2023 Sports Emmys: ESPN Leads the Way With 13 Statues; Fox’s FIFA World Cup, NBC’s Beijing Olympics Come Up Big

Fox came in second with nine wins, followed closely by NBC's eight Emmys

ESPN led all network groups with a company-record 13 wins at last night’s Sports Emmy Awards, while Fox Sports Media Group and NBC Sports Group took home nine and eight trophies apiece, respectively. Fox’s coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and NBC’s coverage of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing led all individual programs with three Emmys apiece. In the key categories, NBC won Outstanding Live Special for the Beijing Olymipcs, ESPN’s Monday Night Football was named Outstanding Live Series, and Fox’s NLCS broadcasts of the Padres-Phillies series won for Outstanding Playoff Coverage.

Molly Solomon, Executive Producer & President, NBC Olympics Production, accepts the night’s final award for Outstanding Live Special

Among the 47 categories were key technical awards, including Outstanding Technical Team Event going to NBC Olympics for its efforts in Beijing and Outstanding Technical Team Studio going to Fox Sports for its work in Qatar. The prestigious George Wensel Technical Achievement Award went to Fox Sports for its Live MULTICAM XR set. In addition, NBC Olympics also picked up a win for Outstanding Audio/Sound – Live for the Beijing Games.

Other network groups with multiple wins included NFL Network and WBD Sports (formerly Turner Sports) with three each and two apiece for CBS Sports, HBO Sports, Netflix, and YouTube.

On the Outstanding Studio Show front, Fox NFL Sunday won in the Weekly category, ESPN’s SportsCenter in the Daily, and TNT’s Inside the NBA: Playoffs in the Limited Run. In addition, Telemundo was awarded Outstanding Studio Show in Spanish for it FIFA World Cup programming.

Prime Video won its first ever Sports Emmy for the multiple viewing options available on Thursday Night Football in the Outstanding Interactive Experience – Event Coverage category. Meanwhile NFL Networks’ NFL 360 won Outstanding Interactive Experience – Original Programming for Who If Not Us and ESPN’s McEnroe vs. McEnroe took home Outstanding Digital Innovation.

Fox Sports’ eye-popping Doha Set at the 2022 FIFA World Cup was awarded Outstanding Studio or Production Design/Art Direction, while NBC’s XXIV Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games won for Outstanding Graphic Design – Event Show and Greatness Code from Apple TV+, Religion of Sports, and UNINTERRUPTED earned Outstanding Graphic Design – Specialty.

During the ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City on Monday, Emmy, Peabody, NAACP Image and Edward R. Murrow Award winning television journalist and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his long, barrier-breaking career. In addition, ESPN Sports Anchor Elle Duncan and Michael Braxton, Coca-Cola’s Senior Manager of Colleges and Universities, announced the winner of the $40,000 Coca-Cola HBCU Sports Production Grant – Florida A&M University’s “Defy the Odds.” Jonathan David, class of ‘23 accepted on behalf of the student production team which also included Aliya Chanté Everett, Breché DaValt, Tristian Hutton  and advisor Edward Thomas.

Stay tuned to sportsvideo.org in the coming days for SVG’s red-carpet interviews with some of evening’s key winners. CLICK HERE to watch the full ceremony, CLICK HERE to see all of the night’s nominees, and check out the full list of winners below:

OUTSTANDING LIVE SPECIAL

• XXIV Olympic Winter Games (NBC)

OUTSTANDING LIVE SERIES

OUTSTANDING PLAYOFF COVERAGE

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL TEAM EVENT

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL TEAM STUDIO

THE GEORGE WENSEL TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

OUTSTANDING AUDIO/SOUND – LIVE EVENT

OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW – WEEKLY

OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW – DAILY

OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW – LIMITED RUN

OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW IN SPANISH

OUTSTANDING EDITED EVENT COVERAGE

OUTSTANDING EDITED SPECIAL

OUTSTANDING HOSTED EDITED SERIES

OUTSTANDING ESPORTS CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE

OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC DESIGN – EVENT/SHOW

OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC DESIGN – SPECIALTY

OUTSTANDING STUDIO OR PRODUCTION DESIGN/ART DIRECTION

OUTSTANDING INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE – EVENT COVERAGE

OUTSTANDING INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE – ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING

OUTSTANDING DIGITAL INNOVATION

OUTSTANDING SHORT DOCUMENTARY

OUTSTANDING LONG DOCUMENTARY

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY SERIES

OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY SERIES – SERIALIZED

OUTSTANDING JOURNALISM

OUTSTANDING SHORT FEATURE

OUTSTANDING LONG FEATURE

OUTSTANDING OPEN/TEASE

OUTSTANDING PERSONALITY/STUDIO HOST

OUTSTANDING PERSONALITY/PLAY-BY-PLAY

OUTSTANDING PERSONALITY/STUDIO ANALYST

OUTSTANDING PERSONALITY/ EVENT ANALYST

OUTSTANDING PERSONALITY/REPORTER

OUTSTANDING PERSONALITY/EMERGING ON-AIR TALENT

OUTSTANDING CAMERA WORK – SHORT FORM

OUTSTANDING CAMERA WORK – LONG FORM

OUTSTANDING EDITING – SHORT FORM

OUTSTANDING EDITING – LONG FORM

THE DICK SCHAAP OUTSTANDING WRITING AWARD – SHORT FORM

OUTSTANDING WRITING – LONG FORM

OUTSTANDING MUSIC DIRECTION

OUTSTANDING PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT

OUTSTANDING PUBLIC SERVICE CONTENT

OUTSTANDING FEATURE STORY IN SPANISH

OUTSTANDING ON-AIR PERSONALITY IN SPANISH