ESPN has a new nostalgia play, and Rich Eisen is leading the charge. This Was SportsCenter: Stories from the Set premieres tomorrow as a six-episode video podcast hosted and produced by Eisen himself.
What We Know: The series drops every Friday on Disney+, the ESPN App, and all major podcast platforms. Episode 1 features Dan Patrick on June 5. Episode 2, recorded live at San Francisco’s Strand Theater during Super Bowl week, features Chris Berman and arrives June 8. Subsequent guests include Mike Greenberg, Linda Cohn, Chris Fowler, and Craig Kilborn — wrapping July 3. Eisen’s return to ESPN last fall — after more than two decades away — set the stage for this project. His daily Rich Eisen Show moved to ESPN Radio, Disney+, and ESPN DTC in September of last year.
What They Said: Mike Foss, Executive Vice President, Executive Editor, Sports News and Entertainment ESPN: “SportsCenter has been the centerpiece of ESPN since its launch. 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.”
Rich Eisen, CEO of Rich Eisen Productions: “The moment my daily Rich Eisen Show reunited me with ESPN, I knew I had to create this show. 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.”
What Remains Unclear: Whether a second season on the success of this series remains unknown. It’s also unclear if additional live-event tapings — like the Berman episode recorded in San Francisco — are planned going forward. Other notable SportsCenter anchors that could be of interest include Keith Olbermann, Brian Kenny, and Kenny Mayne among others.
What It Means: This project is more than a podcast — it’s a brand extension. ESPN ties the series directly into Disney+’s “Throwback Summer” campaign, amplifying its reach across multiple platforms. For Eisen, it further solidifies his post-return identity at ESPN as both a talent and a producer. I’ll be interested to see how deep these conversations go as sports media continues to feed the taste of nostalgia from sports fans.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
