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53-537: League president Dennis Murphy had been involved in the establishment of the American Basketball Association , World Hockey Association and World TeamTennis . RHI hoped to capitalize on the inline skating boom of the early 1990s. Key parts of its success were its stance on no guaranteed contracts, instead teams would all split prize money. Teams were generally made up of minor league ice hockey players playing on inline skates during

106-463: A close friend of future Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. Hardy had also attended the University of Southern California with Murphy, and he asked for his fellow alum's help in pursuing a team for Anaheim's new stadium (set to house Gene Autry's California Angels of Major League Baseball ) for the new American Football League . Anaheim's proposed team was quashed in 1960 when Al Davis , as one of

159-456: A documentary special called This is SportsCenter , in which ESPN showed a documentary showing the production of an edition of SportsCenter , while the finished product aired on ESPN2. The documentary would usually air for two hours, where the first hour would cover the preliminary production of the night's show on ESPN, while ESPN2 aired ESPN's regular programming. The second hour usually spent time at production control while covering reaction to

212-441: A focus on sports popular among young adult audiences (ranging from mainstream events to other unconventional sports), and carrying a more informal and youthful presentation than the main network. By the late 1990s, this mandate was phased out, as the channel increasingly became a second outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports coverage. As of December 2023 , ESPN2 is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in

265-551: A league, the American Basketball Association, that eventually merged several teams into the NBA. The ABA became famous for its three-point shot, slam dunk and red, white and blue basketball... not to mention players like "Dr. J." Julius Erving , Rick Barry , George Gervin , Connie Hawkins , and many others. In 1967, ABA Commissioner George Mikan presided over the league's 11 teams in the inaugural season:

318-485: A more informal and youth-oriented channel than parent network ESPN. The youthful image was also reflected in its overall presentation, which featured a graffiti -themed logo and on-air graphics. Its initial lineup featured studio programs such as SportsNight —which host Keith Olbermann characterized as a "lighter" parallel to ESPN's SportsCenter that would still be "comprehensive, thorough and extremely skeptical", Talk2 —a nightly talk show hosted by Jim Rome that

371-510: A scheduling conflict with CBS's coverage of the Big Ten championship game . As a result, CBS aired the SEC championship on its affiliates in the markets of the teams involved, while ESPN2 aired a simulcast of the game in the rest of the country. ESPN2 has occasionally been used to carry simulcasts of ESPN Deportes' Spanish-language coverage of events, in an effort to promote the channel and improve

424-539: A style of play that forced the evolution of the entrenched incumbent. Among the many visionary rules and promotional concepts introduced by Murphy include the 3-point shot (ABA), the Slam-Dunk Contest (ABA), team cheerleaders (ABA), the first $ 1 million contract (WHA), and he paved the path for the ever-growing wave of European and Russian hockey players that now play in North America. Murphy's WHA and

477-405: A while provided a simulcast of ESPN Deportes ' edition of SportsCenter on Sundays. In return, ESPN2 programming is often seen on ESPN during blackouts of games in certain markets. ESPN2 also often carries SportsCenter at times when the broadcast on ESPN is delayed by a sporting event that overruns into one of the program's scheduled timeslots. ESPN and ESPN2 also jointly aired two episodes of

530-608: Is a live game presentation of college football on ESPN2. The channel airs the Canadian Football League playoffs, including the season-ending Grey Cup , simulcasting from their Canadian partner TSN . The channel has also become ESPN's home for tennis coverage. The showpieces are three of the "Grand Slam" tournaments: the Australian Open , Wimbledon and the US Open . U.S.-based tournaments, including

583-492: The 2017 NFL season through 2020 , ESPN2 simulcast ESPN Deportes' Spanish-language broadcasts of Monday Night Football during the first nine weeks of the season, including its pre-game show NFL Esta Noche , and ESPN Latin America 's SportsCenter from Mexico City after the game. ESPN2 had largely scheduled filler programming against MNF until November, when it begins its Monday-night college basketball coverage . In

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636-848: The ATP Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami , as well as the US Open Series , were also previously broadcast on the channel. Most of ESPN's soccer output has been broadcast on ESPN2, including Major League Soccer , Premier League and La Liga matches; the channel also broadcast the United States' FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 2009. ESPN2 formerly broadcast matches of the UEFA Champions League , until rights for that tournament moved to Fox Soccer and its sister networks. In 2003, ESPN2 began broadcasting Major League Lacrosse games. In March 2007, ESPN2 and

