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College GameDay Emmy scandal

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A 2007 taping of College GameDay. The three men at the desk (from left to right: Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit) all received Sports Emmy Awards as part of the scandal.[1]

In January 2024, The Athletic reported on a scandal wherein ESPN had fraudulently received Sports Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). Beginning in at least 2010 and possibly going back as far as 1997, ESPN had listed fake names in the credit list for its College GameDay program. These names were similar to the names of actual ESPN employees who were ineligible to receive the awards—for example, "Lee Clark" and "Kirk Henry" were listed as "associate producers" on the show, which has Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit as on-air personalities. After receiving the statuettes, ESPN would then have them re-engraved with the actual names of the individuals and presented to them. This practice was first discovered by NATAS in 2022, prompting an investigation by both the academy and ESPN. While the parties responsible for the fraud were not disclosed, several ESPN employees were barred from future Emmys participation and at least one was fired. There is no evidence to suggest that the people who received the awards were aware of the fraud. Since 2023, ESPN has returned 37 fraudulently-won statuettes to the academy.

Background

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The Sports Emmy Awards are awards given in recognition of artistic and technical merit in sports television.[2] They are administered by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), which also administers Emmy Awards in other categories of television broadcasting.[1] ESPN, an American broadcast sports network, has been well-represented in the awards, with the channel's programming having won a total of 246 awards as of 2024.[3]

Until 2023, NATAS guidelines barred on-air talent on sports shows from being nominated for both individual awards and awards intended to recognize a television program as a whole.[1] For instance, a sports analyst could be nominated for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio and Sports Event Analyst, but could not also be included in the credit list for a show nominated for Outstanding Studio Show.[1][4] These guidelines were intended to prevent an on-air personality from winning more than one award for a single work (a practice dubbed "double-dipping" by NATAS).[1][5][6]

Scandal

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On January 11, 2024, The Athletic—the sports journalism department of The New York Times[6]—became the first news source to report on a scandal concerning ESPN fabricating information in order to win Emmy awards that they would have otherwise been ineligible for.[5][7] Per Katie Strang of The Athletic, in 2022, NATAS revamped their process for verifying the credit lists for shows nominated for Sports Emmy Awards.[1] The academy subsequently reached out to ESPN to verify certain names that had been listed in the credits of shows aired by the network.[1] ESPN informed the academy that some names were fake, and both organizations proceeded to launch investigations into the matter.[1]

College GameDay hosts Lee Corso (center) and Kirk Herbstreit (right) received statuettes that had been won by fictional individuals "Lee Clark" and "Kirk Henry", respectively.[1]

The scandal primarily concerned College GameDay, a popular program on ESPN that had won eight awards for Outstanding Studio Show, Weekly from 2008 to 2018.[1][8][9] According to Strang, during that time period, fake names were included in the credit list for the show under the title of "associate producers".[1] These names were similar to and bore the same initials as the names of several of the show's on-air personalities, who were ineligible for receiving an award won by the show by the academy's "double-dipping" rules.[1] For example, the show's credit list for several seasons had "Lee Clark", "Chris Fulton", "Kirk Henry", and "Tim Richard" listed as executive producers, while the show's on-air personalities included Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Tom Rinaldi.[1][10] According to Strang, awards won by these fictitious people were received by ESPN, who would then have the statuettes re-engraved with the names of the actual people, who would then receive the awards.[1][7]

There is no evidence that the on-air personalities were aware that the awards had been obtained in this manner,[5][9] and while ESPN did not publicly disclose the parties responsible for the scandal, several employees, including vice presidents Lee Fitting and Craig Lazarus, were deemed ineligible to participate in future Emmys events.[1][11][12] Additionally, NATAS imposed a one-year eligibility ban on the senior leadership of College GameDay.[9][12] Several employees who had been involved received disciplinary action from ESPN.[13][14] In a statement released on January 12, 2024, ESPN said, "Some members of our team were clearly wrong in submitting certain names" and that "This was a misguided attempt to recognize on-air individuals who were important members of our production team".[7] In that same statement, ESPN said that the scandal went back to at least 2010 and may have started as early as 1997.[1][15] Multiple sources reported that the scandal went back to at least 2007.[4][6] ESPN also stated that they had worked with NATAS to overhaul their submissions process to avoid something similar from happening in the future.[13]

