Stephen Curry will host the ESPYs July 20. Curry, a guard on the Golden State Warriors, was MVP of the 2022 NBA finals. The ESPYs take place at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles and are on ABC starting at 8 p.m. ET. 

"Steph has long been one of the brightest stars in the sports constellation, and we're thrilled to have him share his passion for sports, his wit and his boundless talent with the ESPYs," Rob King, executive editor-at-large, ESPN Content, said. "Whether shining on the court, engaging with fans on social platforms or demonstrating a commitment to communities through varied philanthropic acts, he's a singular performer who'll undoubtedly add luster to our celebration of some of this year's most compelling moments."

Curry is nominated for several awards, including best male athlete and best record-breaking performance. 

"I've had the pleasure of attending the ESPYs but never imagined I'd have the privilege of hosting this special event," Curry said. "As someone who loves the intersection of sports and entertainment, I look forward to delivering an exciting show for the fans while we celebrate the athletes who created the top moments of the year."

Curry will be celebrated as the best NBA player while Shohei Ohtani gets best MLB player and Cooper Kupp is best in the NFL. 

Dick Vitale, college basketball broadcaster on ESPN, will be the recipient of the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. Vitale is 82 and is battling cancer. The Jimmy V Award is named for the late Jim Valvano, Vitale's former broadcast partner at ESPN. 

Vitali Klitschko gets the Arthur Ashe for Courage Award. The former heavyweight champion boxer is the mayor of Kyiv. ■

Disney Advertising said it has lined up a seven official sponsors for the 2022 ESPY Awards, including Capital One, returning for its 12th consecutive year.

First time sponsors Champion and Google, join Gatorade, Expedia, MassMutual and Simply Spiked Lemonade among the official sponsors. Commercials from more than 20 advertisers will appear during the broadcast.

“Each year our sponsors help bring this event to life and this year is no different,” said Deidra Maddock, VP, Disney Advertising Sports Brand Solutions. “We are incredibly proud of the brands who have collaborated with us in the presentation of numerous awards, special moments and feature integrations all contributing to the sports world's most highly anticipated annual celebration.”

According to Kantar, the 2021 ESPYs generated $6.5 million in ad revenue, up from $6.1 million in 2020. 

As presenting sponsor, Capital One sponsor of the ESPYs Nomination Show and Preview Show on July 19th on ESPN. Capital One will also bring fans a series of ESPY moments during ESPN shows SportsCenter, Get Up, First Take and NBA Today. Other ESPY content will run on  NFL Live, NBA Today, and Baseball Tonight from the Home Run Derby, presented by Capital One Topping it off, the Capital One Cup will be given to  the best men’s and women’s Division I college programs.

The 50th anniversary of Title IX will be marked by a live musical performance that will be a backdrop for a spoken word piece featuring 50 of the most influential women athletes in the last 50 years. Immediately following this moment, first-time sponsors Champion and Google along with returning sponsor Gatorade will receive recognition for their association with ESPN’s Fifty/50 content initiative.

Gatorade will sponsor the prestigious Gatorade Athlete of the Year awards recognizing the nation’s most elite high school athletes/ Expedia will highlight standout talent with its sponsorship of this year’s Best Breakthrough Athlete award. Additionally, the brand will sponsor ESPYS Countdown, ESPN’s live digital show from the red carpet. MassMutual will sponsor the Pat Tillman Award for Service for the fourth year. Simply Spiked Lemonade from Molson Coors, will sponsor the ESPY for Best Men’s Athlete and the official post party.

Last year, MassMutual, Dove Men+Care, Blue Moon LightSky and Hotels.com were among the official ESPY sponsors. 

According to iSpot.TV, Dove Men+Care, Hotels.com, MassMutual, Subway, Blue Moon, Gatorade, Pizza Hut, Capital One, Facebook and Wheels Up were the most-seen advertisers during the initial run of the ESPY awards in 2021.

The 2022 ESPYs will air live on ABC on July 20 at 8 p.m. ET.  ■

Tonight’s ESPY Awards show on ABC will look to ride the momentum of the return of live sports after an unprecedented shutdown in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event, hosted by actor Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), will honor major sports achievements and salute the leading performers and performances. 

Last year’s June ESPYs event was held without a live audience and, with the lack of live sports events due to the pandemic, focused mostly on humanitarian issues. 

I recently spoke to ESPN Content SVP and Editor-At-Large Rob King about this year’s ESPYs presentation and how ESPN has had to navigate around the pandemic to produce its annual sports awards show. An edited version of the interview appears below. 