689-539: The Anaheim Bullfrogs led in attendance with an average of 9,800 per game, seven teams attracted less than 4,000 per game on average, while the whole league's attendance averaged around 5,000 by 1996. Ultimately, after five seasons of play and a fading in the inline skating boom, RHI folded in 1998 with two of its franchises joining Major League Roller Hockey : the Buffalo Wings and its premier club,

742-649: The East–West Shrine Game , much of the 2006 World Baseball Classic , many Major League Soccer games, NCAA football games, NCAA basketball games, the WNBA , the Arena Football League , regular-season KHL games, and Saturday-afternoon NASCAR Nationwide Series races. In 2011, ESPN2 also acquired broadcast rights to delayed coverage for some American Le Mans Series events, with series' major events airing on ABC . ESPN2 College Football Primetime

795-534: The GI Bill majoring in economics. He was a one-term mayor of Buena Park in Orange County, California (April 15, 1958 to July 17, 1959 ), before becoming a marketing executive for one of California's biggest civil engineering firms, Voorheis, Trindle, and Nelson. In 1958, Murphy was elected and began to serve as a one-term mayor of Buena Park, California ; but his career path changed when he met Jim Hardy,

848-629: The National Roller Hockey League . The rules in the RHI were similar to but not identical to those of ice hockey. Besides the obvious difference of playing on a floor instead of ice, the RHI had four players and a goalie at a time on the playing surface opposed to ice hockey's five and a goalie. Minor penalties were only a minute and a half as opposed to two minutes and major penalties were four minutes instead of five. There were no blue lines and therefore no offside ; however, there

901-616: The Pittsburgh Pipers , Minnesota Muskies , Indiana Pacers , Kentucky Colonels , New Jersey Americans , New Orleans Buccaneers , Dallas Chaparrals , Denver Rockets , Houston Mavericks , Anaheim Amigos and Oakland Oaks . "Ultimately, four ABA teams were absorbed into the older league: the New York Nets , Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs . Two other clubs, the Kentucky Colonels and

954-606: The Spirits of St. Louis were disbanded upon the merger. A third, the Virginia Squires , had folded less than a month earlier, missing out on the opportunities that a merger might have provided." The ABA folded after its 1976 season, but Murphy had been working on two other professional sports leagues, the World Hockey Association and World Team Tennis. The WHA debuted in 1972 and ran through 1979 and

1007-750: The Women's Sports Foundation and the Kauai-Loves-You Triathlon in Hawaii. King was once married to tennis star Billie Jean King . Bellehumeur had his hand in many inventions and was on the board of directors for the Port of Long Beach, California. Murphy was named RHI's president, Bellehumeur was the chairman of the board, and King became the league's general counsel. Murphy, Bellehumeur and King converted Bellehumeur and Murphy's preexisting corporation, World Sports Management, Inc., into RHI, Inc., and

1060-415: The " BottomLine ", a persistent news ticker which displayed sports news and scores. The BottomLine would later be adopted by ESPN itself and all of its future properties. In the late 1990s, ESPN2 began to phase out its youth-oriented format, and transitioned to becoming a secondary outlet for ESPN's mainstream sports programming; telecasts began to adopt a more conventional style, and the "graffiti 2" logo

1113-520: The 18–34 age demographic, such as auto racing, college basketball and NHL hockey (where, beginning in the 1993–94 season , it aired up to five games per week under the title NHL Fire on Ice ), while also covering atypical sports such as BMX and other extreme sports . ESPN2 would also be used to showcase new technology and experimental means of broadcasting events: on September 18, 1994, ESPN2 simulcast CART 's Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix using only onboard camera feeds. In 1995, ESPN2 introduced

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1166-819: The 1994 realignment, Roller Hockey International divided its teams into only three divisions and no conferences. From 1994 through 1996, the Eastern Conference was divided into the Atlantic Division and the Central Division, which were both successors to the Murphy Division. Starting in 1997, the conferences had no divisions. From 1994 through 1996, the Western Conference comprised teams divided into two divisions: Northwest Division and Pacific Division. Starting in 1997

