ESPN to Launch ESPNU HD Thursday, Aug. 28

<contact: colleen.s.lynch@espn.com>

Just in time for the college football season, ESPN will launch ESPNU HD on Thursday, Aug. 28.  ESPNU HD’s first live event will be a college football matchup featuring the SEC’s Vanderbilt at the MAC’s Miami (Ohio) at 7:30 p.m. ET. In its first year, ESPNU HD is projected to air more than 200 HD events, including all of its Thursday and Saturday college football games (LIVE only) as well as exclusive coverage of college basketball, lacrosse, baseball, softball, volleyball, wrestling, hockey and more. This will be the fifth HD service ESPN has launched amongst its family of networks.

Monday Night Football Kickoff Conference Call – Thursday, Aug. 28 at Noon ET

<contact: bill.hofheimer@espn.com>

ESPN’s Monday Night Football booth commentators Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Tony Kornheiser will be available on a media conference call Thursday, Aug. 28, at noon. Executive producer Jed Drake and senior coordinating producer Jay Rothman will also participate. Call-in number: (719) 325-4753 (Passcode: 4490405). Media are encouraged to RSVP in advance to: bill.hofheimer@espn.com.

ESPN360.com Features 28 College Football Games in Five Days; More Than 300 for Season

<contact: paul.melvin@espn.com>

ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband TV network, will begin its college football season Thursday, Aug. 28, and will feature 27 games through the opening weekend. The schedule will kick off a season that features more than 300 live college football games. ESPN360.com is available at no cost to approximately 18 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks (those with “.edu” and “.mil” domains). 

In addition to college football, the broadband TV network gives fans a 24/7 online destination delivering annually more than 3,000 live, global sports events. ESPN360.com is also available residentially to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated service provider. It is currently available in nearly 24 million homes nationwide via more than 20 Internet service providers including AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Insight, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and more. ESPN360.com has tripled its distribution since November 2006.  

ESPN360.com College Football Schedule - Week 1
Games in bold are fully exclusive to ESPN360.com

NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series Live Under the Lights from California

<contact: george.mcneilly@espn.com or andy.hall@espn.com>

The NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series will head west to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., for Labor Day weekend. ESPN and ESPN HD will have live, flag-to-flag coverage of the Pepsi 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race Sunday, Aug. 31, beginning at 7 p.m. with NASCAR Countdown. ESPN2 will continue its season-long coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series with a live telecast of the Camping World 300 on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 9:45 p.m. Both races will be simulcast on ESPN Deportes. 

Dr. Jerry Punch will be the lead announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysts Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. NASCAR Countdown will be hosted by Allen Bestwick, with analysis by Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. 

ESPN2 Airing 10 Hours of NHRA U.S. Nationals Coverage

<contact: andy.hall@espn.com or george.mcneilly@espn.com>

The biggest event of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series will have more than 10 hours of coverage on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD this weekend with the running of the 54th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. Expanded qualifying and eliminations coverage coincides with the final race to determine the drivers in the NHRA’s “Countdown to 1” playoffs.

ESPN2’s coverage will begin Saturday, Aug. 30, with a one-hour qualifying wrap-up program at 12:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. PT). Additional coverage will air Sunday, Aug. 31, at 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.  On Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1, ESPN2 will have eliminations from noon until 2 p.m. and 7-10 p.m. Paul Page will anchor ESPN2’s coverage with analyst Mike Dunn. Reporting from the pits will be Gary Gerould, John Kernan and Dave Rieff. Dunn and Rieff will also host NHRA RaceDay Sunday, Aug. 31, at 11 a.m.

E:60 – Exclusive Report on Parents’ Extreme Measures to Give Kids Athletic Advantage

<contact:  mac.nwulu@espn.com>

The next edition of ESPN’s prime-time newsmagazine E:60 Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 7 p.m., will feature:

• An E:60 exclusive report about the extreme measures some parents take to gain athletic advantages for their kids – such as purchasing sperm from anonymous college athletes in order to conceive a supposed superior athlete;
• How three former Wall Street executives became the architects of the Tampa Bay Rays’ amazing rise from worst to first;
• A look at the mysterious disappearance of Steve Fossett, one of the world’s greatest adventurers;
• An update on the “Blade Runner,” Oscar Pistorious, as he prepares to compete in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.

Click http://espnmediazone.com/press_kits/E60 for releases, correspondents and executive production team bios and video clips. For complete E:60 features and expanded versions of the reporter-producer meetings, click http://www.e60.com.

NL West Chase Featured on Sunday Night Baseball 

<contact: nate.smeltz@espn.com; diane.lamb@espn.com>

Sunday Night Baseball will feature the Arizona Diamondbacks hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 31 at 8 p.m. on ESPN2. The Dodgers trail the Diamondbacks by three games for the NL West lead. The game will also be available in high definition on ESPN2 HD and via ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes.

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