1.
Philips Arena
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It also served as home to the National Hockey Leagues Atlanta Thrashers from 1999 to 2011, before the team moved to Winnipeg. It opened in 1999 at a cost of $213.5 million and it is owned by the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority and operated by Tony Ressler, who also, with a group of investors that includes Grant Hill, owns the Hawks. The arena seats 19,050 for basketball and 17,624 for ice hockey. The largest crowd ever for an Atlanta Hawks basketball game at the arena was Game 6 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on May 2,2008, the arena includes 92 luxury suites,9 party suites, and 1,866 club seats. For concerts and other entertainment events, the arena can seat 21,000, the layout at Philips was done so as to be able to bring the bulk of the seats closer to the playing surface while still making available a sufficient number of revenue-raising club seats and loges. Since 2005 for Hawks games and for the 2010–11 Atlanta Thrashers season, on the exterior, angled steel columns supporting the roof facing downtown spell out ATLANTA. The side facing the Georgia World Congress Center originally spelled out CNN, the Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center rail station below the arena provides access to MARTA public transportation. The Dutch Royal Philips Electronics, based in Amsterdam, purchased the rights to the arena upon construction. Video advertising panels replaced the traditional scrolling panels, many of these arenas had modern amenities for their high-end customers, such as luxury boxes, club seats, and large, posh club-level concourses, some even had practice facilities on-site. These attractions were rarely found in arenas constructed in the early 1970s, however, it is likely that the Omni would have had to be replaced in any event. It had been built using Cor-Ten weathering steel that was intended to seal itself, however, the Omnis designers didnt account for Atlantas humid climate. The Cor-Ten steel never stopped rusting, causing the arena to deteriorate faster than anticipated. Ted Turner, owner of the Hawks at the time, wanted to bring NHL hockey back to Atlanta, the citys first NHL team, however, the NHL determined that the Omni was not suitable even as a temporary facility due to its lack of amenities and structural problems. The league told Turner that it would grant an expansion team on condition that a new arena be in place for the prospective teams inaugural season. The Hawks split their games between the Georgia Dome and Alexander Memorial Coliseum for the two seasons. The Omni was demolished on July 26,1997, Philips Arena was built over the old Omni Coliseum area. Philips Arena held its first event with a September 1999 concert by the musician Sir Elton John, the Omnis center-hung scoreboard now hangs in the lobby of Philips Arena, where it still displays the Omnis logo along with those of Philips Arena, the Hawks, and the Thrashers. The scoreboard still functions and displays relevant to the game taking place in the arena
2.
NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision
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Division I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States. This level was called the University Division of the NCAA, in contrast to the lower level College Division. For football only, Division I was further subdivided in 1978 into Division I-A, Division I-AA, in 2006, Division I-A and I-AA were renamed Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision, respectively. FCS teams are allowed to award scholarships, a practice technically allowed. FBS teams also have to meet attendance requirements, while FCS teams do not need to meet minimum attendance requirements. Another difference is post season play, starting with the 2014 postseason, a four-team playoff called the College Football Playoff, replaced the previous one game championship format. Even so, Division I FBS football is still the only NCAA sport in which a champion is not determined by an NCAA-sanctioned championship event. All D-I schools must field teams in at least seven sports for men and seven for women or six for men and eight for women, with at least two team sports for each gender. Division I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletics program, Several other NCAA sanctioned minimums and differences that distinguish Division I from Divisions II and III. Each playing season has to be represented by each gender as well, there are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria. Mens and womens teams have to play all but two games against Division I teams, for men, they must play one-third of all their contests in the home arena. The NCAA has limits on the financial aid each Division I member may award in each sport that the school sponsors. Equivalency sports, in which the NCAA limits the total financial aid that a school can offer in a sport to the equivalent of a set number of full scholarships. Roster limitations may or may not apply, depending on the sport, the term counter is also key to this concept. The NCAA defines a counter as an individual who is receiving financial aid that is countable against the aid limitations in a sport. The number of scholarships that Division I members may award in sport is listed below. In this table, scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a point, for equivalency sports, they are listed with a decimal point. An exception exists for players at non-scholarship FCS programs who receive aid in another sport, participants in basketball are counted in that sport, unless they also play football
3.