1219-619: The 2021 season, the Spanish simulcast of MNF was replaced with Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli (colloquially known as the " Manningcast "), which is hosted by Eli and Peyton Manning , and features appearances by other celebrity guests. ESPN2 broadcasts in high definition in the 720p resolution format, which was launched in January 2005. In January 2011, the separate ESPN2HD branding began to be phased out, as in May of that year,

1272-692: The ABA competed directly with the entrenched National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association , respectively. Murphy and company enticed one of the game's best players, Bobby Hull , to flee the NHL to the WHA with an unprecedented $ 1 million contract, and “Mr. Hockey,” Gordie Howe , soon followed. Murphy was the commissioner of the WHA for three years, and the Dennis A. Murphy Trophy

1325-574: The Anaheim Bullfrogs. RHI was revived in 1999, with a 10-team roster that included five holdovers that had played in RHI in 1997: the Anaheim Bullfrogs, Buffalo Wings, Minnesota Blue Ox , San Jose Rhinos and St. Louis Vipers . The league cancelled the 2000 season and the league finally ceased operations in 2001 when their sites were limited to arenas in California . The St. Louis Vipers were resurrected in 2020 as an expansion team of

1378-657: The ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut and was renamed ESPN First Take . After ESPN became part of a new broadcast contract with the association, ESPN2 also premiered the new daily show NASCAR Now (similar to the previous RPM 2Night , except only focusing on NASCAR) in February 2007. Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith , a program that featured interviews with popular sports figures, had averaged extremely low ratings, and had also faced several timeslot changes, until it

1431-552: The Jets won their third AVCO World Trophy by defeating the Oilers in the final WHA game. Murphy co-founded World Team Tennis(WTT) in 1973 with Larry King , Fred Barman and Jordan Kaiser, and league play began in 1974 with 16 teams, a four-color tennis court, and teams made up of two men and two women. This made WTT the first professional sports league to give equal weight to each man and woman competing for their teams. Elton John wrote

1484-477: The Murphy Cup, was named after Dennis as the leagues' founder. ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc. , a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially formatted as a younger-skewing counterpart to its parent network ESPN , with

1537-535: The United States—down from its 2011 peak of 100 million households. ESPN2 launched on October 1, 1993, at 7:30 p.m. ET . Its inaugural program was the premiere of SportsNight , a sports news program originally hosted by Keith Olbermann and Suzy Kolber ; Olbermann opened the show and the channel by jokingly welcoming viewers to "the end of our careers." Launching with an estimated carriage of about 10 million homes, and nicknamed "The Deuce", ESPN2 aimed to be

1590-442: The availability of the telecasts (as ESPN2 is available in a significantly larger number of homes than ESPN Deportes), while also reducing the need to counterprogram with lesser-viewed programs. Examples since 2016 have included NBA Christmas Day games , the 2017 World Baseball Classic (whose English rights were exclusively held by MLB Network ), and an International Champions Cup game between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. From

1643-784: The conditions of accepting a merger between the National Football League and the AFL, agreed that no additional team would be permitted in the Los Angeles market alongside the L.A. Rams. Stung by this defeat, Murphy set his sights on pro basketball. In the 1960s, the National Basketball Association consisted of 12 teams, and had successfully fought off a challenge by Abe Saperstein's ( Harlem Globetrotters ) America Basketball League . Teaming up with attorney Gary Davidson, Murphy worked on creating

Roller Hockey International - Misplaced Pages Continue

1696-403: The conferences had no divisions. The league inspired at least one video game, Super Nintendo 's RHI Roller Hockey '95, although the game was never released. There was also a call-in style stats, scores and interview hotline where fans could call in following games. The phone number was 1-800-741-4RHI. This line was updated nightly following each game. In the 1994 and '95 seasons, there

1749-635: The end of regulation time in the regular season would go straight to a shootout instead of overtime. The playoffs followed a best-of-three series format; however, the third game was not a full 48 minute game. Instead it was just a regular 12-minute quarter called "the mini game". If the teams were tied at the end of the quarter a sudden-death overtime period would follow. Note: RHI 1993-97, revived RHI 1999 The Eastern Conference and Western Conference were created when RHI doubled in size to 24 teams in 1994 after its first series of expansion and realigned its teams into two conferences and four divisions. Prior to

