ESPN, XXIII Olympic Winter Games on NBC Lead Way as 40th-Annual Sports Emmy Nominations Are Unveiled Crowded Wensel Award race celebrates 5G, HDR with Dolby Atmos, and much more By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - 4:48 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
On Wednesday, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) unveiled its nominees for the 40th Annual Sports Emmy Awards.
Leading the way for network groups, ESPN (which includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPN+, ABC, ESPN Deportes, ESPNews, SEC Network, and WatchESPN) tallied an impressive 56 nominations with NBC Sports (NBC, NBCSN, Golf Channel, Telemundo, CNBC, MSNBC, NBCOlympics.com, The Olympic Channel, and USA) raking in 38 nominations of its own. CBS Sports (CBS, CBS Sports Network) with 27 noms, FOX (FOX, FS1, and FOXSports.com) with 25 noms, and HBO Sports with 16 noms wrapped up the top five.
The XXIII Winter Olympics is the most celebrated individual event heading into this year's Sports Emmys. The NBC family pulled in 12 nominations for its various efforts around the Games from PyeongChang, South Korea. Super Bowl LIII also brought eight nominations to CBS, while the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the first men's FIFA World Cup for FOX earned the network five noms.
Some familiar faces will battle it out to take home the biggest award of the night: the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Live Sports Special. NBC/Golf Channel's coverage of the 2018 Tour Championship, ESPN's efforts at the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, FOX's production of The 114th World Series, NBC's operation at The 150th Belmont Stakes, and CBS at Super Bowl LIII are all in the running for this year's statue.
The race for the coveted George Wensel Technical Achievement Award is an intriguing and crowded one, as well. The line-to-gain pylon cam deployed by ESPN College Football, a single stream HDR with Dolby Atmos from a Notre Dame football game produced by NBC, a 5G workflow at U.S. Open golf by FOX, K Zone 3D on ESPN MLB coverage, the ESPN ACES system used at U.S. Open tennis by ESPN, and the Raptor Smartglasses deployed at the Tour de France from NBC are all deserving nominations of innovative efforts that advanced the industry technologically this year.
The Sports Emmys award ceremony will take place at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City on May 20. Until then, take a look at the complete list of all the nominees of the 40th Annual Sports Emmy Awards HERE, but here's a few of the major awards honoring some of the best in operations, production, and digital innovation:
THE GEORGE WENSEL TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
ESPN College Football: Line-to-Gain Pylon Cam (ESPN/ABC/SEC Network)
Major League Baseball on ESPN: K Zone 3D (ESPN/WatchESPN)
Notre Dame Football: Single Stream HDR with Atmos (NBC)
Tour de France: Raptor Smartglasses (NBC/NBCSN)
US Open Tennis Championship: ESPN ACES System (ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN3)
USGA on FOX: U.S. Open 5G (FOX/FS1)
OUTSTANDING LIVE SPORTS SPECIAL
2018 PGA Tour: 2018 Tour Championship (NBC/Golf Channel)
2019 College Football Playoff National Championship: Clemson Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide (ESPN)
The 114th World Series: Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (FOX)
The 150th Belmont Stakes (NBC)
Super Bowl LIII: New England Patriots vs. Los Angeles Rams (CBS)
OUTSTANDING LIVE SPORTS SERIES
Golf Channel on NBC (NBC)
Major League Baseball on ESPN (ESPN)
NFL on CBS (CBS)
SEC on CBS (CBS)
Sunday Night Football (NBC)
OUTSTANDING LIVE SPORTS COVERAGE IN SPANISH
2018 Copa Mundial de la FIFA (Telemundo)
2018 MLS Cup: Atlanta United vs. Portland Timbers (UniMas)
2018 NBA Finals: Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (ESPN Deportes)
Copa Libertadores 2018 Final: River Plate vs. Boca Juniors (Telemundo)
Liga MX La Gran Final Torneo Apertura: Cruz Azul vs. Am rica (Univision/Univision Deportes)
OUTSTANDING PLAYOFF COVERAGE
2018 FIFA World Cup on FOX (FOX/FS1)
AFC Championship: New England Patriots vs. Kansas City Chiefs (CBS)
NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament (tbs/CBS/TNT/truTV)
NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four: Louisville vs. Mississippi St & Notre Dame vs. Connecticut (ESPN2)
SEC Championship Game: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Georgia Bulldogs (CBS)
OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL TEAM REMOTE
2018 College Football Playoff National Championship (ESPN)
The 100th PGA Championship (CBS/CBS Sports Network)
