SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 6, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major sporting events, along with commentary, previews and feature stories. The show has proven highly durable, having been aired more times than any other program in American television, with more than 30,000 unique episodes. It celebrated its 35,000th show in 2009. The show is taped in ESPN's HDTV studio facilities in Bristol, Connecticut and Los Angeles, California.

SportsCenter normally airs live on weekdays from 9 AM ET to 3 ET, as well as at 6 ET (typically 60 or 90 minutes), 11 ET and 1 AM ET (typically 60 minutes each). The 1 AM ET edition is repeated at 2 AM ET and again from 5-9 AM ET.

Saturday viewers on average are around 15 million. On Sundays it is more around 20 million. an hour-long episode airs at 8 AM ET and another edition of varying length airs at 10 AM ET; the 11 ET edition airs for 90 minutes on Sundays and is repeated through the night. In the event of live sports coverage on the network, the show is occasionally delayed or moved to another ESPN channel. The show also is known to start early and run long, if the preceding game ends ahead of schedule or if breaking news warrants. The 1 AM ET (10 PT) edition of SportsCenter now airs live from Los Angeles and repeats throughout the night.

A national sport or national pastime is a sport or game that is considered to be an intrinsic part of the culture of a nation. Some sports are de facto national sports, as baseball is in the U.S., while others are de jure as lacrosse and ice hockey are in Canada.

The National Sports Center (NSC) is a 600-acre (2.4 km²) multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota, United States, that includes a soccer stadium, over 50 full-sized soccer fields, a golf course, a velodrome, a meeting and convention facility, and an eight-sheet ice rink, the Schwan Super Rink, which is the largest ice facility of its type in the world. The National Sports Center has hosted numerous National and World Championship events in soccer, hockey, figure skating, short track speedskating, broomball, rugby, ultimate and lacrosse. The National Sports Center opened in 1990 after 1987 legislature created the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC) and appropriated $14.7 million for the construction of the NSC. The facility welcomes over 3.8 million visitors annually, making it the most-visited sports facility in the State of Minnesota.

The Herb Brooks Foundation, the foundation created by the legendary hockey coach's family, has partnered with the National Sports Center to develop the Herb Brooks Training Center, a state-of-the-art dryland and ice hockey training facility that is part of the Schwan Super Rink.