THE LINEUP: Inside ESPN’s major-event coverage

NCAA Men’s Final Four: Meet some members of the production team who will bring you SportsCenter from courtside tonight in Houston.

(Jim Bowdon's Twitter feed/ESPN)
(Jim Bowdon’s Twitter feed/ESPN)

ESPN production teams seemingly are everywhere this week as the college basketball seasons close, the NBA playoff-seeding duels mount, the Major League Baseball season opens, the Masters tees off and pro wrestling’s biggest show continues.

The photo gallery above provides behind-the-scenes snapshots and video of ESPN’s coverage of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Fours – in Houston and Indianapolis, respectively. In addition, get behind-the-scenes access of ESPN’s coverage of Opening Day in various MLB cities, an NBA telecast from Houston and Wrestlemania 32 in Arlington, Texas.

Catch more baseball later tonight on ESPN, ESPN2 and WatchESPN: At 7 p.m. on ESPN/WatchESPN, the Los Angeles Dodgers visit the San Diego Padres; at 10 p.m. on ESPN2/WatchESPN, the Chicago Cubs visit the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Lindsay Czarniak will host the 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter courtside at NRG Stadium in Houston – the site of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship final tonight between Villanova and North Carolina. ESPN International’s networks will provide the game telecast as called by Sean McDonough and Dick Vitale.

Tomorrow night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the NCAA Women’s National Championship is decided when Syracuse tries to topple three-time defending champion UConn. The game will be called by Beth Mowins and Doris Burke on ESPN and WatchESPN.

And this week, ESPN provides provide extensive, multiplatform coverage of the Masters Tournament at Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club, including live telecasts of the first two days of Tournament play.

NCAA Men’s Final Four/Hall Of Fame reveal: Today in Houston, Rece Davis (foreground) prepares to interview Class of 2016 Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame inductee Shaquille O’Neal for the 11 a.m. ET edition of SportsCenter.
(David Scott/ESPN)

NCAA Men’s Final Four: Today in Houston, Charles Barkley (far right) visits the set of Mike & Mike in the House of Blues.

(Dave Williams/ESPN)

MLB: Sunday, ESPN analysts Eduardo Perez – working in Tampa – and Jessica Mendoza – working in Kansas City – share their thoughts on what Opening Day means to them.

Mike Skarka, Gianina Thompson and Taylor Garrett produced the video above.

MLB: Sunday in Kansas City, the Sunday Night Baseball team preps to make its regular-season debut: (L-R) analysts Aaron Boone and Jessica Mendoza and play-by-play voice Dan Shulman.

(Gianina Thompson/ESPN)

MLB: Sunday in Florida, Eduardo Perez (left) and Curt Schilling (right) provide analysis for the Toronto Blue Jays-Tampa Rays telecast.
(Michael Skarka/ESPN)

MLB: Sunday in Kansas City, (L-R) Karl Ravech, Aaron Boone, Dallas Braden and Tim Kurkjian circle the bases on Baseball Tonight.

(Gianina Thompson/ESPN)

NCAA Men’s Final Four: Saturday in Houston outside of NRG Stadium, Kentucky coach John Calipari (center, holding mic) joins the College GameDay crew before the men’s semifinals.

(David Scott/ESPN)

NCAA Men’s Final Four: Saturday in Houston, play-by-play commentator Sean McDonough (second closest in foreground) and analyst Dick Vitale call the Villanova-Oklahoma NCAA men’s semifinal for ESPN International.

(Josh Krulewitz/ESPN)

NCAA Men’s Final Four: Saturday in Houston, McDonough (left) and analyst Jay Bilas call the second national semifinal between North Carolina and Syracuse for ESPN International.

Bilas and mcdonough International telecast at NCAA Men’s game

Women’s Final Four: Sunday in Indianapolis, ESPN Senior Vice President Tina Thornton, who is responsible for overseeing the network’s extensive coverage of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, works in the production truck at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

(Gracie Blackburn/ESPN)

Women’s Final Four: Sunday in Indianapolis, play-by-play commentator Beth Mowins and analyst Doris Burke set up ESPN’s Women’s Final Four semifinals coverage from the floor of Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

(Mike Soltys/ESPN)

NBA: Sunday at the Toyota Center in Houston, the Oklahoma City Thunder visit the Houston Rockets. (L-R) Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson call the action for the NBA Sunday Showcase on ABC.

(Josh Krulewitz/ESPN)

NBA: Sunday at the Toyota Center in Houston, ESPN’s production team is hard at work on the Thunder-Rockets telecast.

(Josh Krulewitz/ESPN)

The Masters: This morning, Mike Tirico (left) and Curtis Strange report for SportsCenter from Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club previewing ESPN’s coverage this week.

Wrestlemania 32 in Arlington, Texas: (L-R) Ric Flair, his daughter Charlotte and ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman talk wrestling in Arlington, Texas.

Wooooooooooooo!

A photo posted by SportsCenter (@sportscenter) on


Exit mobile version