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70-442: A multi-year deal between TORC and NBC Sports was announced in 2014 where it was confirmed that NBC would carry not only the series' on-track events but its docu-reality series as well. However, the series returned to Fox Sports in 2015. Coverage of events for 2016 and 2017 was broadcast by BeIN Sports. The series has not returned since announcing the cancellation of all events in 2018, the series itself would then quietly fold near

140-510: A Spanish language branch of NBC Sports for Telemundo and NBC Universo . On June 7, 2015, amid its loss of rights to the USGA 's championships to Fox (including the U.S. Open ), NBC Sports and The R&A agreed to a twelve-year deal to televise The Open Championship , Senior Open Championship , and Women's British Open on NBC and Golf Channel, beginning in 2017. Existing rightsholder ESPN opted out of its final year of its agreement for

210-467: 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 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

280-496: A conference call with investors that the NBA would return to NBC Sports in the 2025–26 season under an 11-year agreement; an official announcement was released by the NBA and NBC Sports the following day. NBC and Peacock will carry 100 regular season games throughout the season, including Monday night games on Peacock, regional Tuesday night games, and a package of Sunday night games following

350-415: 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 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

420-722: A diverse array of sports events, including Big East basketball, Big Ten football and basketball, NASCAR , the National Football League (NFL), Notre Dame football, the Olympic Games , PGA Tour golf, the Premier League , the Tour de France , and Thoroughbred racing among others. Other programming from outside producers – such as coverage of the Ironman Triathlon – is also presented on

490-456: 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

560-474: A five-year deal. In 2004, NBC reached a broadcast agreement with the National Hockey League (NHL). The revenue-sharing deal called for the two sides to split advertising revenue after the network recouped the expenses. Games were supposed to begin airing on the network during the 2004–05 season , however a league lockout that resulted in the cancellation of that season delayed the start of

630-561: A majority share in NBC Universal . As a result of the merger, the operations of Comcast's existing sports networks, such as Golf Channel and NBCSN , were merged into an entity known as the NBC Sports Group . NBC Sports' senior vice president Mike McCarley additionally became Golf Channel's new head. NBC Sports' golf production unit was merged with Golf Channel, along with NBC's on-air staff, with that unit rebranding under

700-554: A network that would carry Olympic sports programming as a complement to its long-standing agreement to cover the Games. In early 2018, it was announced that NBC Sports would renew its contract with the IndyCar Series (continuing a relationship with NBCSN which began in 2009 as Versus), through 2021, and acquire the broadcast television rights previously held by ABC . NBC televises eight races per-season since 2019, including

770-490: A package of Sunday afternoon MLB games on Peacock branded as MLB Sunday Leadoff beginning in the 2022 season . NBC Sports declined to renew its deal after the 2023 season , with the package moving to Roku instead. On July 1, 2022, NBC Sports announced that Olympic Channel would shut down as a linear channel on September 30, 2022. On August 18, 2022, NBC Sports announced a seven-year deal to carry Big Ten Conference college athletics across its platforms beginning in

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840-510: 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

910-465: A stock truck class. Sportsman buggies featured regular 70 horsepower buggies plus a light class with restricted 55 horsepower engines. It had three grassroots classes all featuring stock vehicles. The Formula 4x4 trucks were stock 4x4 trucks or SUVs , Classix race cars were stock cars with modified suspensions, and the Enduro trucks were two wheel drive 3/4 ton pickup chassis. The Sportsman division later

980-514: A ten-year deal, with NBC once again airing the second half of the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons. While no specific financial details were disclosed, NBC reportedly paid 50% more than ESPN and TNT (who took over the portion of the season previously held by NBC) combined under the previous deal. In May 2015, NBCUniversal announced the formation of NBC Deportes (later renamed Telemundo Deportes ), which serves as

1050-405: 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

1120-608: 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

1190-656: The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo; in 1972, NBC televised the 1972 Winter Olympics for the first time. 1980 would prove to be a stinging disappointment for the network; after contentious negotiations, NBC won the broadcast rights to the 1980 Summer Olympics . After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan , the United States and 64 other countries boycotted the event . NBC substantially scaled back its coverage and lost heavily in advertising revenue. In 1988, NBC televised

1260-514: The 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul . Since then, it has branded itself as "America's Olympic Network", televising every Summer Olympic Games since the Seoul event, as well as every Winter Olympic Games since 2002 Winter Olympics . In total, NBC has aired 13 Summer and Winter Olympics, the most by any one U.S. network. The Olympic Games have also become an integral part of the network. In 1998, Ebersol

1330-492: 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

1400-676: The 2Night banner, such as NFL 2Night , NHL 2Night , and RPM 2Night . Event coverage would focus on coverage of mainstream sports popular within 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

1470-785: 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

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1540-649: 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

