“SportsCenter,” launched in 1979 as the flagship show on the new cabler ESPN, is now a cornerstone of the sports station but has become part of pop culture as generations of Americans turn to the show to get updated on scores, highlights and news. Its “This Is SportsCenter” commercials are classics, and much copied — the Atlanta Falcons even paid tribute to them in their 2026 schedule announcement video.
Fans wanting to get behind the scenes of the show can tune into “This Was SportsCenter: Stories from the Set,” a video podcast set to debut June 5 across Disney+, ESPN App and major podcast platforms.
Hosted and produced by Rich Eisen, the six-episode series gets behind the scenes of the “SportsCenter” set and newsroom during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The series features firsthand stories and memories from the journalists and personalities that made the show a must-watch.
The series is part of Disney+’s “Throwback Summer” campaign, with new episodes premiering every Friday across Disney+, ESPN App for ESPN Unlimited and ESPN Select plan subscribers, and all major podcast services.
The inaugural episode features Dan Patrick, who relates that in 1989, when he was at CNN, but “I knew ESPN was where I wanted to be.” He left CNN and just cold-called exec John Walsh at ESPN (“the godfather of ‘SportsCenter’”) on a Friday and started there on Tuesday — it was still the Wild West on cable news. He talks about the generosity of “SportsCenter” legend Chris Berman and other gems about his time there.
A bonus episode with Berman will drop on June 8. It was recorded at the Strand Theater in San Francisco during Super Bowl week in February.
Other featured guests throughout the series include Mike Greenberg (June 12), Linda Cohn (June 19), Chris Fowler (June 26) and a season concluding chat with Craig Kilborn (July 3).
“The moment my daily ‘Rich Eisen Show’ reunited me with ESPN, I knew I had to create this show,” said Eisen, CEO of Rich Eisen Prods. and “SportsCenter” host from 1996-2003. “I’ve lost track of the number of times people have come up to me over the years to say how I either helped put them on a school bus in the morning or stayed up procrastinating late-night in college thanks to ‘SportsCenter.’ For those folks, I’m about to inject, as Stuart Scott might call it, straight-butter nostalgia into their veins.”
“SportsCenter has been the centerpiece of ESPN since its launch,” said Mike Foss, ESPN executive VP, executive editor, sports news and entertainment. “Rich was the perfect person to host these conversations, bringing his own perspective alongside the voices and stories that helped define SportsCenter through the years, while also showing how the brand continues to connect with fans and shape sports culture today.”
“This Was SportsCenter: Stories From the Set” is produced by Rich Eisen Prods. and produced and edited by “Rich Eisen Show” Emmy-nominated coordinating producer, Mike Hoskyns.
Leave a Reply