ESPN Saturday Sports Block

spotted at Sports Media News

Winners Bracket to Debut Saturday on ABC as Part of New ESPN Sports Saturday Block

SportsNation’s Michelle Beadle and NFL Analyst Marcellus Wiley to Host New Series

AT&T, Michelin to Sponsor Winners Bracket and ESPN Sports Saturday

Winners Bracket, the new, 60-minute highlight-driven series, hosted by ESPN SportsNation co-host Michelle Beadle and ESPN contributor and former NFL All Pro Marcellus Wiley will debut Saturday, April 3 at 5 p.m. ET as part of ESPN Sports Saturday, a new two-hour block of sports programming on ABC (4-6 p.m.). The program will be available in high definition.

SportsCenter’s Hannah Storm will anchor ESPN Sports Saturday, guiding viewers throughout the two hours. The block will generally begin with a 60-minute episode of one of three signature ESPN series – ESPN Films 30 for 30 documentary series, E:60 news magazine or the athlete interview series Homecoming with Rick Reilly – followed by the hour long Winners Bracket. AT&T and Michelin are sponsors of both Winners Bracket and ESPN Sports Saturday.

From thrilling performances to record-setting moments to unforgettable quotes, Winners Bracket will debate and recap the week in sports in a fast tempo, quick-witted bracket-style format with the 16 biggest newsmakers of the week pitted against each other in seeded brackets. The hosts will banter and offer their unique perspectives – one as a life-long sports fan and the other as a former pro athlete – during each round of debate which will also be framed through highlights and comments from ESPN analysts. The show will culminate with the determination of the definitive play of the week as the bracket champion.

ESPN experts will regularly offer their perspective, including in the debut show, ESPN Radio host Mike Greenberg, college basketball analyst Digger Phelps and NBA analyst Jalen Rose. ESPN Radio and SportsNation host Colin Cowherd will also be a frequent contributor.

Other elements planned for Winners Bracket include: a collection of sound bytes from athletes and coaches, a taste of that week in sports history, a countdown of the 20 “lowlights” from the week, sports-themed web videos, and a look at athletes whom fans might have expected to see in the bracket but missed.

“Winners Bracket will have the most indelible sports moments of the week – the plays fans will be talking about even if they haven’t seen the games,” said Winners Bracket coordinating producer Jamie Horowitz, who also is the coordinating producer of ESPN2’s SportsNation. “It will be a one-hour sprint through seven days of highlights and lowlights – all discussed and debated the way fans talk about sports.”

The fast-paced, quick-hitting Winners Bracket will resemble SportsNation, the popular weekday fan-interactive studio show (4 p.m. on ESPN2) hosted by Beadle and Cowherd that debuted in July 2009 and was nominated for three Sports Emmy awards this month – Production Design/Art Direction, Tech Team Studio and Graphic Design. The SportsNation production team will also oversee Winners Bracket. In addition, fans will be able to interact with the show and its hosts across social media platforms, including Facebook (Winners Bracket), Twitter (@Winners_Bracket, @ESPN_Michelle, @marcelluswiley) and YouTube (ABCWinnersBracket).

Said Beadle: “I love what I am doing on SportsNation and to now have the opportunity to do even more on Winners Bracket as part of ESPN Sports Saturday on ABC is the perfect situation. I am super-stoked to be working with Marcellus, and hopefully we can also help bring about world peace.”

Added Wiley: “Hosting Winners Bracket on ABC with Michelle makes me feel like I got drafted again. The format of the show is fun and will give us the chance to bring our personalities and humor into it while bringing fans the best plays of the week.”

A few thoughts.

How much longer before Michelle Beadle begins to completely take over the sub-conscious of the male sports fan (is there enough room with Erin Andrews taking up a majority of the space?)?  She already has websites dedicated to her name, a decent following with SportsNation, and now she’ll be on ABC.  It seems like its a smart business move on someone’s part; Beadle is witty, knows sports and is attractive.

I like the combo being provided by ESPN.  The mix of a serious documentary or story in the first hour combined with a more fun and humorous second hour could make for some decent viewership.

…of course, the time slot probably leaves something to be desired, but we’ll see.