Madden Nation was an American reality television show, created as a joint effort between EA SPORTS and ESPN Original Entertainment to take viewers inside the world of Madden NFL, a popular video game with over 10 million players worldwide. The series premiered on December 6, 2005 and is currently in its fourth season on ESPN2. The show was influenced by the competitive atmosphere created at one of the top Madden websites MaddenPlayersClub.com.
The eight episode series featured the nation’s top Madden NFL gamers—along with real-life NFL player sponsors— playing against each other in elimination-style tournaments. Throughout the competition, the players traveled across the country in the Madden Nation Bus making their way to New York City for the tournament finals and a chance to win the $100,000 grand prize. The final game of both seasons was held in Times Square on the ABC Super Sign.
NASCAR Now is a NASCAR news and analysis show that airs year round Monday through Friday as a thirty-minute show at 5:00pm ET on ESPN2. NASCAR Now, that debuted on February 5, 2007, is broadcast in HD from Bristol, Connecticut and also has a daily segment on SportsCenter. ESPN2 also airs editions of the show on the day of all NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, starting with the Daytona 500. A race preview show airs at 10 A.M. ET on race day, with a post-race edition running on ESPN2 on the evening following the event.
Unlike its predecessor, RPM 2Night, NASCAR Now covers only NASCAR news and information and there are no highlight restrictions on the program; both video and still photos are available for its use. It is part of ESPN's new television package with NASCAR, which gives them the opportunity to produce and air a daily show about the sanctioning body. Previously, Speed Channel had the exclusive rights to produce daily NASCAR magazine shows.
On April 29, 2008, the show hosted a special one-hour edition of NAS
ESPN2 Garage is a new ninety minute programming block dedicated to the automotive and motorsports world on ESPN2. Debuting Saturday, January 6, 2006, the programming will air on ESPN2 from 5pm ET to 6:30pm ET on weekdays, from 10am ET to 12pm ET on Saturdays and from 10am ET to 11am ET on Sundays. This programming block will be the preceding the new daily automotive news and analysis program, NASCAR Now.
ESPN2 Garage programming will cover topics ranging from car preparation, automotive auctions, how-to help, racing programs, automotive entertainment/reality and even an animated series about a family of motorsports fans entitled The Pits.
Football Friday is a football news and analysis television show on ESPNEWS every Friday, year-round, at 8pm ET to 9pm ET and reairs at noon ET, on Saturdays. Since debuting in 2004, the show has been hosted by Stan Verrett along with analysis from former pro fullback Merril Hoge. Originally the show just ran through the football season, but since September 1, 2006 through its final original airing on January 2, 2009, it has run on Fridays year-round.
Football Friday is a fast-paced program that covers everything from college football to the National Football League and even high school football. Throughout the show, Stan and Merril run through all the highlights, injury updates, interviews and analysis to preview the upcoming weekend in football.
MLS Primetime Thursday was the weekly presentation of Major League Soccer games on ESPN2 for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. The program was presented by Adidas.