ESPN Traveler Loved South Africa

Let me introduce you to  Rick Abbott, who is head of global security and facilities for ESPN. That's a pretty big job, but when you think about how he had to figure out how to keep a crew of 350 ESPN employees safe while on location in South Africa for the FIFA World Cup this summer, it's hard to imagine how you'd even go about trying to tackle something like that.

Rick, who is as pleasant in person as he looks in his picture below, made a point of telling me how much he loved his experiences in South Africa. I wrote a story about it for Tuesday's edition of The Bristol Press (http://www.bristolpress.com/).

To keep things secure, he had to deal with the FBI, the CIA and the South African police, not to mention the U.S. State Department and fellow broadcasters from Mexico and England.

Together they worked out a strategy in hopes of keeping any kind of crime at bay, from petty theft to kidnapping and terrorism.

Whatever they did, including keeping police highly visible, worked, as the games ran smoothly.

He traveled to South Africa three times, and for the World Cup, stayed about a month, so he got to know the place.

What he learned from his experiences in South Africa, Rick told me, was that ESPN can do anything. And he didn't say it in a self important way, but more in a respectful realization of the power of an entire company all working together towards the same goal.

ESPN made its coverage of the World Cup one of the company's top three priorities this year. They take this stuff pretty seriously, too. Everyone has a company ID badge and right there are the top three priorities for the year. They're constantly reminded -- often in a fun way -- of the goal.

A little more about South Africa. He said the people were warm and so was the water. The wine? Fabulous. He wants to return, but for a vacation this time, not to work. He said he'll have plenty of friends to visit and places to stay when he gets there.

Comcast Customers Can Get ESPN 3D

Just in time for the FIFA World Cup this summer, Comcast cable customers will be able to watch 3D programs from Bristol-based ESPN.Comcast is the first cable company to sign on to with ESPN’s venture into 3D programming.It’s not clear yet whether Comcast customers will have to pay extra for the experience.

I wrote about the deal for Friday's edition of The Bristol Press (http://www.bristolpress.com/), so if you want the nitty gritty, it should be there.

ESPN Combines Soweto Gospel Choir and U2

This is just in from my pals at ESPN. I'll likely write something about it, but you saw it here first, folks. It's very hot news for any fan of U2:

ESPN Launches 2010 FIFA World Cup “One Game Changes Everything”

Network’s presentation to include U2 and Soweto Gospel Choir

ESPN’s unprecedented coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will include U2 and South Africa’s own Soweto Gospel Choir. These Grammy Award-winning groups will be featured in a series of spots which will be woven into the network’s comprehensive coverage of this month-long event.

Commencing June 11, the network’s coverage will use specially recorded music by Soweto Gospel Choir recorded and filmed in South Africa, with music and live concert footage from U2’s record breaking concert at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., in October 2009. This collaboration will appear in every program throughout ESPN’s presentation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup including soccer highlights, match and studio coverage.

“ESPN is thrilled to bring U2 and Soweto Gospel Choir together to tell our FIFA World Cup stories,” said Seth Ader, ESPN senior director, sports marketing.

“This inspiring creative project with U2 and Soweto Gospel Choir will provide a distinctive, original voice to our coverage of the first FIFA World Cup to take place on the African continent,” said Jed Drake, ESPN’s executive producer, 2010 FIFA World Cup. “By integrating this content throughout both our production and marketing efforts, we will more fully engage fans and enrich their experience of this great event.”

An initial series of four TV spots, set to the music of U2, will run April through June, and underscore the historic importance of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The first of the four, Robben Island, began airing April 7 across ESPN’s networks.

• Robben Island communicates the historic nature and importance of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, through the prism of soccer. This spot was filmed on location at Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. It is the site where eventual South African President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, alongside other political prisoners, during the country’s apartheid era. (Set to U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” with Soweto Gospel Choir).

• UNITED conveys the passion for the FIFA World Cup that unites disparate cultures (set to U2’s “Magnificent”).

• The Power of 10 celebrates the honor and burden that comes with wearing the most sacred jersey number in soccer (set to U2’s “Out of Control”).

• Passion captures the excitement that the FIFA World Cup invokes—highlighting the documented “baby boom” that occurred nine months after Germany hosted the 2006 event (set to U2’s “Desire”).

