ESPN Classic

On August 4, 2009, Dish Network filed a federal lawsuit against ESPN for $1 million, alleging that the network breached its contract by not extending the same contractual term of carriage that ESPN provided to Comcast and DirecTV for ESPNU and ESPN Classic. The lawsuit claimed that ESPN violated the "Most Favored Nations" clause.^[3] The following day, representatives for ESPN announced in a press release that the company would fight the lawsuit, stating: "We have repeatedly advised Dish that we are in full compliance with our agreement and have offered them a distribution opportunity with respect to ESPNU and ESPN Classic consistent with the rest of the industry. We will not renegotiate settled contracts and will vigorously defend this legal action, the apparent sole purpose of which is to get a better deal."^[4]

Carriage

On October 1, 2014, ESPN Classic began a gradual transition into a

The network officially ended distribution at 5:59 a.m. Eastern on January 1, 2022, after a final airing of the Thrilla in Manila, though under Nielsen's definition of a broadcast day,^[15] it was considered to have ended on December 31, 2021.^[16]

The Canadian version of ESPN Classic, owned by the same Bell/ESPN Inc. consortium that owns the domestic sports multiplex TSN, outlasted the original channel by roughly a year and a half, as it ceased broadcasting on October 31, 2023.^[17][18]

Programming

In 2008, as part of a cost-cutting move, ESPN Classic's schedule began to become largely composed of ESPN original programming, highlighting sports such as poker, bowling and boxing, with a decreased emphasis on rebroadcasts of classic major league sporting events (a practice which has, however, been adopted by sports networks associated with a league or individual teams, among other channels). By 2005, the channel had also frequently broadcast overflow programming from the main ESPN channels, and reruns of ESPN-produced telecasts of recent sporting events that the network has declared an "Instant Classic".

ESPN Classic was the only U.S.-based ESPN network (and one of two Disney-owned cable channels in the U.S., alongside

By 2011, ESPN Classic drifted toward a mix of reruns of entertainment series in prime time, and movies (mostly ESPN Films productions and documentaries such as the 30 for 30 series) making up the majority of the channel's weekend schedule. The majority of "classic" sports events in ESPN Classic's program library as of its shutdown were college football and basketball games from the past decade which had not been claimed by conference networks, along with boxing, professional wrestling and bowling events whose copyrights were maintained solely by ESPN.

Broadcasting of live events

The first live event to be shown on ESPN Classic was the

• A
  San Antonio, Texas, where it would have aired at 9:00 p.m. local time
  ; had the game started at 10:00 p.m., it would have aired on ESPN2).
• The
  Firestone Indy 400 IndyCar
  race on August 5 (which was moved from ESPN2 due to a rain delay)
• Two preliminary round games of
  Las Vegas, Nevada on August 22 and 23 and a semifinal between the US and Puerto Rico
  on September 1 (ESPN2 had obtained rights, but had other program commitments)
• The third quarter of the WNBA playoff game between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun on August 23, 2007. This was also scheduled for ESPN2, but it was preceded by a Little League World Series game. After an entire half went untelevised, ESPN Classic decided to pull a rebroadcast of a Major League Soccer game in favor of replacing ESPN2 as Taiwan and Japan continued a game that went very long by Little League standards. Japan would win the game in 10 innings, and ESPN2 picked up the coverage in the fourth quarter. Ironically, the WNBA game would set a record for longest playoff game as the Sun defeated the Fever in triple overtime.
• Two Champ Car World Series races in September and one in October.

