HBO and ESPN led the pack as the nominations for the 29th Annual Sports Emmy Awards were announced Thursday.
HBO received 31 nominations, including nods for the Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight and its companion series, De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7.
Also receiving nominations for HBO were documentary film Ghosts of Flatbush and studio series Inside the NFL, which HBO co-produces with the NFL.
HBO announced that Inside the NFL will not be returning to its schedule next season, and there has been speculation that the National Football League may seek another network for the popular series. With five nominations, Inside the NFL was the most-nominated show at this year’s Sports Emmys, tied with Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
Real Sports swept the “Best Sports Journalism” category with four different episodes covering the NFL, dogfighting and sports in Iraq.
ESPN received 27 nominations, including nods for Monday Night Football and the network’s National Basketball Association, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing and golf coverage.
NBC led the broadcast networks with 23 nominations, including coverage of the Dallas Cowboys-Seattle Seahawks playoff game, as well as a nod for documentary Barbaro: A Nation’s Horse.
Fox received 18 nominations, highlighted by its coverage of the Daytona 500, while CBS received 17, with Super Bowl XLI leading its nominees.
NFL Network had a strong showing with eight nominations, including NFL Mic’d Up: Ravens vs. 49ers and America’s Game: The Super Bowl Champions.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will present the 29th Annual Sports Emmy Awards April 28 at Lincoln Center in New York.