Super Bowl LIII (CBS)
U.S. Open Tennis Championship (ESPN)
XXIII Olympic Winter Games (NBC/NBCSN/CNBC/USA)
OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL TEAM STUDIO
2018 FIFA World Cup on FOX (FOX/FS1)
College GameDay (ESPN)
MLB Tonight (MLB Network)
Super Bowl LIII (NFL Network)
XXIII Olympic Winter Games (NBC/NBCSN/CNBC/USA)
OUTSTANDING CAMERA WORK
Being Serena (HBO [Endeavor Content])
Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Cleveland Browns (HBO [NFL Films])
North of Nightfall (DIRECTV [Red Bull Media House/Freeride Entertainment])
XXIII Olympic Winter Games: Always Start with the Dreams (NBC)
Zion (Netflix [Bindery Films])
OUTSTANDING LIVE EVENT AUDIO/SOUND
The 102nd Indianapolis 500 (ABC)
MLB on FOX (FOX/FS1)
NASCAR on FOX (FOX/FS1)
NFL on CBS (CBS)
Sunday Night Baseball (ESPN)
XXIII Olympic Winter Games (NBC)
OUTSTANDING LIVE GRAPHIC DESIGN
2018 FIFA World Cup on FOX (FOX/FS1)
Major League Baseball on ESPN (ESPN)
NFL Draft (ESPN/ABC)
The Super Bowl Today/Super Bowl LIII (CBS)
XXIII Olympic Winter Games (NBC/NBCSN/CNBC/USA/MSNBC)
OUTSTANDING TRANS-MEDIA SPORTS COVERAGE
2018 FIFA World Cup on FOX (FOX/FS1/FOXSPORTS.COM)
Premier League (NBC/NBCSN)
The 100th PGA Championship (PGA.com)
The Match: Tiger vs. Phil (B/R Live)
XXIII Olympic Winter Games (NBC/NBCSN/CNBC/USA/ NBCOlympics.com)
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL INNOVATION
Ashe '68: 360-Degree Sand Animation (SI TV [C
Most recent headlines
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
19/04/2025
SDVI, the leading platform provider for cloud-native media supply chains, today announced that the company earned multiple awards at the 2025 NAB Show, with two...
19/04/2025
Ateliere Creative Technologies, a leading GenAI media software solutions company, today announced that Dan Goman has stepped down as CEO and David Bortis, Ateli...
19/04/2025
As Director of Media and Aerial Production at Terrible Herbst Motorsports, Bryan Moore is setting new standards in off-road racing media coverage thanks to his ...
19/04/2025
A next-generation collaboration device that redefines connectivity for meeting environments
Lightware, an industry-leading manufacturer of signal management so...
19/04/2025
Calrec is today announcing that its True Control 2.0 is a Remote Production winner in the 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards. This official awards program...
19/04/2025
Appear, a global leader in live production technology, proudly announces it has been recognised alongside NBCUniversal with the prestigious NAB Show Delivery Pr...
19/04/2025
Deity Microphones, a leader in innovative audio equipment, is proud to announce the expected release of our Ultra-Wide Band IFB to the market. The THEOS DIFB wi...
19/04/2025
A world renowned broadcaster and long-standing LiveU customer has successfully completed a series of live connectivity tests using LiveU's revolutionary, aw...
19/04/2025
BitFire (bitfire.tv), a longtime leader in live video transport, today announced dual NAB Show award wins at the 2025 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The company's M...
19/04/2025
BitFire (bitfire.tv), a longtime leader in live video transport, today announced three major award wins at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas. The compa...
19/04/2025
AI video discovery company Moments Lab and Satisfaction Group, a leading independent unscripted television production company, are proud to announce a unique st...
19/04/2025
As the media industry navigates the triple challenge of AI-driven production, distributed teams, and skyrocketing content demand, DigitalGlue s creative.space h...
19/04/2025
Network technology startup Miri Technologies Inc. capped off its tremendously successful NAB Show debut by winning two prestigious industry awards for its cutti...
19/04/2025
CINCINNATI Scripp's Nuvyyo USA has concluded a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring 45 FAST channels to Nuvyyo's Tablo TV device....
19/04/2025
In a ruling that could have broader implications on the legality of regulatory agencies levying fines through administrative proceedings, the 5th U.S. Circuit C...
19/04/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr has blasted Comcast over MSNBC's coverage of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in a so...
19/04/2025
Berklee NYC and NYC Media Launch Season 3 of Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC This season features faculty member Arun Pandian as the new host and interviews ...
18/04/2025
Director Andrew Ahn, alongside actors Youn Yuh-jung and Joan Chen, takes a photo of the audience after the premiere of his film The Wedding Banquet at Eccles ...