Since then, these games or events had been shown live on ESPN Classic:

• The 2008 Indy Japan 300, which was won by Danica Patrick (the first female winner of an IndyCar event).
• The entirety of the 2008
  Sharpie Mini 300, picking up the coverage from ABC, had it continued; however, NASCAR called the race before its conclusion (171 out of 300 laps) because of rain. Clint Bowyer
  was declared the race winner.
• The
  Fresno State University on June 22, 2008, as there were a couple of days of rain-outs, and due to a baseball game being broadcast on ESPN, and a drag racing event being televised on ESPN2
  , the game was forced to air on ESPN Classic.
• The following World Cup qualifying matches: United States and Cuba on October 11, 2008, the November 19 match between the United States and Guatemala, and the USA-El Salvador match on September 5, 2009.
• The opening five minutes of the
  Winter X Games, on January 30, 2010. The event aired on ESPN2 a few minutes later, due to a runover of an Indiana-Illinois
  basketball game.
• The first hour of a college baseball Super Regional division series game between
  University of California-Irvine
  .

While not a live event, in 2008, ESPN Classic also notably broadcast a previously untelevised college basketball game played on January 23, between Baylor and Texas A&M, which Baylor won 116–110 in five overtimes. Due to an unlikely set of circumstances, the actual game, held at Reed Arena on the A&M campus, was never televised. ESPN Classic used the feeds from the arena's in-house cameras, normally used to allow highlights to be displayed on Jumbotron screens, and the original play-by-play and commentary from A&M's radio broadcasters to create a complete telecast. The telecast aired on March 5 on ESPN Classic before the rematch between the two teams at Baylor aired on ESPN2.^[21]

ESPN Classic was also used for ESPN's multiple-perspective telecasts under the

Fan interactive specials

Beginning in the mid-2000s, ESPN Classic aired a series of specials counting down the greatest teams in the history of certain sports, as determined by fan balloting. In March 2006, the 1981-82 North Carolina Tar Heels won the fan poll for best-ever college basketball team, in October 2006, the 1927 New York Yankees won for best Major League Baseball team, and in December 2006, the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers won the fan poll for best-ever college football team.^[22]

Each of these programs featured expert analysis and live interactive voting online at ESPN.com, with the first votes being cast one week before the scheduled live show and continued balloting online and via text messaging until the end of the show.

Cessation of original programming

On January 14, 2007, Deadspin reported that ESPN Classic would no longer develop or air original programming. It was not immediately clear what would replace such programs;^[23] however, it was assumed that shows that were already produced, but not yet aired, would be broadcast at least for a few more months.

Over the next few months, new episodes of

List of programs broadcast by ESPN Classic

• 30 for 30
• Bassmaster Elite Series
• Battle of the Network Stars
• ESPN First Take
  Classics (2014–2021)
• Friday Night Lights
• Global Supercard Wrestling (originally aired on ESPN from 1991 to 1994)
• Home Run Derby
• Nine for IX
• The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... (2009–2007; originally aired on ESPN2 from 2005 to 2007)
• Who's No. 1?
• 2 Minute Drill
• 60 Minutes on Classic (2004–2008, in reruns)
• American Gladiators (2007–2009, originally aired in syndication from 1989 to 1996)
• AWA Championship Wrestling (originally aired on ESPN from 1986 to 1990)
• The American Sportsman
• Arliss
• Back in the Day
• Bay City Blues
• Celebrity Bowling (2010)
• Cheap Seats
• Classic Now (2005–2006)
• Classic NHRA
• ESPN Classic Remembers
• Fantasy Insider
• Greatest Sports Legends
• Instant Classic
• Jim Rome Classics
• The Joe Namath Show (2009–14)
• Jack LaLanne
• Long Way Down
• Missing Link (2007)
• NCAA on Campus (formerly on
  CBS College Sports
  )
• NFL Films (currently on NFL Network)
• Reel Classics
• Ringside (2005–2007)
• Schaap One-on-One
• SportsCenter of the Decade
• SportsCentury
• Sports Challenge
• Sunday Morning Classics
• Stump the Schwab
• Superstars
• The Way It Was (2004–2006; 2009)
• The White Shadow
• This Week In Baseball
• Tom Miranda's Advantage Adventures
• UWF Wrestling (2008, originally aired on ESPN2 in 1995)
• Woodie's World
• Wide World of Sports

In pop culture

ESPN Classic was parodied in a recurring series of