ESPN2 to Air "Timeless"

January 1, 2005

from www.sportsbusinessnews.com

In the world of sports, some stories transcend the calendar and the whims of pop culture; they're simply timeless. ESPN2 will capture these stories in a new 30-week series Timeless, set to debut Saturday, Jan. 1 at 11:30 a.m. ET. Each week (Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN2), the half-hour show will highlight some of the sports world's true hidden gems.

Produced by ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) in conjunction with Red Line Productions and hosted by Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Dhani Jones, Timeless will span the globe to highlight towns and communities with unique sports stories all their own.

Mike Antinoro, ESPN executive producer EOE, said, "Timeless will focus on stories that may not appear in the daily headlines, but are no less deserving of the spotlight. They are compelling stories that speak to the core of what makes sports - and the people who compete in them - great."

Viewers will see some heated competition in the national Wrist Wrestling Championships; they'll meet Flint Southwestern Academy's Willie McQueen, a double amputee who plays defensive tackle for the football team; they'll accompany three of Princeton's best chess players to Trenton State Prison as they take on inmates in a game that provides common ground; they'll see the Pop Warner Super Bowl and they'll learn about a community by the Delaware River that revels in a century-old high school football rivalry between neighboring states. Other highlights:

The North American Ice Fishing Championships

McFarland Cross Country, a perennial power comprised entirely of kids of Mexican immigrants in a poor farming community

High school football champions from a school in Barton, Arkansas - a town so tiny it can't be located on a map

Lama King, the golf-playing Buddhist monk sent to America in 1959 by the Dalai Lama to show Americans the path to enlightenment.

EOE is developing a wide-variety of branded programming to add to the network's s comprehensive event and sports news coverage.  Using a collection of genres - original movies, reality-based shows, dramatic series, documentaries, game shows and more -ESPN's goal is to broaden its audience by more strongly appealing to newer and more casual sports fans. (source ESPN)

Media Contact: Joel Balthaser, (215) 752-2691; joelbalthaser@popwarner.com