1610-587: The IndyCar Series , ending its 15-year partnership with NBC Sports. On June 27, 2024, NBC Sports and the Big East Conference announced a six-year deal to begin in the 2025–26 academic year. NBC Sports will carry more than 60 men’s and women’s basketball regular season and tournament games. Peacock begins its coverage in the 2024–25 academic year with 25 regular season games and five early round and quarterfinal conference tournament games in men's basketball. On July 23, 2024, Comcast confirmed during

1680-536: The Miami Dolphins–Kansas City Chiefs wild card playoff game during the 2023 season. The game drove 2.8 million sign-ups to Peacock and averaged 23 million viewers. On June 11, 2024, TNT Sports officially announced a 10-year deal with the French Open , ending a broadcasting arrangement with NBC Sports dating back to 1983. Two days later, IndyCar and Fox agreed to a deal to broadcast

1750-677: The Stanley Cup playoffs . On July 3, 2011, ESPN obtained the exclusive broadcast rights to The Championships, Wimbledon in a 12-year deal, ending NBC's television relationship with The Championships after 42 years. From 2012 until 2015, Major League Soccer (MLS) games were shown on NBC and the NBC Sports Network. This included the broadcast of two regular season games, two playoff games, and two national team matches on NBC and 38 regular season games, three playoff games, and two national team matches on NBC Sports Network. Since

1820-670: The Super Bowl and the Olympic Games ). A refreshed design for on-air graphics was introduced on January 1, 2015 (in time for the 2015 NHL Winter Classic and NFL playoffs), with a cleaner and brighter visual appearance. NBC began using dedicated graphics packages specifically for Sunday Night Football during Super Bowl LII , and unveiled a second redesign for the 2022 season during Super Bowl LVI . NBC similarly diverged for its Premier League coverage in 2019, adopting elements of its new British sibling Sky Sports . In 2023, NBC transitioned college football (which had continued to use

1890-529: The West Coast and WSORR had sanctioned Midwest events. CORR closed before the end of the 2008 season and canceled its final two racing weekends. TORC took over the sanctioning of most of the Midwest events. USAC assumed complete management of the series starting in 2010. The Armory took over ownership of the series in late 2013 to handle all marketing and operations of the series. USAC remained on board as

1960-415: 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

2030-456: The 2009 events at Texas, Crandon's spring event, both Bark River events, and the second Perris event. ABC televised the first 2009 event at Perris and it broadcast Crandon's World Championship Off-Road Races race live. Marty Reid was the lead play by play announcer along with Tes Sewell. Former Miss USA Kimberly Pressler was the pit reporter. From 2010 through 2012, The Off Road Championship aired on Discovery HD Theatre (now Velocity) and

2100-556: The 2013–14 season NBC Sports has also held the rights to televise Premier League soccer in English (primarily on NBCSN) and Spanish (on Telemundo and Universo ), through a $ 250 million deal, replacing ESPN and Fox Soccer as the league's U.S. broadcasters. NBC Sports held broadcast rights to the Formula One (formerly held by Speed and Fox Sports ) from 2013 until 2017. The majority of its coverage (including much of

2170-622: The 2015 graphics) to new graphics derived from the Sunday Night Football graphics introduced in 2022. The new college football graphics were, in turn, adapted by the NBC Sports Regional Networks for their own use in September 2024. ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc. , a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns

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2240-619: 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,

2310-403: The 2023–24 academic season. This contract will most notably include a new package of primetime Big Ten college football games on NBC beginning in the 2023 season, as well as a package of college basketball and Olympic sports coverage on Peacock. Beginning with the 2023 NFL season, Peacock exclusively streams at least one regular season game per season. Most notably, Peacock exclusively streamed

2380-657: 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

2450-475: The Premier League and other NBC Sports Gold services) to the service. On June 29, 2020, Fox sold the last seven years of its contract to air USGA tournaments to NBC, regaining rights to the U.S. Open for the first time since 2015. In January 2021, it was reported that NBCUniversal planned to shut down NBCSN by the end of the year; an internal memo cited increased competition from streaming services and

2520-488: The Saturday evening PRO truck events for all the race weekends, excepting the final September event at Primm which was scheduled for NBC. Speed covered two races live, which coverage was also re-aired on Fuel. NBC also broadcast one event. The Armory continued to produce TORC's Television programming in 2014 and 2015 on NBC Sports and Fox Sports, respectively. Bobby Gerould and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Brady Doty were

2590-581: The Sunday NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Chicagoland Speedway . TORC did not race at Chicagoland in 2014 but announced shortly after the completion of the season that it would once again host an event at the facility's dirt track in conjunction with the NASCAR Nationwide Series race there June 18–20, 2015. In 2009, PRO events were televised on national television in the United States with ESPN2 covering

