CBS 

Outstanding Technical Team Studio 

  • 2020 NFL Draft, ESPN/ABC/NFL Network 
  • College GameDay, ESPN 
  • Fox NASCAR, Fox/FS1 
  • MLB Tonight, MLB Network 
  • The Super Bowl Today, CBS 

The George Wensel Technical Achievement Award 

  • Fox NASCAR, The Racing Drone, Fox/FS1 
  • Fox NFL, Megalodon, Fox 
  • MLB Network Showcase, Statcast 3D, MLB Network 
  • MLB Postseason on TBS, Base Cam, TBS 
  • Notre Dame Football, NBC HDR LUTs, NBC 

All nominees can be found online.

The 42nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards will take place virtually on June 8, streamed live on Watch.TheEmmys.TV.