Picture This: How has ESPN adjusted to producing the ESPY Awards during an unprecedented time in sports due to the pandemic? 

Rob King: So we went from being in a theater of 5,000 people two years ago to having to do it all virtually last year. That was a struggle on a number of fronts: in some ways you had a bit of a captive audience in terms of athletes and performers who joined the show, but it was also trying to do a virtual show in the middle of a pretty dramatic shift in human history between the pandemic, a reckoning around race, and the early stages of an election cycle. Meanwhile, we didn't have live sports to watch or enjoy, so it felt wrong to hand out awards for best college basketball team when we didn't have an NCAA tournament or to offer a whole host of superlative awards for seasons that were stopped. So we had to shift course last year and really make it be about a celebration of heroism and courage at a time when everyone needed it. Now you flash forward to this year, and we’ve had sports return in a way that we have all needed. You've seen incredible performances around the world and fans have worked their way back into stadiums, so we have an opportunity to return to some of that celebratory feel around the performance of athletes.

Picture This: How will this year’s ESPYs look and feel different from last year?

RK: First let me say that we are not quite out of pandemic, so we've worked tirelessly to think of ways to start our way back to what we believe will be a full theater show next year by creating this safe environment where people can celebrate together. Logistically it meant that you’ll have 500 people instead of 5,000; it'll mean that we'll have folks socially distant, but with the ability to be with one another.

Picture This: Last year the ESPYs moved to Saturday night from Wednesday. Is Saturday an optimal night for the event in terms of reaching viewers?

RK: We’ll see. The Wednesday slot after the [Major League Baseball] All-Star game was chosen strategically because there isn’t anything else going on so you can be the only show in town. We just feel like we’re well situated this year based on the general excitement about the return of sports.

Picture This: What does host Anthony Mackie bring to the ESPYs?

RK: First of all, he is a genuine sports fan, and there have been so many moments of just pure joy working on this show because he really gets why a night like this matters. Secondly, working with Anthony Mackie has made me a lot cooler with my teenage kids -- I’m not saying that’s the only thing that matters, but it matters (laughing).

Picture This: Are you confident that this year’s ESPYs will resonate with viewers?

RK: I think so. I think producers of the show have done a fantastic job of making sure that some of those athletes that we just love, want to spend time with and celebrate will be present. We're going to have a bunch of moments that will be immediately viral and draw a lot of attention. It’s also a really big night in terms of sports across ESPN and ABC with the Wimbledon finals and UFC 264 with Conor McGregor, so I think our time on ABC from eight o’clock until 11 fits nicely into what's really going to be a pretty big day for sports fans.

Read Also: ESPN's Rachel Nichols Sidelined for NBA Finals

ESPN said that Capital One, Dove Men+Care, Blue Moon LightSky and Hotel.com will be sponsors of this year’s ESPY award broadcast on ABC July 10.

Capital One returns as presenting sponsor. The Capital One Cup will be awarded to the best men’s and women’s Division 1 college athletic programs. 

ESPN, Capital One and The Undefeated will be announcing a new partnership around Capital One’s support of the Rhoden Fellows Initiative, a training program for sports journalists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Mass Mutual will be sponsoring the Pat Tillman Award for Service for a third year and Dove Men+Care is sponsoring the Muhammed Ali Sports Humanitarian Award for the fifth year.

Hotels.com spokesperson Captain Obvious will appear during the show. Hotels.com is also presenting the ESPYs Pre-Show and Post Show from the Undefeated Lounge.

Blue Moon LIghtSky will present the Best Team Ward.

Sponsors also get media inventory across ESPN, ESPN.com, the ESPN app and across social media, as well as hospitality opportunities.

Wheels Up, the private jet company, will provide air travel for talent on the show and outdoor furniture was provided by The Home Depot.

The 2021 ESPYs Presented by Capital One will be hosted by Anthony Mackie of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. The show will be broadcast live from The Rooftop at Pier 17 at the Seaport in New York.

 ESPN said it has sold out its advertising inventory for The ESPYs earlier than ever, with more than 20 advertisers set to air spots during the awards show.

Until live sports comeback, ESPN has been trying to maximize viewership and revenue with events like the NFL draft and documentaries like The Last Dance. The ESPYs is also likely to draw attention.

Capital One returns as the presenting sponsor of the program, which will air on ESPN on June 21.

This year’s ESPYs will also include the Sports Humanitarian Awards, with Bristol Myers Squibb returning as presenting sponsor.