1802-546: The league agreed on a new broadcast contract that ran until the 2016 season. On October 4, 2017, ESPN announced that it had acquired rights to the Formula One World Championship ; the majority of the races are carried by ESPN2. The NHL returned to ESPN in the 2021–22 season ; ESPN2 primarily serves as a secondary broadcaster during the Stanley Cup playoffs . ESPN2's former flagship show,

1855-456: The morning sports/entertainment program Cold Pizza , achieved minimal success and saw several format and host changes. In January 2006, it was supplanted by the television simulcast of ESPN Radio 's Mike and Mike in the Morning (which moved from ESPNews ) and moved to a later time slot (10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time). In May 2007, Cold Pizza moved from New York City to

1908-519: The night's developments. On March 16, 2008, ESPN2 aired CBS-produced coverage of the SEC men's basketball championship game in most of the country. A tornado had damaged the original game site, the Georgia Dome , causing the remainder of the tournament to be rescheduled and re-located to the smaller Alexander Memorial Coliseum . However, the new, later tip-off time for the SEC championship created

1961-614: The opportunity to split to the upstart league, and Bobby Hull took full advantage. Hull signed a record 10-year, $ 2.75 million contract, and 66 NHL players followed Hull's lead in the NHL's first year. As in most of Murphy's leagues, franchises appeared and disappeared like figures in Whack-a-Mole. The league finally disappeared in 1979, but not before four teams joined the NHL – the Edmonton Oilers , New England Whalers , Quebec Nordiques , and Winnipeg Jets . On May 20, 1979,

2014-476: The original film— was a follow-up to a similar marathon aired by ESPNU the previous year. ESPN2 has also simulcast many game telecasts with ESPN, usually as a part of a "Full Circle" or "Megacast" broadcast, which covers a single event across ESPN platforms with different forms of coverage (such as different camera angles and features). ESPN2 also simulcasts some programming from ESPNews, often during local blackouts of scheduled national game telecasts, and for

2067-476: The summer months between ice seasons. Murphy saw big potential for the sport and believed that inline hockey could become the number one hockey sport in the US. The league had plans to expand to up to 24 teams, including some from Europe, by 1997. However, RHI became known for its unstable franchises, instability in the league's front office itself, little media coverage and many teams struggling to attract crowds - while

2120-498: The theme song Philadelphia Freedom for his good friend Billie Jean King . The first league ended play in 1978. In 1988, Murphy moved on to try to create the International Basketball Association . As in all of his leagues, there were tweaks made to the traditional game. The IBA, which began with 12 teams in May, 1988, was limited to players 6′4″ and under. Roller Hockey International (1992–1999)

2173-501: The two men retained controlling interest in the new entity, with King as co-founder and part owner. “We were missing one thing – a high-profile hockey man,” Murphy wrote. Ralph Backstrom , who had won six Stanley Cup Championships with the NHL's Montreal Canadiens , was hired as the new league's commissioner. Murphy had known Backstrom from his days as a player in the WHA following his NHL career. Then living in Denver, Colorado, Backstrom

Roller Hockey International - Misplaced Pages Continue

2226-644: The world, rather than being limited to ice arenas. Wow! What a way to finish up my career." Murphy, then 66 years old, was inspired to begin working to develop a new sport. He invited entrepreneur Alex Bellehumeur and Larry King to join him in developing roller hockey at a professional level. King, born in Ohio and raised in California, was an attorney by trade as well as a sports entrepreneur. In addition to helping create World Team Tennis and womenSports, which eventually became Women's Sports Magazine, King helped develop

2279-616: Was Murphy's most recent professional sports league. In his autobiography, |MURPH, The Sports Entrepreneur Man and His Leagues: ABA, WHA, WTT, RHI, IFL, GHA, and Bobby Sox Softball," self-published in 2002, Murphy wrote that one day in 1991, he saw some kids playing roller hockey, and he told his brother John what he had seen: "He informed me that inline skating was a hot ticket and people everywhere of all ages and sizes were playing roller hockey in parks and playgrounds. This immediately appealed to me. Imagine hockey being played on concrete rather than ice. Imagine being able to play hockey anywhere in

