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Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company (part of News Corporation). It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games. In subsequent years, it has televised the National Hockey League (1994–1999), Major League Baseball (1996–present), NASCAR (2001–present), Bowl Championship Series (2007–2010), and the World Cup (2018–future). ‎

Exclusive coverage[link]

Fox Sports crew covering a NASCAR race

Fox has become the exclusive home of the Daytona 500 after having alternated the event with NBC Sports throughout their first NASCAR contract. In partnership with co-owned motorsports cable network Speed, Fox has also broadcast the start of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and select Formula One races under Speed production since 2007, and also carries 2 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races per season transferred from Speed, produced under the NASCAR on Fox brand.

Fox Sports has been the exclusive broadcaster of the World Series since 2000. A new contract announced on July 11, 2006, guarantees that Fox Sports will keep the World Series through the 2013 season.^[1]

Since 2010, Fox has aired the final of the UEFA Champions League, the 2010 edition marked the network's first ever broadcast of soccer.^[2]

In August 2011, Fox Sports announced it had reached a 7 year broadcast agreement with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, ending the promotion's previous relationship with Spike. UFC programming will be aired on various Fox properties, including the Fox network (which will air four live events per year, the first of which priemiered in November 2011), FX, and Fuel TV.^[3] Fox previously carried the programming of UFC competitor International Fight League in 2007 on MyNetworkTV under a time-buy arrangement until that organization was purchased by UFC; however no MyNetworkTV components have been announced under the current UFC agreement.

Cable channels[link]

In addition to the broadcast division, Fox owns numerous regional U.S. cable sports channels under the Fox Sports Net banner, among others. These cable channels also include:

• Fox Soccer Channel which broadcasts the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, and Serie A among other competitions.
• Fox Soccer Plus which airs additional soccer and rugby programming from around the world.
• Speed Channel which provides additional NASCAR and F-1 coverage,
• Big Ten Network which broadcasts sports and content from Big Ten Conference universities exclusively.
• Fuel TV which airs action sports such as skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, BMX and FMX.
• Fox College Sports which airs additional college sports content from across the country on 3 cable channels (Fox College Sports Atlantic, Fox College Sports Central, and Fox College Sports Pacific), most produced by Fox Sports Net affiliates.
• Fox Deportes which airs Spanish-language coverage of UEFA Champions League, Premiere League, and Serie A as well as Beach Soccer and the F.A. Cup. It also presents the Spanish-language Major League Baseball Game of the Week, the All Star Game, and the World Series, as well as division and league playoffs.

• Fox Sports Cable Networks
• Big Ten Network.png

  Big Ten Network

• Fox College Sports logo.png

  Fox College Sports

• Fox-Deportes.jpg

  Fox Deportes

• FOX Soccer Logo new.png

  Fox Soccer

• FSPlus New2011.jpg

  Fox Soccer Plus

• 

  Fox Sports Net (Various regional sports networks)

• Fuel TV.jpg

  Fuel TV

• Speed tv.png

  Speed

National sports network[link]

In March 2012, news began circulating that News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch was "taking the steps to start a US national sports network." The company considered converting Fuel TV to the new network due to it's established reach in US homes. Fox Sports would be the last of the "big four" broadcast television networks to establish a national cable sports network, with CBS Sports Network and NBC Sports Network beginning to challenge ESPN (ABC) in 2011.^[4]

Regional sports coverage[link]

Fox Sports Net operates as a regional sports network with broadcasting agreements that follow league market distribution rules. For example, cable and satellite subscribers in Kansas City, Missouri receive Kansas City Royals games on Fox Sports Midwest, while viewers in St. Louis, Missouri see St. Louis Cardinals games on Fox Sports Midwest. The regionalized coverage frequently restricts broadcasts of live sporting events outside a team's home market.

Graphics, scoring bugs and theme music[link]

The graphics and scoring bugs have won awards and changed the face of sports broadcasting in the United States^{[citation needed]}. The opening notes of the NFL broadcast theme can be heard in every iteration of other Fox Sports broadcast themes. When the scoring bugs are upgraded, the previous versions are retained for one of its other properties for about a year. However, this practice ended in 2009. The first score bug was used for Fox's NFL coverage, then was expanded to baseball and hockey broadcasts.

