ESPN Kicks Off Midnight ‘SportsCenter’

By Jon Lafayette
published

ESPN will launch a midnight edition of its studio scores and highlights show SportsCenter on Sept. 7.

Scott Van Pelt will anchor the new show, which will debut following ESPN's telecast of the Ohio State-Virginia Tech college football game.

“Scott and a team of very talented and creative people have been working hard to be ready to launch a new and entertaining midnight SportsCenter,” Rob King, ESPN senior vice president, SportsCenter and News, said. “The show will deliver what sports fans are used to from SportsCenter but in a different and fast-paced way, led by the intellect, humor and sports fandom of Scott Van Pelt.”

Van Pelt is a familiar ESPN anchor and hosted a program on ESPN Radio.

“It’s still SportsCenter,” Van Pelt said. “It’s still a show that at its core is about whatever has happened that day in sports — highlights and stories — and not a variety show. It’s our interpretation of what SportsCenter would be if you blended it with some room for commentary. The crux is that it’s SportsCenter, just our version of it.”

For more of this story, please visit broadcastingcable.com.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.