Tex Mesh: Blockbuster SEC College Football Game, Pivotal F1 Race Coverage In Austin Drive ESPN’s “Texas Takeover”
Caroline Tilton, ESPN Associate Director, Sports Marketing: "Our hope is that this can be an impactful weekend that may expose some fans to F1 and college football for the first time. "
AUSTIN – This weekend, this city is hosting the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and a top-ranked SEC college football matchup between No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Georgia. College GameDay Built by The Home Depot will also be on location for the game.
Working with others across ESPN, ESPN’s Sports Marketing group is tying the two events together with the “ESPN Texas Takeover” initiative.
The “Takeover” will feature on-site broadcasts from a range of ESPN and ABC programming and event activations throughout the action-packed weekend.
One of the leaders of the initiative, ESPN Associate Director, Sports Marketing, Caroline Tilton, who oversees marketing for F1, MLB, Tennis, and the Masters Tournament, spoke with Front Row:
When did you start planning this, and what was the process?
Back in February, John Suchenski [ESPN Senior Director, Programming and Acquisitions] identified these two events happening on the same weekend in Austin; coincidentally, in the same year, ESPN acquired the rights to the SEC and Texas joined the conference. You couldn’t write it up better if you tried.
He and I immediately got our wheels turning on how we could leverage this for something bigger than we have ever done.
We (my team – Stennett Smith and Christen Degel, Sports Marketing Associate Managers) – partnered hand-in-hand with our college football marketing counterparts, [ESPN VP, Sports Marketing] Curtis Friends, Maggie Lewin [Director], and Willi Anderson [Sports Marketing Associate Manager] on all facets of promotion, music, and content strategy.
ESPN Associate Director of Sports Marketing Carolina Tilton inspects an F1 car at the Circuit Of Americas in Texas. (Caroline Tilton/ESPN)
Editions of SportsCenter will air live from the COTA set live (above). (ESPN)
Here's a rendering of the set for ESPN's F1 coverage in Austin. (ESPN)We had extensive expertise and championing from [Vice President, Sports Production] Kate Jackson, Lori Mancini [Managing Producer], and Joel Banks [Senior Director, Remote Production Operations] from production and operations to get buy-in and make this a success.
This project has been a labor of love by all involved. What started as simply two dates coinciding on the calendar turned into a full-blown, companywide stunt and on-site takeover in Austin. No surprise we are calling it the ESPN Texas Takeover. There is not a department at ESPN that hasn’t been a part of the creation of it at this point.
What are your hopes for the weekend?
We are hoping by doing something a little bit outside our usual marketing domain, we can bring the most value to our internal partners, and F1, and maximize reach with fans.
Our goal is always to reach expansion audiences and bring more eyeballs and interest to F1. This effort was an extremely efficient, cost-effective collaboration that allowed so many departments across Disney to lean in. I hope this takeover is a great example of how massive impact is achieve, and our company is at its best when we showcase our power to partner.
It’s a massive sports and cultural intersectional moment. Our hope is that this can be an impactful weekend that may expose some fans to F1 and college football for the first time.
Centered around Week 8’s top-10 matchup between No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Georgia (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC, ESPN+) and the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) (Sunday, 3 p.m., ABC, ESPN+), “ESPN Texas Takeover” will feature on-site broadcasts from a range of ESPN and ABC programming and event activations throughout the action-packed weekend. For more details, visit ESPN Press Room