* These additional spots will roll out from now throughout the days leading up to the first kick. To learn more about the campaign visitespnmediazone.com.

ESPN Inc.’s 2010 FIFA World Cup Coverage in the United States

South Africa 2010 will be ESPN’s seventh FIFA World Cup and coverage of the event promises to be the most comprehensive in company history. ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will air all 64 matches live and in high definition. ESPN360.com, ESPN’s signature broadband network available in 41 million homes, will feature live English-language simulcasts of matches on ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN Mobile TV will show 46 matches. ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language all sports network, will air up to 40 matches in Portuguese live in the U.S., and ESPN Radio will broadcast all 64 matches.

Additionally, ESPN will present 2010 FIFA World Cup television studio programming from site in South Africa, offering U.S. sports fans the most comprehensive news and information coverage throughout the month-long soccer showcase. Studio coverage of the quadrennial global event will includeSportsCenter segments, a nightly World Cup Live program, and prematch, halftime and postmatch shows, with additional studio programming and World Cup-branded segments, totaling more than 65 hours of coverage, originating from two sets in and around Johannesburg.

ESPN Coverage of Past FIFA World Cup Events:

Germany 2006 – All 64 matches live and in high definition

Korea/Japan 2002 – 58 ESPN and ESPN2 matches live (6 tape-delayed broadcasts on ABC)

France 1998 – All 64 matches live on ESPN (27), ESPN2 (23) and ABC Sports (14)

USA 1994 – All 52 matches – ESPN (41) and ABC (11)

Mexico 1986 – 15 matches on ESPN (U.S. cable television rights)

Spain 1982 – 7 matches on ESPN

Will ESPN Be Like Church Tomorrow?

South Africa's Soweto Gospel Choir (www.sowetogospelchoir.com) is coming to perform and make friends at ESPN tomorrow. The choir will be providing some of the music that ESPN will use in its coverage of the FIFA World Cup, which will be held in South Africa this summer. I'm pretty excited since my pals at ESPN kindly invited me to come over, give a listen, talk with the choir and write about it. Don't worry, I'll be sure to soak it all in and report back to you.

ESPN Employees Have All the Fun

As if there weren't enough great reasons to want to work for ESPN -- their office chairs are really comfortable, for one thing -- here's another:

ESPN, which is making a big push to cover the FIFA World Cup this summer with authentic South African music and other cultural treats, is bringing the Soweto Gospel Choir to sing in their ESPN Cafe at lunchtime on Wednesday, just to get the locals here fired up so they can fire up the viewers about South Africa and the World Cup. I wrote this about it for Tuesday's Press (http://www.bristolpress.com/):

Bringing their vocal harmonies northward, South Africa’s Soweto Gospel Choir is making a special stop at ESPN Wednesday.
The choir’s work will be some of the music featured during ESPN’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup this summer, said Claude Mitchell, coordinating music director for ESPN.
“They’ll have a fairly prominent role,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell said ESPN identified the Soweto Gospel Choir early on in its World Cup planning as a source “to represent the local sounds of South Africa and Africa in general.”
ESPN will incorporate “a lot of authentic African music” in its presentation of the soccer games and other programs throughout the monthlong World Cup championship, Mitchell said, including jazz, pop, urban, hip hop, reggae and rock and roll.
“I would hope that a lot of it’s going to be new” to viewers, Mitchell said, and “highlight the pageantry and emotion” of the World Cup.
According to Mitchell, the Soweto Gospel Choir combines traditional American Baptist gospel sounds, with traditional African music and pop influences.
The choir, which will perform in the company cafeteria around lunchtime, sings in some South African dialects – the country has about a dozen – and performs much of its music in English, as well, he said.
Much of their catalog has a religious bent, but Mitchell said the choir also draws from music traditionally used to cope with hardships and also from protest music.
“They also do covers of pop tunes,” said Mitchell. “It’s kind of all over the place.”
Mitchell said ESPN will use work from the choir’s catalog, but is also talking with them about the possibility of new songs specifically for the World Cup event.
ESPN is bringing the choir to Bristol to help build excitement among the staff for the World Cup and to give the choir a chance to get to know ESPN.
Coverage of the World Cup is a company-defined top priority for ESPN this year.