Following the discovery of the scandal, NATAS requested that ESPN return several awards that had been obtained in this manner.[1] In March 2023, Shelley Smith, who had been an on-air reporter for ESPN since 1997, was asked to return two statuettes.[1] In August of that year, Fitting was fired by ESPN after 25 years of employment at the company.[1] Sports journalist Andrew Marchand later reported that the scandal had been "a factor" in Fitting's firing.[10] By January 2024, ESPN had returned 37 improperly-won statuettes to the academy.[1][8][16] Per Sports Illustrated, these 37 awards were all received by College GameDay.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Strang, Katie (April 17, 2025) [January 11, 2024]. "ESPN used fake names to secure Emmys for 'College GameDay' stars". The Athletic. The New York Times. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522. Archived from the original on May 16, 2025. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  2. ^ Buehler 2020, p. 11.
  3. ^ Roeloffs, Mary Whitfill (January 11, 2024). "ESPN Personalities Won Dozens Of Emmys Under Fake Names, Report Says". Forbes. ISSN 0015-6914. OCLC 6465733. Archived from the original on February 12, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Stenzel, Wesley (January 11, 2024). "ESPN busted by Emmys for using fake names to get awards for ineligible talent". Entertainment Weekly. Dotdash Meredith. ISSN 1049-0434. OCLC 21114137. Archived from the original on January 8, 2025. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c "ESPN apologizes for fake name scam that led to Emmy statues going to people ineligible for award". Associated Press. January 11, 2024. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Luther, Rebecca (January 11, 2024). "ESPN's Sweeping Fake Emmy Scheme Uncovered in Shocking Exposé". TVLine. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on February 13, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, Kaitlin (January 12, 2024). "ESPN Apologizes and Returns Emmys Following Fake Name Scandal". Us Weekly. A360media. ISSN 1529-7497. OCLC 61312882. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  8. ^ a b Carroll, Gabriela (January 11, 2024). "ESPN personalities reportedly won Emmy Awards under fake names. Now they have to give them back". The Philadelphia Inquirer. ISSN 0885-6613. OCLC 45211992. Archived from the original on January 13, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Yousif, Nadine (January 11, 2024). "ESPN apologises for Emmy entries won with fake names". BBC News Online. Archived from the original on September 18, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  10. ^ a b Meaney, Mackenzie (January 12, 2024) [January 11, 2024]. "ESPN earned 30+ Emmys using fake names for on-air talent". Deadspin. G/O Media. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
  11. ^ a b Andres, Patrick (January 11, 2024). "ESPN 'College GameDay' Stars Forced to Return Emmys After Fake Name Scheme, per Report". Sports Illustrated. ISSN 0038-822X. OCLC 1766364. Archived from the original on February 18, 2025. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Ehalt, Matt (January 11, 2024). "ESPN operated Emmy scheme using fake names to get awards for talent". New York Post. ISSN 2641-4139. OCLC 12032860. Archived from the original on February 5, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Darcy, Oliver; Reilly, Liam (January 11, 2024). "ESPN returning Emmys submitted under fake names". CNN. Archived from the original on December 30, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  14. ^ Steinberg, Brian (January 11, 2024). "ESPN Secured Emmys With Years-Long Fake-Name Scheme". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. ISSN 0042-2738. OCLC 60626328. Archived from the original on February 11, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  15. ^ St. Martin, Emily (January 12, 2024). "ESPN returns 37 Emmys, disciplines employees after a decades-long scheme is unearthed". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 2165-1736. OCLC 3638237. Archived from the original on November 8, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
  16. ^ Kiszla, Cameron (January 11, 2024). "ESPN returns 37 Emmys won using fake names: Report". KTLA. Archived from the original on February 13, 2024. Retrieved July 18, 2025.

Sources

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Further reading

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