ESPN Networks, HBO’s 24/7 Top Sports Emmy Nominations

ESPN’s army of media outlets and HBO’s 24/7 reality series led the way when the 25th-annual Sports Emmy Awards nominations were revealed on Wednesday. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) bestowed ESPN’s networks with a total of 46 nods — including a network-best 30 for “The Mother Ship” — and HBO’s 24-7 with seven nominations, more than any other sports series.

In addition to determining the winners among 180 nominees in 39 categories, NATAS will honor Ted Turner with its Lifetime Achievement Award during the Sports Emmys ceremony on May 6 in New York City.

Breaking Down the Field
Close behind ESPN was NBC Sports Group, whose networks earned a combined 33 nods, followed by Fox Sports Media Group with 22, CBS with 18, HBO Sports with 15, NFL Media and Turner Sports with 14 each, and MLB Network with 13. DIRECTV and Univision also notched three nominations, while Pac-12 and SI.com earned two apiece.

HBO’s 24-7 once again turned in a solid showing, leading the individual-program field with seven, followed by ESPN’s E:60 newsmagazine with six. NASCAR on FOX, TNT’s NBA coverage, and the 34th America’s Cup (co-produced by the America’s Cup Event Authority and NBCSN) made for a three-way third-place tie with five apiece. ESPN’s SportsCenter took four nominations, and ESPN’s 30-for-30 documentary series, CBS/Showtime’s 60 Minutes Sports, ESPN Monday Night Football, HBO’s Hard Knocks, MLB Network’s MLB Tonight, NFL Films Presents, and ESPN’s Nine for IX documentary got in on the action with three nominations apiece.

Outstanding Live Event Coverage and Technical Awards
Fox Sports led with five nominations in the live-event–coverage categories (Outstanding Live Sports Special, Outstanding Live Sports Series, and Outstanding Playoff Coverage) with a nod apiece for its NASCAR Daytona 500, MLB World Series, MLB ALCS, NFL NFC Championship, and NFL NFC Wild Card Playoff coverage. ESPN/ABC garnered four nods (College Football, Monday Night Football, NBA Finals, and Wimbledon Championships), while NBC (Sunday Night Football and the America’s Cup) and Turner Sports (MLB Postseason on TBS and NBA Playoffs on TNT) were each awarded two nods. HBO and CBS Sports also secured nominations for their Boxing and SEC football coverage, respectively.

As for the technical awards — Outstanding Technical Remote, Outstanding Technical Studio Team, and the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award — NBC Sports Group came out on top with five nominations (two each for its America’s Cup and Premier League coverage and another for its Golf Channel coverage). Fox earned three tech-category nominations (two for its NASCAR coverage and another for its MLB coverage), while ESPN (Monday Night Football and College Gameday) and MLB Network (MLB Tonight and Division Series coverage) notched two apiece.

Network by Network
ESPN garnered nominations in 29 of the 39 categories — 46 in total — with the company’s journalism and storytelling sector leading the way (six nods for E:60, four for SportsCenter, and three for ESPN Films). ESPN Deportes gained four nominations. espnW.com earned its first three nominations for the Nine for IX series.

NBC Sports Group garnered 33 nods, including nine talent nominations (tops among any sports group for 2013), and set records for both of its cable networks with 14 nominations for NBCSN and four for Golf Channel (record-high for both cable networks). Deportes Telemundo dominated the new Spanish-language categories, earning six nominations.

CBS Sports’ 18 entries were headlined by its coverage of College Football, the NCAA Tournament, and, especially, Super Bowl XLVII, which was nominated for Outstanding Short Feature (Chuck Pagano: A Season of Family), Outstanding Open/Tease (We Will Rock You Remix), and Outstanding Studio Design/Art Direction (CBS/CBS Sports Network). The NFL Today earned a nomination for Outstanding Post-Produced Graphic Design, and ths studio show’s host James Brown also garnered a nod.

MLB Network’s 13 nominations mark the most ever for the network, giving it a total of 50 Sports Emmy Award nominations since its launch in 2009.

Hulu has been nominated for its first Emmy in the Outstanding New Approaches – Sports Programming category for its mascot docuseries Behind the Mask.

See below for the full list of awards broken out into categories. For the full list of NATAS nominations, CLICK HERE.

OUTSTANDING LIVE EVENT COVERAGE

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY/EDITED EVENT COVERAGE

OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION – AUDIO, CAMERA, EDITING, MUSIC

OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC DESIGN/ART DIRECTION

OUTSTANDING JOURNALISM/NEWS/WRITING

OUTSTANDING FEATURE/OPEN

OUTSTANDING NEW APPROACHES

OUTSTANDING ON-AIR PERSONALITY

OUTSTANDING PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT

OUTSTANDING SPANISH COVERAGE

The Awards will be given out at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Frederick P. Rose Hall, located in the Time Warner Center, on Tuesday May 6.