2660-442: 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

2730-544: The banner " Golf Channel on NBC ", while Versus was reformatted toward a more mainstream audience, renamed the NBC Sports Network and eventually rebranded as NBCSN . The merger also helped influence an extension of NBC Sports' contract with the NHL; the 10-year deal – valued at close to $ 2 billion, unified the cable and broadcast television rights to the league and introduced a new " Black Friday " Thanksgiving Showdown game on NBC, along with national coverage for every game in

2800-561: The broadcast host and PXP announcers while noted motorsports broadcaster Tony Bokhoven was the Pit Reporter. NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC , owned and operated by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast . The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated national sports cable channels . Formerly operating as "a service of NBC News ", it broadcasts

2870-400: The broadcast rights and a minority interest in the Arena Football League (AFL). The network televised weekly games on a regional basis, as well as the entire playoffs. The deal lasted four years, after which the league and NBC parted ways. Beginning with the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series , NBC began its foray into NASCAR . NBC , along with Fox and TNT , obtained the broadcast rights of

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2940-618: The company announced some exclusive digital-only streaming of the 2014 Olympics via the NBCOlympics.com website and the NBC Sports Live Extra app for Android and iOS , including exclusive content such as Gold Zone, Olympic Ice and NBC's Olympic News Desk. With the premiere of Sunday Night Football , NBCUniversal hired Troika Design Group to design an overall visual identity for its coverage, including branding, on-air graphics, and other visual elements. Concurrent with

3010-788: The conclusion of NFL season. NBC will also carry a doubleheader on Martin Luther King Jr. Day , coverage of All-Star Weekend , and a slate of playoff games (including six conference finals over the length of the agreement). Rights to the NBA Finals will remain exclusive to ABC . The agreement also includes broadcasting rights to the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). NBC Sports' WNBA package includes more than 50 regular-season and first-round playoff games, seven WNBA semi-finals, and three WNBA Finals . WNBA games will air on NBC, USA Network, and Peacock. In 1964, NBC televised

3080-495: The contract until the second half of the 2005–06 NHL season . NBC televised regular season games at first on Saturday afternoons before moving the telecast to Sundays, Saturday and Sunday afternoon playoff games, and up to five games of the Stanley Cup . Additionally in 2008, NBC broadcast the 2008 NHL Winter Classic , an outdoor NHL game played on New Year's Day at Ralph Wilson Stadium , a success in attendance and television ratings. The following year's Winter Classic would become

3150-519: The end of 2018 with the series website being taken down shortly after. The series was founded in time for the 2009 season by former motocross racer and Motorcycle Hall of Fame member Ricky Johnson as the Traxxas TORC Series after hosting an off-road racing event at his Perris Auto Speedway in 2008. There were two large sanctioning bodies in short course off-road racing for 2008: CORR and WSORR . CORR had been sanctioning events on

3220-487: 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,

3290-596: The league's twelve-year run on NBC. During this era, NBC experimented with broadcasting emerging sports. In 2001, the network partnered with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to establish the XFL – a new football league which introduced modified rules and debuted to tremendous, but short-lived fanfare, only lasting one season (NBC shared broadcast rights to the league's games, which were mainly held on Saturday nights, with UPN ). In 2003 , NBC obtained

3360-456: 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

3430-529: The most-watched regular season game in 34 years. In addition to this regular season success, Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals was watched by an average of 8 million viewers, the highest ratings for an NHL game in 36 years. The NFL also returned to NBC in 2006 after an eight-year hiatus, broadcasting the league's new flagship Sunday Night Football game, along with select postseason games and Super Bowls XLIII , XLVI , XLIX , LII , LVI and LX . In January 2011, Comcast finalized its acquisition of

3500-588: The network through NBC Sports. With Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011, its own cable sports networks were aligned with NBC Sports into a part of the division known as the NBC Sports Group. In 2000, NBC declined to renew its broadcast agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB). In 2002 , it was additionally outbid by ESPN and ABC for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s new broadcast contract, ending

3570-519: 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

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3640-672: The operations for NBC Sports and NBCSN began to be based out of a purpose-built facility in Stamford, Connecticut . The move was made mainly to take advantage of tax credits given by the state of Connecticut , which NBC has taken advantage of previously with the tabloid talk shows of its NBCUniversal Television Distribution . Only Football Night in America remained in New York City, at NBC Studios , until September 7, 2014, when production of that program also moved to Stamford. NASCAR returned to NBC Sports properties in 2015 under

3710-476: 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

3780-414: The other mainstream sports networks as reasoning. The channel was officially shut down on December 31, 2021; its remaining programming rights were moved to other NBCUniversal platforms, particularly USA Network and Peacock. NBC's contract with the NHL expired after the 2020–21 season , with the league signing new contracts with ESPN and TNT . On April 6, 2022, NBC Sports announced a deal to carry