Soweto Gospel Choir coming to ESPN

I just heard from my pals at ESPN that the Soweto Gospel Choir will be coming to ESPN to perform next week. That is something I won't miss. More later, but you heard it here first!

ESPN, the Moviemaker

Those creative folks at ESPN are offering up a bunch of films this spring for people who love sports and love movies. Here's what their hardworking PR department recently released about the lineup:

Spring Schedule for ESPN Films’ Acclaimed '30 for 30' Series Announced

Run Ricky Run about Ricky Williams Added to Lineup

ESPN Films and its acclaimed “30 for 30” series will return this spring with eight films from a star-studded filmmaker roster that includes Ice Cube, Steve James, Dan Klores, Brett Morgen and more. Joining the lineup will be Sean Pamphilon’s intimate portrait of embattled football player Ricky Williams’ hiatus from football in Run Ricky Run. The slate begins with a special presentation Sunday, March 14 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPNHD with Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks. The schedule then gets underway again in its regular Tuesday slot with No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson April 13 at 8 p.m.

The schedule:

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks (Dan Klores) – March 14, 9 p.m.

Reggie Miller single-handedly crushed the hearts of Knick fans multiple times. But it was the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals which solidified Miller as "The Garden's Greatest Villain." With seconds to go in Game 1, and facing a seemingly insurmountable deficit of 105 - 99, Miller scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds to give his Indiana Pacers an astonishing victory. This career-defining performance, combined with his give-and-take with Knick fan Spike Lee, made Miller and the Knicks the spotlight story of the 1995 NBA post season. Award-winning director Dan Klores will explore how Miller proudly built his legend as the Big Apple’s Public Enemy #1 to become the king of the New York streets.

No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (Steve James) – April 13, 8 p.m.

On Valentine's Day 1993, 17-year-old Bethel High School basketball star Allen Iverson was bowling in Hampton, Va., with five high school friends. It was supposed to be an ordinary evening, but it became a night that defined Iverson’s young life. A quarrel soon erupted into a brawl pitting Iverson’s young, black friends against a group of white patrons. The fallout from the fight and the handling of the subsequent trial landed the teenager -- considered by some the nation's best high school athlete -- in jail and sharply divided the city along racial lines. Oscar nominee Steve James (Hoop Dreams) returns to his hometown of Hampton, where he once played basketball, to take a personal look at this still-disputed incident and examine its impact on Iverson and the shared community.

Silly Little Game (Adam Kurland and Lucas Jansen) – April 20, 8 p.m.

Fantasy sports are estimated to be a $4 billion dollar industry that boasts over 30 million participants and a league for almost every sport imaginable. But for all this success, the story of the game’s inception is little known. The modern fantasy leagues can be traced back to a group of writers and academics who met at La Rotisserie Francaise in New York City to form a baseball league of their own: The Rotisserie League. The game quickly grew in popularity, and with the growing use and attractiveness of the internet, the “Founding Fathers” never foresaw how their creation would take off and ultimately leave them behind. Innovative filmmakers Adam Kurland and Lucas Jansen will chronicle the early development and ultimate explosion of fantasy baseball, and shine a light on its mostly unnoticed innovators.

Run Ricky Run (Sean Pamphilon) – April 27, 8 p.m.

Ricky Williams does not conform to America’s definition of the modern athlete. In 2004, with rumors of another positive marijuana test looming, the Miami Dolphins running back traded adulation and a mansion in South Florida for anonymity and a $7 a night tent in Australia. His decision created a media frenzy that dismantled his reputation and branded him as America's Pothead. But while most in the media thought Williams was ruining his life by leaving football, Ricky thought he was saving it. Through personal footage recorded with Williams during his time away from football and beyond, filmmaker Sean Pamphilon takes a fresh look at a player who had become a media punching bag and has since redeemed himself as a father and a teammate.

Straight Outta L.A. (Ice Cube) – May 4, 8 p.m.

