ESPN Full Circle is the branding used for multi-network simulcasts of a single sporting event across multiple ESPN networks and services — with each feed providing a different version of the telecast making use of different features or functions. Eleven networks and services have been involved with these specials, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPNU, ESPN Radio, ESPN Mobile, ESPN360, ESPN.com ESPN International and ESPN Deportes.
ESPN Full Circle debuted with ESPN Full Circle: North Carolina at Duke on March 4, 2006, on the one year anniversary of ESPNU. The game was the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Duke Blue Devils in college basketball. A month later the second installment of ESPN Full Circle showed ESPN Full Circle:Bulls-Heat NBA Playoffs on April 22, 2006. The game featured the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls. The third edition of ESPN Full Circle showed ESPN Full Circle: Florida State vs. Miami on September 4, 2006. The game featured a college football game between Florida State Seminoles at the Miami Hurricanes. The fourth installment featured the Florida Gators vs. the Auburn Tigers on October 14, 2006 and was entitled ESPN Full Circle: Florida vs. Auburn. The fifth Full Circle broadcast was on March 4, 2007, with the NASCAR Busch Series Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200.[1] The sixth "Full Circle" event was the 2007 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Game on April 3, 2007.
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The first Full Circle telecast covered a college basbetball game between the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Duke Blue Devils, to honor the 1 year anniversary of the launch of its collegiate sport focused service ESPNU.
ESPN aired the game's traditional coverage (along with live "look-ins" to the other views, simulcast in 120 countries through ESPN International), ESPN 2 featured an "Above the Rim" camera, and ESPNU featured a split-screen with the "Cameron Crazy Cam". ESPN360 offered additional stats, hosted by ESPN Radio's Jeff Rickard, Mobile ESPN featured game alerts, live updates and in-game polling for a replay of a classic Duke-North Carolina game, and ESPN.com featured live chats, in-game polling and highlight
The game was seen by an average of 3.78 million households on ESPN and ESPN2 making it the most-viewed men's college basketball game ever combining the networks. There were also two million page views on ESPN.com and one million video streams across ESPN.com and ESPN 360. ESPN's single network coverage garnered a 3.5 rating, the network's highest-rated men's college basketball game in more than four years (Maryland at Duke posted a 3.5 in January 2002). ESPN2's "Above the Rim" coverage generated a 0.7 rating, 40% higher than the network's per-game season average. Brad Nessler called the game along with Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews. This game is significant since it was the last time to date that Nessler called a Saturday Primetime game.
This was the second installment of ESPN Full Circle, which aired on April 22, 2006. The official name of this one was ESPN Full Circle: Bulls-Heat NBA Playoffs and the game was the Chicago Bulls vs. the Miami Heat. The game was seen by an average of 2,648,000 households on ESPN and ESPN2, marking a 45% increase when compared to the equivalent NBA playoff telecast the previous year. In addition, ESPN.com's ESPN Motion received nearly 600,000 video streams for Bulls/Heat content. Mike Tirico called the game along with Bill Walton and Steve "Snapper" Jones and Jim Gray as the sideline reporter.
This was the third installment of ESPN Full Circle, which aired on September 4, 2006. The official name of this one was ESPN Full Circle: Florida State at Miami and the game was a college football matchup between the Florida State Seminoles at the Miami Hurricanes. ESPN's coverage of the game averaged 6,330,000 households (a 6.9 rating), making it the network's most-viewed college football game (including regular season and bowl games) ever. It is the network's second highest-rated college football game (including regular season and bowl games) ever (behind a 7.7 rating for Florida State at Miami on ESPN October 8, 1994)[Edit: outdated with 2011 BCS Rose and Championship games] . The telecast was television's most-viewed program of the night across key male 18-to-34 (1,687,000 average), 18-to-49 (3,466,000) and 25-to-54 (3,453,000) demographics and fourth most-viewed program in households. Mike Patrick called the game along with analysis from Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe reporting from the sideline.
This was the fourth installment of ESPN Full Circle, which aired on October 14, 2006. The official name of this one was ESPN Full Circle delivered by The New AT&T: Florida vs. Auburn and the game was a college football matchup between the Florida Gators at the Auburn Tigers. It generated the lowest ratings of any of the Full Circle telecasts with a 3.3 rating. This was also the second college football game on Full Circle. Mike Patrick called the game along with analysis from Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe reporting from the sideline.
The fifth installment of ESPN Full Circle aired on March 4, 2007, a NASCAR Busch Series race held at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. This was the first NASCAR race on Full Circle. ESPN's regular NASCAR announce team of Dr. Jerry Punch called the race along with analysis from Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree. Allen Bestwick, Mike Massaro, Jamie Little, and Dave Burns reported from pit lane.
The sixth installment of ESPN Full Circle was on April 3, 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio. The official name of the telecast was ESPN Full Circle: NCAA Women's Championship and the game was between No. 1 Tennessee Lady Volunteers and No. 4 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. It was the first women's event presented as an ESPN Full Circle telecast. Mike Patrick called the game along with Doris Burke and reporters Holly Rowe and Mark Jones. Tennessee defeated Rutgers, 59-46, winning its seventh national title.
Despite the success of Full Circle programs - some of which drew some of the highest ratings for coverage of the respective sports in ESPN history - this idea appears to have been quietly dropped by the network sometime in 2007 for unknown reasons. The page that lists current ESPN programs does not mention Full Circle.
The closest thing to what could be called Full Circle in the years since has been the yearly simulcast of Jim Valvano's speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards, which begins an annual week-long appeal for the Jimmy V Foundation. The speech airs on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN Radio, and ESPN3 simultaneously at 7 p.m. Eastern time on the first Wednesday in December. The speech is also translated into Spanish and shown on ESPN Deportes.