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This is SportsCenter is a series of comical television commercials that debuted in 1995 and was run by ESPN to promote their SportsCenter sports news show, based on the show's opening tagline. [1] The ads are presented in a deadpan, mockumentary style, lampooning various aspects of sports, and sports broadcasting.
The New York office of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, of Portland, Oregon, was responsible for the writing and production of the commercials until 2017, with ESPN taking production in-house since 2018. [2] [1] In 2022, ESPN's new creative partner, Arts & Letters, announced that it would revive the campaign in the beginning of 2023. [3]
A few of the ads are available for free on iTunes while many ads are available for viewing through the official ESPN YouTube channel.
A notable feature of the commercials is the seeming ubiquity of famous athletes on the ESPN campus. Some are even depicted doing menial, everyday tasks, usually while wearing their game uniforms. Athletes often have their idiosyncrasies parodied—for example, gymnast Kerri Strug being carried around ESPN headquarters because of her famous ankle injury.
Many commercials in the series have derived their humor from parodying conventional professional sports practices, by applying them to working for SportsCenter:
Sports mascots and cheerleaders are usually present in most ads, implying they work behind the scenes at ESPN. They are often seen casually milling around in the background, but occasionally they take on an active role:
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