Rich Eisen went from SportsCenter to NFL Network to owning his show. Now he’s back at ESPN, betting ’90s nostalgia still sells
Source: Fortune ·
The broadcaster and CEO is streaming on Disney+, airing on ESPN Radio, and mining ESPN’s archive for a SportsCenter nostalgia series.
From the source
When Rich Eisen anchored SportsCenter for the first time in 22 years last August, ESPN brought back the show’s old-school graphics and music. The broadcast drew 708,000 viewers, 67% above SportsCenter’s average in that 11 p.m. ET slot, ESPN told Front Office Sports at the time. The reaction online showed how much fans had missed it. Eisen told Fortune in a recent interview he came across a video of a young woman recording herself as the familiar open played. She was crying. “It was a simpler time,” Eisen said. “People kind of wish it was like that again.” That moment validated an idea Eisen had brought to ESPN when he returned: a nostalgia video podcast. This Was SportsCenter: Stories from the Set is a video podcast in which he reunites with former colleagues, with full access to ESPN’s video archive. The first season debuted in June on Disney+ and the ESPN app and featured Dan Patrick, Chris Berman, Mike Greenberg, Linda Cohn, Chris Fowler, and Craig Kilborn. A second season with…