ESPN: Last News

Carlo Ancelotti has is the latest name to be linked to the Manchester United manager’s job – and it’s not the first time he’s been touted for a move to Old Trafford.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBaseball legend David “Big Papi” Ortiz is taking a journey through baseball history in his new ESPN Plus series “Big Papi’s Places.”Ortiz hosts the sports series, the latest expansion of the football-centric ESPN Plus series “Peyton’s Places,” with the first episode now available to stream.In an exclusive clip (see below), Ortiz and “Peyton’s Places” host Peyton Manning meet up, with Manning offering Ortiz a chance to host his own show. Of course, there are qualifications.

Sir Alex Ferguson has already hailed Carlo Ancelotti as “one of the best managers the game has seen” amid reports linking the current Real Madrid boss with Manchester United.

Major League Baseball and its players union could not come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement by a Tuesday deadline, prompting the league to cancel the first two series at the start of the 2022 season which had been scheduled for March 31. That means a season would not start until April 8 at the earliest.

As negotiations on a new labor agreement continue to drag, Major League Baseball is pulling out the big gun threats.

Odion Ighalo has opened up on his loan spell with Manchester United and admits that 12 months will live on in his and his family's memory forever.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAfter Mike Golic Sr. was tweeting regularly about playing DraftKings with his pals, the sports-betting company reached out to the former ESPN host and commentator — and offered him a deal for his own podcast.Golic will host a one-hour weekly video podcast alongside Meadowlark Media personality Jessica Smetana for DraftKings. The show will cover the intersection of sports news and culture and is slated to feature interviews with special guests.

Ryan Russell and longtime boyfriend Corey O’Brien are so in love and it looks like they had a great Valentine’s Day.

Cooper Kupp, a wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams, is sure to have a huge game tonight in the 2022 Super Bowl against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorGen Z won’t sit for a three-hour sporting event on boring old TV. They want an interactive, personalized experience that feels more like a video game, one that pulls them into the action with live stats, chats and alternate audio feeds — and maybe even launches them into VR.So goes a running narrative in the sports biz, which has spurred leagues, broadcasters and streaming partners to introduce a roster of newfangled options for fans online.

NBA Today on ESPN. And Kendra, 24, started at ESPN in January as an NBA reporter, following the Golden State Warriors from their own hometown, Oakland, California.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.How was it for Malika to watch her little sister interview at the company where she works?“I didn’t lose any sleep over it,” she says.

ESPN executives have been trying since 2018 to convince Peyton Manning to join the in-studio broadcast team for their flagship “Monday Night Football.” Now they may be happier that he turned down those overtures.That’s because the retired NFL quarterback has gained traction with an alternate “Monday Night Football” telecast for ESPN2 that he began hosting with his younger brother, Eli, another former all-star QB, in September. The stakes couldn’t be higher for ESPN, the NFL or the TV business — even though the decidedly low-tech broadcast, which quickly came to be known as “ManningCast,” feels like a cross between hanging out in a sports bar and a glorified Zoom session.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDisney plans to increase spending on Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED) programming by more than $1 billion this quarter versus the same period last year.For the current quarter, the company plans to up its spending on direct-to-consumer programming by between $800 million and $1 billion versus the comparable fiscal 2021 quarter, CFO Christine McCarthy said during Disney’s fiscal Q1 2022 earnings call Wednesday. On the linear network side, content spend is expected to go up by approximately $500 million.“It’s all about content, content, content,” CEO Bob Chapek said on the call, which followed Disney’s announcement that Disney Plus had reached nearly 130 million subscribers by the end of 2021.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call Wednesday that ESPN has extended its contract with Peyton Manning and his Omaha Productions that means ESPN2’s alt-Monday Night Football show Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli will continue through 2024.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPeyton and Eli Manning have more yards to gain for Walt Disney Co. and ESPN.The two football brothers, whose “ManningCast” alongside ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” has gained significant notice this season, have extended their relationship with the sports-media giant.

EXCLUSIVE: Meadowlark, the production company set up by former ESPN boss John Skipper, has struck its latest sports deal – inking a first-look deal with Backstage Media.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.The Big Game is upon us.The Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals will face off at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. this weekend for Super Bowl LVI, an event that’s sure to bring in a large number of A-list spectators this year given its location. The game kicks off on Sunday, Feb.

Spike Lee will direct a docuseries about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for ESPN Films.The company on Tuesday announced that the project will feature 'a full, first-person account of [Kaepernick’s] journey' in which he made national headlines in 2016 when he started to take a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racism.The ex-San Francisco 49ers quarterback, 34, who has not been offered a pro contract for NFL teams in the years since, will provide Lee, 64, with material from his personal archives for the project, ESPN said. The latest:Spike Lee, 64, will direct a docuseries about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, 34, for ESPN Films.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorKatie Nolan, the sportscaster who has made a name for herself in the world of digital content, is taking her talents to NBC Sports.Nolan is joining the NBC Olympics team, and is expected to create daily short-form content, which will be distributed across both traditional and digital platforms.“We are excited to welcome Katie to Team NBC Olympics, where her unique storytelling ability will be utilized across multiple platforms,” said Rebecca Chatman, vice president and coordinating producer for NBC Olympics, in a prepared statement. Nolan left ESPN in September.“I always dreamed I’d go to the Olympics one day,” Nolan said in a statement.

Spike Lee will direct a multi-part documentary for ESPN on Colin Kaepernick that features extensive interviews with the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and access to his personal archive.

Ellise Shafer Spike Lee is set to direct a multi-part documentary on athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick for ESPN Films, Variety has confirmed.Production has started on the documentary, which was first announced in July 2020 as part of Kaepernick’s first-look deal with Walt Disney through his production company, Ra Vision Media.“Kaepernick, who has never given a full, first-person account of his journey, is collaborating closely with Lee who plans to use extensive new interviews and a vast never-before-seen archive to help Kaepernick tell his story from his perspective,” the press release states.Kaepernick recently executive produced and starred in the Netflix series “Colin in Black & White,” which premiered on the streamer in October. Starring Jaden Michael as a young Kaepernick, the show chronicles the athlete’s formative years, focusing on how he navigated obstacles of race, culture and class as a Black child adopted into a white family.