In 1982, Raiders owner Al Davis beat the NFL in court and moved his team from Oakland to Los Angeles. With a squad as colorful as its owner, the Raiders captivated a large numbers of black and Hispanic fans in L.A. at a time when gang warfare, immigration and the real estate boom were rapidly changing the city. The L.A. Raiders morphed into a worldwide brand as the team’s colors, swagger and anti-establishment ethos became linked with “Gangsta Rap” and the hip-hop scene that was permeating South Central Los Angeles. Rapper-turned-filmmaker Ice Cube was not only witness to this revolution, he was also a part of it. As a member of the controversial rap group N.W.A, Ice Cube helped make the silver and black culturally significant to a new generation and demographic. Still a die-hard Raiders fan, Cube will explore the unlikely marriage between the NFL’s rebel franchise and America’s glamour city, and show how pro football’s outlaw team became the toast of La La Land.

The Two Escobars (Jeff Zimbalist) – May 11, 8 p.m.

Born in the same city in Colombia with the same last name, Andres Escobar and Pablo Escobar shared a fanatical childhood love for soccer. Andres grew up to become one of Colombia's most beloved players, while Pablo rose through the ranks of the criminal underground to become not only the most notorious drug baron of all time, but also arguably the secret weapon responsible for Colombian soccer's unprecedented rise to glory. Soccer was the vehicle for Colombia to transform its image on the international stage. But after its shocking early elimination from the 1994 FIFA World Cup, the mysterious murder of Andres Escobar dashed the hopes of a nation. Fifteen years later, The Two Escobars investigates the secret marriage of crime and sport, and uncovers the surprising connections between the murders of Andres and Pablo.

June 17, 1994 (Brett Morgen) – June 16, 10 p.m.

Do you remember where you were on June 17, 1994? Thanks to a wide array of unrelated, coast-to-coast occurrences, this Friday has come to be known for its firsts, lasts, triumphs and tragedy. Arnold Palmer played his last U.S. Open round at Oakmont, the FIFA World Cup kicked off in Chicago, the Rangers celebrated their first Stanley Cup in 54 years on Broadway, Ken Griffey Jr. reached a milestone in Kansas City and Patrick Ewing desperately pursued a long evasive championship in the Garden. And yet, all of that was a prelude to OJ Simpson leading America on a slow speed chase in a white Ford Bronco around Los Angeles. Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award-winning director Brett Morgen will artistically weave these moments and others to create a unique and nostalgic look at a day that no sports fan could forget.

The 16th Man (Cliff Bestall, Lori McCreary and Morgan Freeman) – June 22, 8 p.m.

Rugby has long been viewed in South Africa as a game for the white population, and the country's success in the sport has been a true source of Afrikaner pride. When the long entrenched injustices of apartheid were finally overthrown in 1992, Nelson Mandela’s new government began rebuilding a nation badly in need of racial unity. So the world was watching when South Africa played host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Though mostly white, the South African Springboks gained supporters of all colors as they made an improbable run into the finals and then beat heavily favored New Zealand. When Mandela himself marched to the center of the pitch cloaked in a Springbok jersey and embraced the members of the South African team, two nations became one. Oscar winner Morgan Freeman, producer Lori McCreary and director Cliff Bestall will tell the emotional story of that cornerstone moment and what it meant to South Africa’s healing process.

Festival Selections

Winning Time has been named an official selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival while No Crossover has been tagged for the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival, continuing the series’ presence at prestigious industry events. Kings Ransom and The Band That Wouldn’t Die were official selections of the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

Ratings So Far

The December 12, 2009 airing of Billy Corben’s The U, posted a 1.8 rating for an average of 1.8 million homes (2.368 M viewers, P2+) making it ESPN’s highest-rated documentary of all time (The Greatest Game Ever Played aired December 13, 2008, and earned a 1.4 rating – 1.369 million households, 1.811 M viewers). To date, the series’ first seven films earned an average 1.0 rating (1,007,000 homes, 1,258,000 viewers).

“30 for 30”

Other previously announced “30 for 30” projects are: Reggie Rock Bythewood (One Night in Vegas), Academy Award winner Bill Couturié (Guru of Go), Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Steve Bartman: Catching Hell), Jonathan Hock (The Best That Never Was), Spike Jonze, Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine (Birth of Big Air), two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple (The House That George Built), Academy Award nominee Frank Marshall (Right to Play), Steve Michaels, Joel Surnow and Jonathan Koch (Charismatic), two-time NBA MVP and first-time filmmaker Steve Nash (Into the Wind), Academy Award nominee Ron Shelton (Jordan Rides the Bus) and two-time Academy Award nominee John Singleton (Marion Jones: Press Pause).