2332-530: Was a regular schedule of games on ESPN2 . Craig Minervini was the lead play-by-play man for ESPN2 coverage and also hosted the recap show RHI Rewind on the network. In addition, several teams had their own radio or TV contracts. For example, a number of Blades home games were seen on Prime Sports and the Bullfrogs had radio broadcasts from 1994 to '96. Dennis Murphy (sports entrepreneur) Dennis Arthur Murphy (September 4, 1926 – July 15, 2021)

2385-542: Was an American sports entrepreneur who helped co-found the American Basketball Association (1967–1976) (with Gary Davidson ), the World Hockey Association (1972–1979), the original World TeamTennis (1973–1978) with Larry King , Roller Hockey International (1992–1999), and several other trend-setting amateur and professional sports concepts and events. Each of his innovations exhibited ground-breaking marketing and promotional tactics, new rules, and

2438-448: Was billed as an equivalent to CNN 's Larry King Live , Max Out —an extreme sports anthology series carried over from ESPN, and SportsSmash —a five-minute recap of sports headlines which aired every half-hour. ESPN2 also carried several half-hour, sport-specific studio programs under the 2Night banner, such as NFL 2Night , NHL 2Night , and RPM 2Night . Event coverage would focus on coverage of mainstream sports popular within

2491-700: Was born in Shanghai, China , on 4 September 1926, to a father who worked for Standard Oil and a housewife mother, Murphy and his family moved back to the United States a year before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. A staff sergeant in World War II , Murphy joined the reserves after the war and came out of the Korean War as a captain. Murphy attended the University of Southern California on

2544-803: Was dropped in 2001 in favor of a version of ESPN's main logo. On-screen graphics (such as the BottomLine) used a blue color scheme instead of red to differentiate them from ESPN. Since February 12, 2007, the ESPN2 brand has been used for station identification only, with all programming using the same on-air presentation and ESPN branding as those on the main network. Sports events presented on ESPN2 originally tended to be alternative sports such as poker , billiards , lumberjacking , extreme sports and, more recently, drum and bugle corps . However, in recent years ESPN2 has broadcast increasingly more mainstream sporting events, including Major League Baseball games,

2597-484: Was finally canceled in January 2007. On August 20, 2019, the ESPNews sports betting studio show Daily Wager (now ESPN Bet Live ) was moved to ESPN2. On August 8, 2018, ESPN2 stunted as " ESPN8: The Ocho "—an homage to a fictitious eighth ESPN channel portrayed in the 2004 film DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story , dedicated to unconventional and obscure sporting events. The event—which also included airings of

2650-601: Was presented annually to the WHA's best defenseman. Both the WHA and ABA eventually merged teams into the more-entrenched leagues. "Dennis Arthur Murphy was a second baseman on the varsity team at University High School in West Los Angeles – notable alumni include Judy Garland , Marilyn Monroe , Elizabeth Taylor , and Nancy and Frank Sinatra Jr. , – but his love for sports and building new leagues greatly surpassed his own playing skills." According to his 2013 autobiography, "Murph: The Sports Entrepreneur Man," Murphy

2703-430: Was still illegal clearing ( icing ) and a different version of offside—a player could skate over the red line before the puck; however, the player couldn't receive a pass over the line. The puck itself was lighter, at 3 1 ⁄ 2 oz. and made of red plastic as opposed to a 5 1 ⁄ 2 oz. black rubber ice hockey puck. There were four 12-minute quarters opposed to the NHL's three 20-minute periods. A tied score at

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2756-758: Was the National Hockey League's Rookie of the Year for the Canadiens in 1959. Backstrom oversaw the league's rules and style of play. From 1973 and 1979 , the Dennis A. Murphy Trophy was presented to the best defenseman of the World Hockey Association . In 2010, Murphy was part of the initial group of individuals elected to the World Hockey Association Hall of Fame . The Roller Hockey International Championship trophy,

2809-503: Was the National Hockey League's first major competitor since the Western Hockey League in 1926. The WHA gave the more established league fits by cannibalizing NHL rosters, signing players under 20-years old directly from Major Junior ( Wayne Gretzky ), by placing teams in major cities that didn't host NHL teams, and by successfully challenging the reserve clause that bound players to their teams. This victory gave NHL players

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