Seen on Screen: ESPN Shows Hosted Onsite in Chicago for Bulls-Cavaliers Game; NBC Sports Presents Unprecedented NASCAR Coverage

Seen on Screen provides a roundup of recent sports-programming news, including new original programs and scheduled live game coverage. In this week’s edition, ESPN is on the road in Chicago for tonight’s Bulls-Cavaliers game, NBC Sports unveils plans for unprecedented coverage of the 2016 NASCAR season, ESPN’s Baseball Tonight will cover two days of the 2016 Baseball Winter Meetings, Olympic Channel’s new docu-series Camps to Champs will examine the effect sports has on displaced peoples, NBC Sports plans 150 hours of bobsled and skeleton coverage, and more.

ESPN will host several shows onsite at Chicago’s United Center in preparation for the Bulls-Cavaliers divisional matchup tonight. NBA Countdown, SportsCenter, and The Jump will provide onsite coverage leading up to and during the game, when Dwyane Wade and the Bulls host Lebron James and the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. ESPN’s daily NBA-centric show The Jump will air a one-hour edition at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2 from the United Center, with host Rachel Nichols joined by analyst/retired NBA player Tracy McGrady and reporter Brian Windhorst. NBA Countdown will feature a pregame and halftime show, also at the United Center, starting at 7 p.m., with host Michelle Beadle and analysts Jalen Rose, Chauncey Billups, and McGrady. ESPN3 will live-stream the pregame warmups at 7:15 p.m. The game will start at 8 p.m. with Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Cassidy Hubbarth providing commentary for the telecast. SportsCenter will be onsite providing live updates and postgame analysis with commentators Mike Wilbon and Sarah Spain alongside reporters Windhorst, Nick Friedell, and Dave McMenamin. All ESPN studio shows and NBA games will be available on WatchESPN and the ESPN app.

…NBC Sports’ 2016 NASCAR season coverage featured an unprecedented amount of content. It offered viewers approximately 366 hours of live trackside coverage and 264 hours of studio and documentary programming throughout the year, totaling about 630 hours of NASCAR coverage this year. NBC Sports Group will celebrate this season, honor Jimmie Johnson and his seventh championship, and appreciate the tremendous career of retired driver Tony Stewart tonight at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards in Las Vegas, starting at 9 p.m.

…ESPN’s Baseball Tonight will air two onsite shows daily at the 2016 Baseball Winter Meetings Dec. 5-7. The 30-minute telecasts will air at 6:30 p.m. and midnight on ESPN2. The announce team will comprise host Karl Ravech, analyst Aaron Boone, and MLB insiders Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian. Set in the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD, the shows will report on the trades and free-agent signings that occur at the meeting.

…Olympic Channel’s new docu-series Camps to Champs will give viewers a look at the positive impact sports can have on people’s lives, with Olympic athletes visiting refugee camps and other areas for displaced peoples. The series will investigate life in refugee camps and the effect sports has on the lives of displaced people in Uganda, Jordan, and Greece and of internally displaced people in Colombia. Each episode focuses on a single location and is told by an Olympian, who demonstrates the results of outreach programs and grassroots sports activities. The premiere episode will feature London 2012 silver medalist Samantha Murray of Great Britain visiting Syrian refugees in Zaatari refugee camp. The series is produced by the UK’s ITN Productions and will premiere Thursday Dec. 8 exclusively on the Olympic Channel’s digital platform.

…NBC Sports will present 150 hours of bobsled and skeleton coverage throughout the 2016-17 season, including all IBSF World Cup events and the IBSF World Championship in Sochi, Russia. The events will be distributed on NBCSN, Universal HD, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app from December to March 2017.

…The next installment in ESPN Films’ SEC Storied series, “Before They Were Cowboys,” premieres on SEC Network at 9 p.m. on Wednesday Dec. 28. The film looks at how Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson teamed up to help lead the 1964 Arkansas Razorbacks football squad to the only undefeated season in its history, long before they joined forces to win two Super Bowls with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. The film is directed by Corey Frost and narrated by country singer Trace Adkins. An encore presentation will air on ESPN2 at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday Dec. 31. Advance digital screeners are available on request….

…MLB Network will provide more than 35 hours of live coverage over five days at the 2016 MLB Winter Meetings in National Harbor, Maryland next week, with insiders Peter Gammons, Jon Heyman, Jon Morosi, Ken Rosenthal, Joel Sherman, and Tom Verducci reporting live across all programming. Interviews with club managers and general managers will be featured throughout MLB Network’s five on-site shows, starting with MLB Tonight this Sunday, Dec. 4 at 6:00 p.m. ET. MLB Network will also exclusively feature the  National Baseball Hall of Fame Today’s Game Era election results announcement during MLB Tonight on Sunday. Beginning Monday, December 5, MLB Network’s live coverage from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center will begin every day with Hot Stove at 9:00 a.m. ETfollowed by High Heat with Christopher Russo, MLB Now, Intentional Talk and MLB Tonight. MLB Network Presents, the original series of documentaries and access-driven profiles hosted by Bob Costas, also returns with two new episodes this month. Narrated by actor and Cubs fan John Cusack, the first program relives the Chicago Cubs’ historic 2016 World Series Championship through the eyes of multi-generational Cubs fans in Joy in Wrigleyville, premiering Thursday, December 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET.  The second MLB Network Presents program to debut this month is Cuba: Island of Baseball, premiering Tuesday, December 13 at 9:00 p.m. ET.