College football
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It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. No minor league farm organizations exist in American football and it is in college football where a players performance directly impacts his chances of playing professional football. The best collegiate players will declare for the professional draft after 3 to 4 years of collegiate competition. Those not selected can still attempt to land an NFL roster spot as a free agent. Even after the emergence of the professional National Football League, college football remained extremely popular throughout the U. S, in many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests. This allows them to more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium. College athletes, unlike players in the NFL, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries, colleges are only allowed to provide non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books. Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as football, by the 1840s, students at Rugby School were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and run with it, a sport later known as Rugby football. The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges, the first documented gridiron football match was a game played at University College, a college of the University of Toronto, November 9,1861. One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was William Mulock, a football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear. In 1864, at Trinity College, also a college of the University of Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional mob football played in England. The games remained largely unorganized until the 19th century, when games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football, Princeton University students played a game called ballown as early as 1820. A Harvard tradition known as Bloody Monday began in 1827, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes, in 1860, both the town police and the college authorities agreed the Bloody Monday had to go. The Harvard students responded by going into mourning for a figure called Football Fightum. The authorities held firm and it was a dozen years before football was again played at Harvard. Dartmouth played its own version called Old division football, the rules of which were first published in 1871, all of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities
4.
ESPN
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ESPN is a U. S. -based global cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc. a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Corporation. ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in Bristol, Connecticut, the network also operates offices in Miami, New York City, Seattle, Charlotte, and Los Angeles. John Skipper currently serves as president of ESPN, a position he has held since January 1,2012, as of February 2015, ESPN is available to approximately 94,396,000 paid television households in the United States. In 2011, ESPNs history and rise was chronicled by These Guys Have All the Fun, Bill Rasmussen conceived the concept of ESPN in late May 1978, after he was fired from his job with the World Hockey Associations New England Whalers. One of the first steps in Bill and his son Scotts process was finding land to build the channels broadcasting facilities, the Rasmussens first rented office space in Plainville, Connecticut. However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftop satellite dishes and this helped the credibility of the fledgling company, however there were still many doubters to the viability of their sports channel concept. ESPN launched on September 7,1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the flagship program. Taped in front of a live audience inside the Bristol studios. ESPNs next big break came when the acquired the rights to broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the NCAA Mens Division I Basketball Tournament. It first aired the NCAA tournament in March 1980, creating the modern day television event known as March Madness. The channels tournament coverage also launched the career of Dick Vitale. In April of that year, ESPN created another made-for-TV spectacle, the next major stepping stone for ESPN came over the course of a couple of months in 1984. During this time period, the American Broadcasting Company purchased 100% of ESPN from the Rasmussens, for years, the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball refused to consider cable as a means of broadcasting some of their games. However, with the backing of ABC, ESPNs ability to compete for major sports contracts greatly increased, later in 1984, the U. S. ESPNs Sunday Night Football games would become the highest-rated NFL telecasts for the next 17 years. In 1992, ESPN launched ESPN Radio, a sports talk radio network providing analysis. It became the fastest growing cable channel in the U. S. during the 1990s, ownership of ABC, and in effect control of ESPN, was acquired first by Capital Cities Communications in 1985, and then by The Walt Disney Company in 1996. In 2012, ESPN generated more revenue for Disney than any of its other properties combined, alongside its live sports broadcasts, ESPN also airs a variety of sports highlight, talk, and documentary-styled shows. 30 for 30 started airing in 2009 and continues airing to this day, each episode is through the eyes of a well known filmmaker and has featured some of the biggest directors in Hollywood
5.
ESPN2
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ESPN2 is an American basic cable and satellite television network that is owned by ESPN Inc. a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Corporation. As of February 2015, ESPN2 is available to approximately 94,379,000 pay television households in the United States, ESPN2 launched on October 1,1993 at 7,30 p. m. Eastern Time. The youthful image was reflected in its overall presentation, which featured a graffiti-themed logo. ESPN2 also featured several news programs focused on specific sports, such as NFL 2Night, NHL 2Night. In 1995, ESPN2 introduced the BottomLine, a persistent news ticker which displayed sports news, the BottomLine would later be adopted by ESPN itself and all of its future properties. On-screen graphics used a color scheme instead of red to differentiate it from ESPN. On February 12,2007, the ESPN2 branding was stripped from most on-air presentation and replaced with ESPN, sports events presented on ESPN2 originally tended to be alternative sports such as poker, billiards, lumberjacking, extreme sports and, more recently, drum and bugle corps. In 2011, ESPN2 also acquired broadcast rights to delayed coverage for some American Le Mans Series events, the channel has also become ESPNs home for tennis coverage. The showpieces are all four of the Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Also featured on ESPN2 are the ATP World Tour Finals and U. S. -based tournaments, including the ATP Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami, as well as the US Open Series. ESPN2 formerly broadcast matches of the UEFA Champions League, until rights for that tournament moved to Fox Soccer, in 2003, ESPN2 began broadcasting Major League Lacrosse games. In March 2007, ESPN2 and the agreed on a new broadcast contract that will run until the 2016 season. ESPN2s former flagship show, the morning sports/entertainment program Cold Pizza, achieved success and saw several format. In January 2006, it was supplanted by the television simulcast of ESPN Radios Mike and Mike in the Morning, in May 2007, Cold Pizza moved from New York City to the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut and was renamed ESPN First Take. After ESPN became part of a new broadcast contract with the association, in return, ESPN2 programming is often seen on ESPN during blackouts of games in certain markets. ESPN2 also often carries SportsCenter at times when the broadcast on ESPN is delayed by an event that overruns into one of the programs scheduled timeslots. The documentary would usually air for two hours, where the first hour would cover the production of the nights show on ESPN. The second hour usually spent time at production control while covering reaction to the nights developments, both ESPN and ESPN2 carried ABC News coverage of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon on September 11,2001
6.
ESPN3
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ESPN3 is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc. The use of the name ESPN3 was discussed as early as 1996 for the channel that would become known as ESPNews. The website began in 2005 as ESPN360. com, a mostly on-demand video website, in September 2007, ESPN360. com shifted away from on-demand content such as studio shows and shifted toward placing emphasis on live events. On April 4,2010, ESPN360. com re-launched as ESPN3. com, the following year, most programming from ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU that aired during the evening hours, or from 12,00 p. m. On November 1,2010, ESPN3 launched on Xbox Live and this service allows Xbox Live members to access live sporting events on ESPN3, among other offerings, at no additional cost. Some internet service providers have complained to the FCC that ESPN3 violates the principles of network neutrality, ESPN3 bundles its content into the fees of the participating ISP, regardless of whether or not users partake in accessing its content. If a particular ISP does not pay fees to ESPN. ESPNs only recommended solution in such a situation is to have the consumer lobby an ISP that is available in their area to add ESPN3. Time Warner Cable & RCN do not allow internet-only and basic cable subscribers to access ESPN3, thus, in these cases the cost of the service is bundled into the cable bill and not the Internet bill. In the United States, the network is available to individuals who receive their high-speed Internet connection or cable television subscription from a service provider. Since 2008, ESPN3 has also been available to approximately 21 million U. S. college students and U. S. -based military personnel via computers with college/university, ESPN3 is only available to Internet providers who pay fees to ESPN. As part of the distribution agreement that DirecTV and The Walt Disney Company announced. The nationwide rollout was completed in February 2017, ESPN3 on WatchESPN List of ESPN3 affiliated Internet Service Providers in the United States List of ESPN3 affiliated Video Service Providers in the United States
7.
ESPN on ABC
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ESPN on ABC is the brand used for sports event and documentary programming televised on the American Broadcasting Company in the United States. ABC broadcasts use ESPNs production and announcing staff, and incorporate elements such as ESPN-branded on-screen graphics, SportsCenter in-game updates, the broadcast networks sports event coverage carried the ABC Sports brand prior to September 2,2006. When ABC acquired a controlling interest in ESPN in 1984, it operated the cable network separately from its sports division. The integration of ABC Sports with ESPN began after The Walt Disney Company bought ABC in 1996, the branding change to ESPN on ABC was made to better orient ESPN viewers with event telecasts on ABC and provide consistent branding for all sports broadcasts on Disney-owned channels. Like its longtime competitors CBS Sports and NBC Sports, ABC Sports was originally part of the division of the ABC network. When Roone Arledge came to ABC Sports as a producer of NCAA football games in 1960, the International Olympic Committee even wanted a bank to guarantee ABCs contract to broadcast the 1960 Olympics. At the time, Edward Scherick served as the de facto head of ABC Sports, Scherick had joined the fledgling ABC television network when he persuaded it to purchase Sports Programs, Inc. in exchange for the network acquiring shares in the company. Scherick had formed the company after he left CBS, when the network would not make him the head of its sports programming unit. Before ABC Sports even became a division of the network, Scherick. While Scherick was not interested in For Men Only, he recognized the talent that Arledge had, Arledge realized ABC was the organization he was looking to become part of. The lack of an organization would offer him the opportunity to claim real power when the network matured. With this, he signed on with Scherick as an assistant producer, network broadcasts of sporting events had previously consisted of simple set-ups and focused on the game itself. In his memo, Arledge not only offered another way to broadcast the game to the sports fan, in addition, he had the forethought to realize that the broadcasts needed to attract, and hold the attention of female viewers, as well as males. Despite the production values he brought to NCAA college football, Scherick wanted low-budget sports programming that could attract and he hit upon the idea of broadcasting track and field events sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union. While Americans were not exactly fans of track and field events, in January 1961, Scherick called Arledge into his office, and asked him to attend the annual AAU board of governors meeting. While he was shaking hands, Scherick said, if the mood seemed right, might he cut a deal to broadcast AAU events on ABC and it seemed like a tall assignment, however as Scherick said years later, Roone was a gentile and I was not. Arledge came back with a deal for ABC to broadcast all AAU events for $50,000 per year, next, Scherick and Arledge divided up their NCAA college football sponsor list. They then telephoned their sponsors and said in so many words, Advertise on our new sports show coming up in April, or forget about buying commercials on NCAA college football this fall
8.
ESPN Classic
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ESPN Classic is an American digital cable and satellite television network that is owned by ESPN Inc. a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation. The channel features rebroadcasts of famous sporting events, sports documentaries, such programs include biographies of famous sports figures or a rerun of a marquee World Series or Super Bowl game, often with added commentary on the event. As of February 2015, ESPN Classic is available to approximately 25,516,000 television households in the United States, other providers will follow suit on an unknown timetable. The channel was launched on May 6,1995 as the Classic Sports Network, the Ada Oklahoma location of Post Newsweek cable with 6500 subscribers was the first cable system to carry the programming. CSN was founded by Brian Bedol and Steve Greenberg, both of whom went on to launch College Sports Television ), with funding from Allen & Company. In 1997, ESPN, Inc. purchased Classic Sports Network for $175 million, throughout its history, dating back to its existence as Classic Sports Network, the channels logo has incorporated a stylized silhouette intending to resemble a boxer. An analyst quoted in the report suggested a merger of NFL Network with ESPN Classic due to the wide distribution on expanded basic cable tiers. Though a consolidation of the two channels did not materialize, ESPNs networks and NFL Network would begin to share programming. Eventually however, NFL Network was able to obtain full carriage on most providers on its own by the middle of the 2012 season, the lawsuit claimed that ESPN violated the Most Favored Nations clause. We will not renegotiate settled contracts and will defend this legal action. ESPN Classic is the only U. S. -based ESPN network that airs infomercials, likewise, archival games from the Southeastern Conference and the University of Texas Longhorns have respectively moved to the ESPN-operated SEC Network and Longhorn Network. By 2011, ESPN Classic drifted toward a mix of reruns of entertainment series in prime time, the first live event to be shown on ESPN Classic was the implosion of the Kingdome in Seattle in March 2000. This was also scheduled for ESPN2, but it was preceded by a Little League World Series game, Japan would win the game in 10 innings, and ESPN2 picked up the coverage in the fourth quarter. Ironically, the WNBA game would set a record for longest playoff game as the Sun defeated the Fever in triple overtime, two Champ Car World Series races in September and one in October. Since then, these games or events have been shown live on ESPN Classic, The 2008 Indy Japan 300, the entirety of the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Lipton Tea 250. The race was simulcast with Speed and ESPN360. com, as ESPN2 was obligated to an NBA playoff game during the time of the race. In addition, the network had planned to air the 2008 Sharpie Mini 300, picking up the coverage from ABC, had it continued, however, clint Bowyer was declared the race winner. The opening five minutes of the Winter X Games, on January 30,2010, the event aired on ESPN2 a few minutes later, due to a runover of an Indiana-Illinois basketball game
9.
ESPNU
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The channel is primarily dedicated to coverage of college athletics, and is also used as an additional outlet for general ESPN programming. ESPNU is based alongside ESPN Events at its headquarters in Charlotte, as of February 2015, ESPNU is available to approximately 73,594,000 pay television households in the United States. The network was launched on March 4,2005, with its first broadcast originating from the site of Gallagher-Iba Arena on the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The networks first live event was a game of the Ohio Valley Conference mens basketball tournament between Southeast Missouri State University and Eastern Kentucky University. The network was launched as a response to rival College Sports Television, ESPN was also being investigated by the U. S. ESPN and XOS Technologies entered into a partnership for college athletics websites to compete directly with CSTVs growing internet presence. On August 28,2006, ESPNU launched a new SportsCenter spin-off focusing entirely on college sports, the program, SportsCenterU, was originally scheduled to be broadcast from ESPNs headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut, however ESPN instead chose to originate the show from Charlotte. Mike Hall was the lead anchor until August 2007, when he left for the new Big Ten Network. He was replaced by Mike Gleason and Lowell Galindo, the two are joined on-set by color commentators that vary depending on the sports season. The same day as SportsCenterUs debut, ESPNU launched the website ESPNU. com, the site included live streaming of college sports events, a multi-media player dedicated to college sports, podcasts and ESPN Motion clips of studio programming from the ESPNU television network. In addition to its sports coverage, ESPNU has simulcast ESPN Radios midday program over its airwaves since 2008. The program airing for the majority of time was The Herd with Colin Cowherd. Following Cowherds departure and several weeks of guest hosts taking over the timeslot, ESPNU was added to most Comcast systems in time for the start of the 2009–10 college football season. This ended several years of negotiations and somewhat of a feud between Comcast and ESPN over carriage of ESPNU, cablevision added ESPNU to its systems on March 23,2010. ESPN announced that the trial was a success and, although the channels are no longer available to Brazilians, ESPNU is carried on PlayStation Vue and Sling TV. The lawsuit claims ESPN violated the Most Favored Nations clause and we will not renegotiate settled contracts and will vigorously defend this legal action, the apparent sole purpose of which is to get a better deal. Dish Network moved the channel from its Classic Gold 250 package to its Classic Bronze 100 package on September 30,2009, however, it claimed that the move had nothing to do with the lawsuit
