“Boomer” will be back, back, back on SportsCenter this fall.
Chris Berman, Tom Jackson and John Saunders, the trio who co-hosted ESPN’s NFL PrimeTime highlight show during the first three years of its 19-year run, will be back together again this fall as co-hosts of the 7 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter each Sunday throughout the football season, network officials said Tuesday.
NFL PrimeTime, which was shuttered following the 2005 season, was cable television’s highest-rated sports studio show throughout its nearly two-decade run (1987-2005).
While presenting all the day’s highlights, news and events from the world of sports, Sunday night editions of ESPN’s flagship program will bring an increased focus to all the day’s NFL action with highlights, discussion segments, analysis, coaches’ press conferences, interviews and post-game reports from ESPN correspondents covering games, ESPN officials said.
The program will also preview the Sunday night primetime match-up. The Sunday 7 p.m. ET SportsCenter will be presented in a compressed format (similar to ESPN’s NFL Draft telecast) with statistics, injury reports, fantasy football stats and other relevant news displayed graphically. Berman will also continue to team with longtime partner Jackson for NFL highlight segments on The Blitz during the 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter on Sundays.
“After a full slate of NFL games, fans want immediate and hard-hitting analysis about what happened and why,” Norby Williamson, ESPN’s executive vice president of production, said in a statement. “This new approach to SportsCenter will deliver fresh, in-depth coverage for football fans with Chris, TJ, John and our many NFL experts.”