18/04/2025
In a ruling that could have a major impact on the digital advertising market, a federal judge has ruled that Google has monopolized some types of advertising te...
18/04/2025
Broadcast and cable TV news outlets saw strong social media growth in March, according to new data from the social video analytics company Tubular Labs ....
18/04/2025
Berklee Student Yukai Yang Named 2025 Yamaha Young Performing Artist The drummer secured a spot among the elite winners in this years competition.
By
Maddie...
18/04/2025
Boston Conservatory Alums Bring Real Women Have Curves to Broadway The Latin American immigrant community takes center stage in a new musical featuring Tatian...
18/04/2025
WASHINGTON The FCC's call for public comments and suggestions on outdated regulations that it should be eliminated, has prompted a slew of fillings from bro...
18/04/2025
In a ruling that could have a major impact on the digital advertising market, a federal judge has ruled that Google has monopolized some types of advertising te...
18/04/2025
PEARL RIVER, N.Y. Global media solutions company Active Media Services (AMS) has formed a new relationship with VideoAmp, a measurement company for linear TV, c...
18/04/2025
Netflix reported generally positive results for first-quarter 2025, with revenue up 13% year-over-year to $10.543 billion and operating income growing by 27% to...
18/04/2025
NHL Playoffs 2025: TNT Sports Hits the Road for Onsite Productions With Mobile U...
18/04/2025
EVSs S bastien Verlaine on U.S. Expansion, Next-Generation Products Beyond replay, offerings also target asset management and media infrastructure By Ken Kersc...
18/04/2025
ESPN Unleashes 4DREPLAY as NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships Hit ABC Men's championships to follow Saturday night on ESPN2 By Brandon Costa, Direct...
18/04/2025
Visualizing Victory: The Latest in AR, XR, and Virtual Production in Live Sports This panel discussion featured leaders from ESPN, CBS Sports, Warner Bros. Disc...
18/04/2025
NHL Playoffs 2025: With 16 Games in First Six Days, ESPN Deploys Variety of Remo...
17/04/2025
Emilie Blichfeldt attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of The Ugly ...
17/04/2025
R-GPS gives warfighters a decisive battlefield advantage by punching through adv...
17/04/2025
This year's NAB Show in Las Vegas marked a noticeable shift in the priorities of media and broadcast organisations. Gone are the days of chasing flashy, or ...
17/04/2025
class=attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail f-align-center alt= decoding=async data-lazy-srcset=https://www.antonbauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Amy-Daniel-1...
17/04/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku and Adobe have announced that they are collaborating on a real time data platform made possible by a a new integration of the Roku Data C...
17/04/2025
NEW YORK Internet advertising revenues demonstrated strong growth in 2024, increasing 14.9% year-over-year to $258.6 billion, according to the IAB Internet Adv...
17/04/2025
SDVI Earns Both Product and Project of the Year Awards at 2025 NAB Show
Brie Clayton April 17, 2025
0 Comments
Left to right, Geoff Stedman, CMO, SDVI...
17/04/2025
Singapore Polytechnic Readies Aspiring AV Professionals for Live IP Productions ...
17/04/2025
Calrec Wins 2025 NAB Show Product of the Year Award for True Control 2.0
Brie Clayton April 17, 2025
0 Comments
Image: The Calrec True Control 2.o on ...
17/04/2025
In Return to Berklee, Lucius Looks Back and Moves Forward From mood boards to live demos, the alumni band gave students an exclusive look at the process behin...
17/04/2025
DirecTV's free streaming service MyFree DirecTV has just added another eight channels from NBCUniversal....
17/04/2025
LOS ANGELES The virtual production company GameChanger has announced that it is expanding its global footprint by bringing its virtual production technology to ...
17/04/2025
DENVER The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) has announced that it has developed a proprietary, automated software-based system to iden...
17/04/2025
Pixalate's new CTV Device Market Share report for Q1 2025 shows that Roku has the highest open programmatic CTV device market share in the United States, wi...
17/04/2025
Edward J. Lewis III Named Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Lewis has more than 20 years of industry experience, leading fundraising initiati...
17/04/2025
The Curling Group Puts On Inaugural Curling All-Star Game in Nashville The location in Music City is intended to broaden the sport's appeal By Dan Daley, ...
17/04/2025
April 17th, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces TV & NOW Lineup
World Premieres and Exclusive Cast Panels with Apple TV '...
17/04/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Cisco's Bryan Bedford on Providing End-to-End Support for Clie...
ESPN, XXIII Olympic Winter Games on NBC Lead Way as 40th-Annual Sports Emmy Nominations Are Unveiled Crowded Wensel Award race celebrates 5G, HDR with Dolby Atmos, and much more By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