One segment of the theme, coincidentally or otherwise, echoes the notes for the "giddyup, giddyup, let's go" line from the song, "Sleigh Ride". During Christmas-season broadcasts, Fox Sports broadcasts will sometimes acknowledge this fact by seguéing from the one tune into the other as they break for a commercial.

Beginning in October 2010, the NFL broadcast theme became the theme for all Fox Sports properties beginning with the that year's NLCS and NASCAR with the 2011 Budweiser Shootout. It is yet unknown if this includes the FSN affiliates, as their basketball, hockey, baseball, and college football broadcasts continue to use their own theme music.

2001–2003[link]

By 2001, the score bug became a banner at the top of the screen and was simpler than today's. It was first utilized on Fox's NASCAR coverage that year with a new updated graphics package based on the 1998 design; the banner and updated graphics were then utilized on the network's MLB and NFL telecasts. It featured a transparent black rectangle, a baseball diamond graphic for baseball broadcasts on the far left, the team abbreviations in white with their scores in yellow boxes; the boxes were white for NFL broadcasts until Super Bowl XXXVI, when the boxes became yellow, Then the quarter or inning, time or number of outs, pitch count/speed (baseball broadcasts), and the logo of that certain Fox program, such as NFL on Fox or MLB on Fox on the far right.

2003–2006[link]

Beginning with the 2003 NFL season, the banner was upgraded. At first the team abbreviations were replaced with the team logos, and the scores were white in black parallelograms. Unlike the previous version, the FoxBox would alternate between a black rectangle and several black parallelograms; however, it returned to being a black rectangle beginning with the 2004 NFL season, and the team logos would be later replaced with the team abbreviations in their primary colors (the team abbreviations in the colors would first be utilized on postseason baseball broadcasts that year). Whenever a team scores a point or a run, the team's score and logo would flash a few times. On the baseball broadcasts, the whole banner would flash, then the words "HOME RUN" and the team's name in the team's color zoom in to the center from both left and right. In late 2005, a new white banner resembling a chrome finish was introduced, and the team abbreviations became white letters in the team's main color; the new banner would then be expanded to NFL and NASCAR broadcasts.

The baseball broadcasts continued to use the 2001 scoring banners and graphics in 2004 until the network's coverage of that year's postseason.

2006–2010[link]

Beginning with the 2006 NFL season, the scoring banner was upgraded again. This time it featured the real-time scores as a permanent fixture on the extreme right side of the bar, while the coloring of the banner changed to the colors of the team currently possessing the ball (the coloring of the banner was only on football broadcasts). The banner no longer flashes after runs, touchdowns, or field goals have been scored. On the baseball broadcasts, the diamond graphic appeared to be in the middle and has been slimmed down to just the three main bases, unlike other implements which included home plate. This banner, after being first used for NFL broadcasts in 2006 was eventually expanded to BCS, NASCAR, and baseball broadcasts; the baseball broadcasts, however, continued to use the late-2005 scoring banners and graphics in 2007. In 2008, NASCAR on Fox introduced a new camera embedded between turns 1 and 2 on the various tracks; it was soon called "Digger Cam" and a mascot gopher was unveiled along with it. In the 2009 season, Fox's baseball broadcasts dropped the 2006 graphics package entirely and adopted the new Fox Sports Net graphics which had debuted on baseball broadcasts across FSN affiliates that season. These were later re-positioned for widescreen in July 2010 when all Fox Sports high definition programming began to be presented completely in the 16:9 aspect ratio and letterboxed on standard definition feeds.

2010–present[link]

At the beginning of the 2010 NFL pre-season, Fox's football coverage debuted a new updated graphics package — an upgraded variation of the 2006 design. The broadcast also debuted a new style scoreboard for football, which now takes the form of a box with team logos positioned in the top left corner of the screen. Variations of this package would be rolled out for Fox's racing coverage and the Speed network in 2011, at the start of the 2011 MLB season (where both Fox and the FSN networks would begin using it as well, excluding SportsSouth games simulcast by WPCH-TV and Root Sports — who use the previous FSN appearance), and on Fox Soccer.