Other ESPYs sponsors include Gatorade, which will be celebrating student athletes, MassMutual, which presents the Pat Tillman Award for Service and Saint Archer Gold for Athletes United, a fun look at what athletes have been doing at home in the recent months.

AT&T will also mark the first SeeHer Greatest Female Performances feature, raising the visibility of women’s sports.

Cisco Webex signed up as the official technology partner of the 2020 ESPYs. Webex is being used by athletes in their homes for interviews and other storylines within the show. Webex is also sponsoring this year's honorary ESPYs recognizing high school athletes. ABC’s owned TV stations will utilize Webex to feature the athlete in their homes on Localish in the week leading up to the ESPYs.

Other sponsors of the Sports Humanitarian Awards include Dove Men+Care, which will present the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award; Anthem Foundation, presenting the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award and UFC as sponsor of the Stuart Scott Enspire Awards.

The ESPYs will be hosted by Sue Bird of the WNBA, soccer star Megan Rapinoe and Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. The show is shifting its focus from athletic achievement to service and courage in the world of sports.

Last night's ESPY Awards honored the survivors of sexual abuse by the now imprisoned USA Gymnastics and Michigan State team doctor Larry Nassar with its Arthur Ashe Award for Courage.

The "sister survivors" appeared onstage for the emotional acceptance of the award, which was presented by actress Jennifer Garner. 

WWE Superstar/actor John Cena has pinned down the role of host for the 2016 ESPYS, ESPN said Thursday.

Cena, one of the most popular WWE Superstars and current host and executive producer of Fox’s competition series American Grit, will host the annual ESPYs awards show, which commemorates the top achievements in sports over the past year.

Related: John Cena talks up WWE series 'Raw' an 'SmackDown'

The ESPYs, which will air live on ABC July 13, raises more than $1 million annually for The V Foundation to promote cancer research.

“John is not only a superstar athlete and entertainer, but also a motivational force who inspires fans across the globe,” said ESPYS executive producer Maura Mandt in a statement. “John approaches all of his endeavors with energy, enthusiasm and passion so we expect him to bring a new level of excitement to the night’s celebration."

ABC’s Wedneday night telecast of ESPN’s 2015 ESPYs Awards drew 7.7 million viewers, the network announced Thursday.

The awards presentation, which recognized achievements in sports and was highlighted by Caitlyn Jenner -- who received the ESPY’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award -- was up 250% over viewership for ESPN’s presentation of the awards show last year, according to Nielsen. The show marked the first time ABC televised live the ESPY awards, which previously aired on ESPN. 

The ESPYs were also the most social show of the evening, generating more than 1.2 million tweets accessed by more than 9.2 million unique Twitter users, according to Nielsen’s Twitter TV Ratings report.

Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, will be this year’s recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at next month’s ESPY awards.

The news comes the same day that former Olympian Jenner made her debut on the cover of Vanity Fair. The ESPYs will mark the first time the Keeping Up With the Kardashians cast member will appear in public as Caitlyn.

ESPN also announced on Monday that Cincinnati Bengals’ Devon Still and his daughter Leah would be honored with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award at the show.

For more of this story, please visit broadcastingcable.com.

Comedian Joel McHale will serve as the host of ESPN’s 2015 ESPYS sports awards show, the network announced Friday.

McHale, who starred in Community and hosts E!’s The Soup, will host the event, which recognizes major sports achievements of the year. McHale previously hosted last year’s White house Correspondents Dinner.

“Joel is an extremely talented performer, a unique voice and a huge sports fan,” said Connor Schell, senior vice president, ESPN Films and Original Content in a statement. “His experience as a comedian and love of sports make Joel the perfect host for The ESPYS inaugural broadcast on ABC.”

ESPN is moving the ESPYS to ABC for the first time after airing on the sports network since its inception in 1993.

Broadcast network ABC will air ESPN's July 15 ESPYS telecast, the network announced Monday. 

The event, which had previously aired on ESPN, honors the best athletes and performances in sports. ESPN will kick off the night with SportsCenter at The ESPYS and The ESPYS Countdown Show Presented by Capital One airing from 6-7 p.m. ET and 7-8 p.m. ET, respectively, on ESPN prior to the start of the awards.

The ESPYS are executive produced by Maura Mandt and MaggieVision Productions.   

“Our goal with The ESPYS each year is to celebrate the year in sports while showcasing inspiring human stories through our three pillar awards - the Jimmy V Perseverance Award, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and the Pat Tillman Award for Service,” said Connor Schell, vice president, ESPN Films and Original Entertainment, who oversees The ESPYS. “We are thrilled to broadcast this year’s ESPYS on ABC.”