ESPN America is a British based European sports network, focusing on professional and collegiate sports of the United States and Canada. Originally launched on 5 December 2002 as NASN (the North American Sports Network), ESPN America broadcasts a selection of top North American professional and collegiate sports leagues including Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Canadian Football League (CFL), 24 hours a day on digital cable and digital satellite television.

Formerly operated by Setanta Sports with backing from Benchmark Capital Europe, it was acquired by the American sports media company ESPN in March 2007. It was subsequently re-branded as ESPN America on 1 February 2009.

Programming on ESPN America varies from country to country. Currently, the channel operates three feeds throughout Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Nordic countries events currently shown on ESPN America include Major League Baseball, the College World Series, NCAA college football and college basketball, the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship Frozen Four plus the Arena Football League, Major League Lacrosse, and the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship Final Four. In continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Iceland the broadcast also includes NFL programmes.

Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson (born November 30, 1962) is a former American baseball and football player. He was the first athlete to be named an All-Star in two major American sports, and also won the Heisman Trophy in 1985.

In football, he played running back for the Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League. In baseball, he played left field and designated hitter for the Kansas City Royals, the Chicago White Sox, and the California Angels of the American League in Major League Baseball. While at Auburn University, he won the 1985 Heisman Trophy, the prize annually awarded to the most outstanding collegiate football player in the United States. He also ran a 40-yard dash in a blistering 4.12 seconds (hand-timed), which is still the fastest verifiable 40-yard dash time ever recorded at any NFL Combine. A hip injury severely impaired his professional baseball career, and ended his NFL career.

In 1989 and 1990, Jackson's name became known beyond just sports fans through the "Bo Knows" advertising campaign, a series of advertisements by Nike, that starred Jackson alongside Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician Bo Diddley, promoting a cross-training athletic shoe named for Jackson.

Dale Bryan Murphy (born March 12, 1956 in Portland, Oregon) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and first baseman. During an 18-year baseball career, 1976–1993, he played for three different teams, but is noted for his time with the Atlanta Braves. Murphy won consecutive National League Most Valuable Player Awards (1982–1983), the National League's Silver Slugger Award four straight years (1982–1985), and the National League's Gold Glove award five straight years (1982–1986).

In 1976 Murphy began his major league career with a nineteen game stint catching with the Atlanta Braves. He appeared in only eighteen games the following season. In 1978, Murphy played first base mostly. At the plate, he slumped to a .226 batting average, though he also showed hints of his future power by hitting 23 home runs.

Murphy switched to the outfield in 1980, a move that would help initiate a decade of highly productive play in the National League. Beginning in left field, he soon switched to center field, the position at which he would find his greatest success. By 1982, the most decorated year of Murphy's career, the former bench-riding catcher had transformed himself into an All-Star MVP outfielder who appeared in each of Atlanta's 162 games. His turnaround as a fielder was equally stark. In 1978, as a first baseman, Murphy had led all National League first-baggers in errors; in 1982, spending time at each of the three outfield positions, he won his first of five consecutive Gold Gloves.