Starting with the 2010 National League Championship Series, Fox began using its football theme music for its MLB broadcasts, angering many viewers. Division president Eric Shanks gave a rationale for the change, stating that the NFL theme music was more energetic than the previous music, and then announced that the NFL theme would now be used for all Fox Sports telecasts.^[5]

HDTV coverage[link]

Fox's first widescreen broadcast occurred during Super Bowl XXXVI, which was shown in a 480p standard definition 16:9 format promoted as "Fox Widescreen". While promoted as having better quality than standard definition, and being the country's first sporting event completely produced in widescreen on all cameras, it was not true high definition, but it still matched the aspect ratio of high definition televisions.^[6][7]

Fox Sports began airing programs in 720p HDTV starting on July 3, 2004 with the Pepsi 400, select NFL games, the 2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and that year's postseason. Following its debut, Fox would produce more telecasts in HD in the years following, but still fell back on 480p widescreen when needed.^[7] Nearly all of Fox's sports programming now airs in HD.

As of late July 2010, all sports programming on Fox is broadcast in a format optimized for 16:9 widescreen displays, with graphics now framed within a widescreen safe area rather than the 4:3 safe area, intended to be shown in a letterboxed format for standard definition viewers.^[8]

Public service[link]

In February 2008, Fox Sports announced a new charitable foundation called Fox Supports, which will give grants and marketing support for health-related causes. Each organization is tied to a specific events package seen on Fox Sports.^[9]

The following are the charities supported in the history of the program:

2008-09 cycle (began with 2008 Daytona 500)[link]

• NASCAR on Fox: Autism Speaks
• MLB on Fox: Make-a-Wish Foundation
• NFL on Fox: Children's Health Fund
• BCS on Fox: Alzheimer's Association

2009-10 cycle (began with 2009 Daytona 500)[link]

• NASCAR on Fox: Susan J. Komen for the Cure
• MLB on Fox: Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
• NFL on Fox: City of Hope
• BCS on Fox: Malaria No More

Programs throughout the years[link]

Current broadcast rights[link]

• NFL on Fox (1994–present)
  • Fox NFL Sunday, The OT
  • Super Bowls XXXI, XXXIII, XXXVI, XXXIX, XLII, XLV, XLVIII, LI, LIV & LVII NFL NFC Package on Fox Sports, FX, SPEED, and Fox Sports Net.
• Major League Baseball on Fox (1996–present)
  • 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, & 2011 World Series
  • Fox Sports holds the exclusive broadcast rights of the World Series through 2013.
• NASCAR on Fox (2001–present)
  • 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, & 2012 Daytona 500
  • Fox Sports holds the exclusive broadcast rights of the Daytona 500 through 2014.^[10]
  • Speed on Fox
• College Football on Fox (2011–present)
  • Big Ten Football Championship Game (2011–2016)
  • Pac-12 Football (2012–future)
  • Pac-12 Championship Game (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022)
• Pac-12 Men's Basketball Championship (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024)
• Formula One (2007–present): branded as Speed on FOX
• UEFA Champions League Final (2010–present)
• Premier League (2011–present)
• UFC on Fox (2011–present)

Former broadcast rights[link]

• NHL on Fox (1994–1999)
• NFL Europe (1997–2005)
• Horse Racing (1998–2000)
• Cotton Bowl Classic (1999–2012)
• BCS on Fox (2007–2010)

Future broadcast rights[link]

• FIFA World Cup (2018 & 2022)
• FIFA Women's World Cup (2015 & 2019)
• FIFA Confederations Cup (2017 & 2021)

Technological enhancements[link]

• FoxBox (sports)
• FoxTrax
• Major League Baseball on Fox - Innovations

Notable Fox Sports personalities (past and present)[link]

Presidents[link]

• David Hill: 1993–1994^[11]
• Ed Goren: 1994–2010^[11]
• Eric Shanks: 2010–Present^[11]

Main competitors[link]

• ESPN on ABC
• NBC Sports
• CBS Sports

National competitors[link]

• NBC Sports Network
• ESPN
• CBS Sports Network

Cable offshoots[link]

• Fox College Sports
• Fox Soccer Channel
• Fox Sports Net
• Fox Deportes
• Fox Sports Latin America
• Fox Sports World Canada
• Speed Channel
• Big Ten Network
• Fox Sports Brazil

Notes and references[link]

See also[link]

• List of Fox Sports announcers
• NFL on television
• Fox Broadcasting Company
• Fox Sports Radio
• Fox Sports (Australia)
• Fox Sports (Brazil)

External links[link]

• Fox Sports Website