Primer on the ESPN Scandal

[Mr. Scot]

So for those who've been hearing about the ESPN award scandal but don't know the details, here's a basic explanation:

If an ESPN show like College Gameday (focal point of the drama) were to win an Emmy, the actual award statuettes were supposed to go to the show's producers. 

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences would get the info on who those producers were from ESPN after the fact (a procedure that apparently didn't require much verification).

What the ESPN employees behind the scam were doing was giving the Academy phony info, names of people who didn't really exist but whose monikers might sound similar to actual on-air personalities.

Those trophies would then be re-engraved to make it look like they were won by the on-air people, thus allowing the actual producers (and the network itself) to brag about their "award winning talent".

Examples cited by The Athletic included:

Kirk Henry (Kirk Herbstreit)
Lee Clark (Lee Corso)
Dirk Howard (Desmond Howard)
Tim Richard (Tom Rinaldi)
Steven Ponder (Sam Ponder)
Gene Wilson (Gene Wojciechowski) 
Chris Fulton (Chris Fowler)
Shelley Saunders (Shelley Smith) 
Erik Andrews (Erin Andrews)
Wendy Nickson (Wendi Nix)
Jenn Brownsmith (Jenn Brown)

Not terribly imaginative if you ask me, but I digress...

To be clear, the report states that the on-air people who received the fake awards were actually not in on the scam. They'd just be told they won an Emmy and think "Oh cool, didn't even know I was up for one".

The goal was to add prestige to the network and its programming, especially those run by the producers in question, by artificially inflating the number of awards won.

One executive (who was not involved) provided the following quote:

"(S)ome company leaders were obsessed with the Emmys, using the numbers of wins each year to prove their dominance over competitors.“

Obviously that's backfired, and even the recipients of the phony awards are pissed about it.

So now, "The Worldwide Leader in Sports" has award winning egg on its face...and Pat McAfee has plenty of new material (as well as reason to laugh hysterically)

Full story here:

ESPN used fake names to secure Emmy awards for College Gameday stars

[Harbingers]

Edit: no comment. Thought you were talking about prime time. 

Edited January 11, 2024 by Harbingers

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, Harbingers said:

What’s a primer?

Something that ignites an explosion 🫥

(or a basic intro/summary of a particular subject)

Edited January 11, 2024 by Mr. Scot

[Harbingers]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Something that ignites an explosion 🫥

(or a basic intro/summary of a particular subject)

I thought this was a Deion reference. Thus why I retracted said statement after I read this had nothing to do with him. 

Edited January 11, 2024 by Harbingers

[Harbingers]

4 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Something that ignites an explosion 🫥

(or a basic intro/summary of a particular subject)

Still a dope comment though. 

[Mr. Scot]

4 minutes ago, Harbingers said:

I thought this was a 

 

reference. Thus why I retracted said statement after I read this had nothing to do with him. 

Nah, not him

I know we've got some big ESPN detractors on here who probably find this story pretty funny, but it's also a little confusing so I thought I'd break it down a little bit.

Might also help explain why Aaron Rodgers is suddenly back on Pat McAfee's show after he'd apparently been pressured to take him off.

Edited January 11, 2024 by Mr. Scot

[The Lobo]

Wow interesting. So what’s the purpose of producers to brag about their talent, is it to look good to advertisers? I guess what I mean is, why wouldn’t the producers want them? 

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, The Lobo said:

Wow interesting. So what’s the purpose of producers to brag about their talent, is it to look good to advertisers? I guess what I mean is, why wouldn’t the producers want them? 

Prestige, career advancement, pay raises, etc.

What's goofy is I'm pretty sure College Gameday earned a lot of that sort of thing organically.

This turns all of that into a laughingstock.

Edited January 11, 2024 by Mr. Scot

[Pejorative Miscreant]

Have been away and not following any news happenings. This sounds like an article from The Onion. 

 

Too bad they don’t put this much thought and creativity into content.

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, Pejorative Miscreant said:

Have been away and not following any news happenings. This sounds like an article from The Onion. 

Too bad they don’t put this much thought and creativity into content.

Don't remember if it was ESPN, but there was a story a short time ago about a sports site using AI to write articles attributed to either actual or non-existent writers (don't remember which).

I thought that was silly. This is even more ridiculous.

[Mr. Scot]

Side Note: I'm gonna guess Dianna Russini is feeling pretty good about moving from ESPN to The Athletic right about now.

[PantherFanInPhilly]

Nothing new by any means, but ESPN makes it so easy to dislike them. 

[Tbe]

9 minutes ago, The Lobo said:

Wow interesting. So what’s the purpose of producers to brag about their talent, is it to look good to advertisers? I guess what I mean is, why wouldn’t the producers want them? 

It wasn’t to brag about talent. It was to massage the egos of that talent. 
 

Another theory is ESPN thought it was dumb that only producers received awards if a show won something, so they decided to get a few extra trophies (via phony names) to give to the on air people.

Edited January 11, 2024 by Tbe

[Tbe]

4 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Don't remember if it was ESPN, but there was a story a short time ago about a sports site using AI to write articles attributed to either actual or non-existent writers (don't remember which).

I thought that was silly. This is even more ridiculous.

I think that was sports illustrated.