‘SportsCenter’ concept used to hype upcoming season.
by Brian Allen
n what has become a multimedia tradition in Atlanta sports, the Atlanta Falcons released their upcoming season schedule, and the format will be quite familiar to ESPN junkies.
In a send-off of ESPN’s iconic “This Is SportsCenter” promotional campaign, the Falcons took viewers inside their Flowery Branch headquarters, where players, coaches, office workers, and even team mascot Freddie Falcon interacted in different skits.
The presentation is six minutes long, with 17 different ads, and doesn’t reveal the basis of the presentation (the schedule) until the next-to-last ad. But the ads themselves are entertaining, fun, and seem to borrow as much inspiration from the NBC sitcom “The Office” as much as the SportsCenter ads.
The Falcon players taking part are Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Jessie Bates II, and Jalyen Walker. Team coach Jeff Stefanski and general manager Ian McClulloch, both newly hired, are also prominent players. Look for cameos by Atlanta rapper Jermaine Dupri and WUPA/929 The Game sportscaster Sam Crenshaw.
As far as the schedule itself, the team will play eight home games, three night games, and one international game, in Madrid, Spain (Nov. 8 at 9:30 AM on the NFL Network). One game will be on Sunday night on NBC (vs. the Baltimore Ravens on Oct 11), One Monday Night Football game on ESPN on Oct. 5 vs. the New Orleans Saints, and a Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime vs. the Green Bay Packers.
Eight games will be on WAGA Fox 5. Three will be on CBS Atlanta. Amazon, NFL Network, NBC (WXIA) and ESPN have one Falcons game each. Two games (Week 16 and 18) do not yet have a confirmed network.
The preseason games, August 14, 22, and 28, will be on “local” television, and the host local station has not yet been announced.
Credit: Atlanta Falcons