3850-518: The relaunch of Versus as NBC Sports Network on January 2, 2012, and the 2012 NHL Winter Classic , NBC Sports also launched a comprehensive redesign of its branding, including a new on-air graphics design built around the NBC peacock, and an updated logo for the division as a whole (replacing a logo that had been in use since 1989). The new design was also intended to be modular, allowing it to be expanded for use in larger events across multiple networks (such as

3920-508: The sanctioning body. One of The Armory's first acts was securing an exclusive 5-year agreement landing the series championship weekend at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway starting in 2014, ensuring no competing sanctions can race at the track. In late 2015, Mountain Sports International took over managing the series. MSI immediately announced adding sportsman racing back under its sanction starting in 2016. In March 2018,

3990-594: The season, along with qualifying and practice sessions) aired on NBCSN, while NBC aired the Monaco Grand Prix, Canadian Grand Prix and the final two races of the season, which in the first year of the deal included the United States Grand Prix . All races were also streamed online and through the NBC Sports Live Extra mobile app . They lost the broadcast rights to ESPN beginning from the 2018 season. On March 18, 2013, nearly all of

4060-462: The series announced that it would hold no events in 2018. The series was originally divided into Pro, Sportsman, and Grassroots divisions. The Pro division is headlined by a four-wheel drive (PRO 4WD) trophy truck class. It also has a two-wheel drive trophy truck class (PRO 2WD) and a light-duty two-wheel drive pickup truck class (PRO Light). The series began with a Sportsman truck division, consisting of four- and two-wheel drive truck classes plus

4130-449: The series at 14 years old and won the championship against adult veteran racers, in just his rookie year. Before the inaugural season, TORC announced that it secured an exclusive deal with Bark River International Raceway and a 15-year exclusive deal with Crandon International Off-Road Raceway . It partnered with NASCAR -related tracks in 2013 including Tony Stewart 's Eldora Speedway and Friday and Saturday events in conjunction with

4200-688: The series flagship Indianapolis 500 , with the remaining races airing on NBCSN as before. An IndyCar package is also offered through NBC Sports Gold. Shortly after, NBC announced a six-year agreement with the International Motor Sports Association beginning in 2019, including the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship , with the majority of coverage on NBCSN. Following the launch of NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock , NBC Sports began to migrate some of its overflow content (including

4270-505: 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 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

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4340-627: The top division of English rugby union , through a three-year deal. The contract included up to 24 regularly-scheduled games on NBCSN per-season, and up to 50 streaming. Its first live match was on March 12, 2016, when London Irish hosted Saracens F.C. at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey . In June 2016, NBC Sports launched NBC Sports Gold , a suite of sport-specific over-the-top subscription services that would included expanded and overflow coverage of its properties. On July 15, 2017. NBCUniversal relaunched Universal HD as Olympic Channel ,

4410-453: The top two series – the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series – in a six-year deal, beginning in 2001. NBC televised the second half of the season and alternated coverage of the Daytona 500 with Fox . In December 2005, NBC announced that it would not renew its agreement with NASCAR. In 2001, NBC obtained the broadcast rights to horse racing's Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in

4480-506: The tournaments, with the Open subsequently debuting a year early in 2016. Universal Sports ceased operations in November 2015. NBCUniversal acquired the rights to the content that was previously held by Universal Sports Network. Much of the programming moved to either Universal HD , NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. From 2016 until 2018, NBC Sports held the rights to Premiership Rugby ,

4550-803: 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,

4620-484: 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

4690-450: Was later dropped by TORC and a separate entity named Midwest Off Road Racing (MORR) was created to sanction those trucks. TORC restored the sportsman classes for the 2016 season after MSI took over its sanction. Other drivers to compete for TORC championships include: Brian Deegan , Chad Hord , Jarit Johnson , Scott Taylor and Olympian Nick Baumgartner . The Pro Buggy class saw its youngest champion ever in 2012, Mitchell deJong joined

4760-569: Was named president of NBC Sports and Olympics. The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver were watched by a total of 190 million viewers, including 27.6 million viewers of the gold medal game in men's hockey. During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi , Russia, over 500 hours of the games were broadcast across five NBC-owned television channels (NBC, NBCSN, CNBC , MSNBC and USA Network ), with 1,000 hours being streamed digitally. In January,

4830-551: 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 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

4900-443: Was produced by The Armory (www.thearmoryagency.com) with executive producer B.J. Birtwell. Season 1 consisted of twenty 1-hour episodes which aired from Sept 2010 to March 2011. Four seasons of the program have been produced. These shows featured a style which TORC refers to as docu-reality, the distinguishing feature of which consists of more talk and less live-style racing action coverage. For 2013, Speed TV broadcast live coverage of

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