ESPN Networks, NBC’s Rio Olympics Lead Sports Emmy Nominations

ESPN led all media organizations in 38th-annual Sports Emmy Award nominations for the fourth consecutive year and the eighth time in nine years, while NBC Sports Group’s coverage of the Rio Olympics garnered the most nods of any single program.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Sports Emmy Awards list was led by ESPN networks’ 50 nominations, followed by NBC Sports Group with 41, Fox Sports Media Group with 39, NFL Media (including NFL Films) with 21, Turner with 20, CBS Sports with 19, MLB Media with 14, HBO Sports with 12, Univision with six, Netflix (making its first appearance) with four, and EPIX with two. Amazon, Audience, DirecTV, Esquire Network, History, Oculus, Outside Television, PBS, and RBTV each earned one nomination.

NBC’s coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics topped all programs with 14 nominations, followed by ESPN’s SC Featured (10), ESPN2/ESPNU’s E:60 (5), and four nominations apiece for HBO’s Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Los Angeles Rams, MLB on Fox, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on CBS/TBS/TNT/TruTV, and NFL on Fox, respectively. Ten programs tied with three awards apiece: ESPN’s 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship, FS1’s Confessions of a Cubs Fan: A Century of Waiting, Netflix’s Fearless, Fox NFL Sunday: Super Bowl LI, MLB Network’s MLB Tonight, ESPN’s Monday Night Football, NASCAR on Fox, ESPN’s Outside the Lines, HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, and Fox’s Super Bowl LI.

As previously announced, Brent Musburger will receive the Sports Emmy Life Achievement Award during the ceremony.

Sports Emmy Spotlight: Technical Categories
Fox Sports came away with six nominations in the Technical categories (Technical Team Remote, Technical Team Studio, and George Wensel Technical Achievement Award), followed by four for NBC Sports Group, two each for ESPN and MLB Network, and one each for NFL Network and DirecTV. NBC’s Rio Games coverage earned three technical nominations, while Fox’s Super Bowl LI earned a pair.

The George Wensel Technical Achievement Award will go to one of the following: NBC’s global collaboration for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, MLB Network/DirecTV’s MLB Network Showcase 4K/HD Dualcast, ESPN/ESPN2’s Goal Post Cam for MLS, Fox’s Be The Player technology on Super Bowl LI, and Fox’s Flight Track system for the 116th U.S. Open Championship.

Sports Emmy Spotlight: Live Event Categories
Fox Sports networks came out on top again in the Live Event categories (Live Sports Special, Live Sports Series, Playoff Coverage, Live Event Audio/Sound, Live Graphic Design, and Live Sports Coverage in Spanish) with nine nominations, followed by ESPN/ABC with eight, NBC Sports Group (including Telemundo) with seven, Univision with three, CBS Sports and Turner Sports with two apiece, and MLB Network with one.

Fox’s NFL coverage led the way with four nominations in the Live Event categories, followed by three for NBC’s Rio Olympics coverage, Fox’s MLB coverage, and ESPN’s NFL coverage.

Sports Emmy Spotlight: Studio Categories
As for the Studio Show categories (Studio Show – Weekly, Studio Show – Daily, Studio Show – Limited Run, Technical Team Studio, Studio Design/Art Direction, and Studio Show in Spanish), NBC Sports Group led all media organizations with seven nominations (including three for Telemundo), followed ESPN and Turner Sports with five each, NFL Network with four, Fox Sports with three apiece, and MLB Network and Golf Channel with two each. Univision and Audience pulled in one nod apiece as well.

In terms of individual programs, the Games of the XXXI Olympiad studio programming earned three nods (two for NBC, one for Telemundo), while Fox NFL Sunday, Inside the NBA on TNT, and MLB Network’s MLB Tonight were each nominated twice.

CLICK HERE for the full list of nominations. The 38th Annual Sports Emmy Awards will be presented on Tuesday May 9 in New York City at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall.