Scott Van Pelt has been the host of the midnight edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter since September of 2015. After nearly a decade in the role, he has yet to win a Sports Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Although he has been nominated eight times for the honor, Van Pelt has yet to secure a victory for his layers of work for the network.
Recently, Van Pelt appeared as a guest on The Dan Patrick Show ahead of his weekend work covering The Masters for the network. During the conversation, he said that, albeit thankful for once again being nominated, he doesn’t expect to win this time around.
“It’s a long evening. There’s no food, the bitterness builds, and then they say Ernie Johnson or Mike Tirico,” explained Van Pelt. “There have been years where Ernie is not nominated and then Mike wins. Then there’s years when Mike’s not nominated and then Ernie wins, and this year, Dan, they’re both nominated. So we’re going to just do the math and just put that nine in the right hand column, pal.”
Meanwhile, speaking from his location in Augusta, Van Pelt noted that the nominations are announced every year while he’s at the famed golf course. Over time, this has become a fun, running joke with his colleagues during Masters week. While he is disappointed to have never won an award, he remains grateful for the consistent recognition.
“Of course, you want to hear your name but you make the cut, you make the cut,” noted Van Pelt. “There’s a hell of a lot of people to do what we do. So you do have to give yourself a little grace and say, that’s pretty cool. Nice to see your name and then you go to New York and then you lose.”
Nevertheless, while the tone was mostly playful during the interview with Dan Patrick, Van Pelt admitted there was one instance where not winning truly stung.
“Years ago, the COVID year, I believe you had me as a lock because the work we did,” explained Van Pelt. “That was the one year I got real bitter. We created content out of nothing. No one else was doing television, and we still didn’t win. That was the one year I think I got bitter. I was like, well, the hell with it.”
Looking ahead, the Sports Emmy Awards ceremony will take place at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City on Tuesday, May 20. The event will honor excellence across an array of 47 different categories.
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