Rich Eisen is positioning this as a love letter to television's greatest sports franchise, serving up nostalgia while demonstrating ESPN's continued cultural relevance in the streaming era.
Sources say the Berman bonus episode recorded during Super Bowl week was emotional — longtime colleagues gathering at San Francisco's Strand Theater for what insiders describe as a 'reunion of the old guard' with unresolved tensions from ESPN's corporate shifts over the years.
Dan Patrick cold-called John Walsh on a Friday in 1989 and started at ESPN that Tuesday. The inaugural episode drops June 5 across Disney+, ESPN App, and major podcast platforms as part of Disney+'s 'Throwback Summer' campaign.
This series is must-listen for anyone who remembers staying up late to catch highlights — but the real intrigue may come from what doesn't make the final cut.
ESPN's SportsCenter has been the gold standard for sports broadcasting since 1979, shaping how generations of Americans consumed highlights and headlines. Now, Rich Eisen is pulling back the curtain on the iconic show's inner workings with "This Was SportsCenter: Stories From the Set," a six-episode video podcast debuting June 5 across Disney+, ESPN App, and major podcast platforms. Eisen, who hosted SportsCenter from 1996-2003 before launching his daily "Rich Eisen Show" empire, has assembled an impressive roster of alumni for candid conversations about life behind the scenes during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The series is part of Disney+'s broader "Throwback Summer" campaign, with new episodes premiering every Friday through July 3. The inaugural episode features Dan Patrick, who delivers what sources describe as a compelling account of his unconventional path to Bristol. In 1989, while working at CNN, Patrick knew exactly where he wanted to be — and took action immediately.
He cold-called ESPN executive John Walsh (described in the piece as "the godfather of 'SportsCenter'") on a Friday and was behind the anchor desk by Tuesday. "It was still the Wild West on cable news," Patrick recalls, reflecting on that audacious career pivot. Patrick also shares stories about SportsCenter legend Chris Berman's generosity during those formative years, providing listeners with intimate glimpses into the culture that made the show appointment television for millions of fans.
A bonus episode featuring Berman himself drops June 8, recorded at San Francisco's Strand Theater during Super Bowl week in February — a setting that clearly carried emotional weight given Berman's legendary status and the reverence with which former colleagues speak of him. The remaining episodes feature an all-star lineup: Mike Greenberg (June 12), Linda Cohn (June 19), Chris Fowler (June 26), and Craig Kilborn closing out the season on July 3.
The Atlanta Falcons even paid tribute to SportsCenter's cultural impact in their 2026 schedule announcement video, a testament to how deeply "This Is SportsCenter" commercials have embedded themselves in American sports consciousness. Eisen himself acknowledged the personal connection many viewers have with the show. "I've lost track of the number of times people have come up to me over the years to say how I either helped put them on a school bus in the morning or stayed up procrastinating late-night in college thanks to 'SportsCenter,'" he said, channeling the late Stuart Scott's iconic phrasing about "buttering" fans with nostalgia. Whether this series delivers genuine behind-the-scenes drama or polished PR-friendly reminiscing remains to be seen — but for those who lived through SportsCenter's golden age, it's appointment viewing by default.
