Old Sports Feats Find Young Audience

Lately, it’s possible to spend days watching television and never have to come acrossanything that was filmed since the first time bell-bottoms were considered fashionable.

From the 24-hour-a-day parade of ancient sitcoms on TV Land to innumerable old wars on the History Channel to repeat interviews on MSNBC’s “Time and Again,” not to mention the channels exclusively devoted to showing well-worn movies, everything old seems to be new again on television. And now, thanks to ESPN Classic, the same holds true for the wide world of sports.

“We live in an age where everything has to be now, fast, new,” explains Mark Shapiro, the channel’s executive vice president and general manager. “But we get e-mail all the time from people like this 16-year-old kid who wrote asking us to show the 1988 World Series where Kirk Gibson hit his game-winning home run. He’d never seen it, and wanted to experience it. And that is the mission of this network, to provide that opportunity.”

A typical week of programming for ESPN Classic includes reruns of legendary sports moments like Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, just so Boston Red Sox fans can feel their hearts break again as that ground ball squirts by Bill Buckner. Later in the week, a show highlights Muhammad Ali’s 1975 “Thrilla in Manila” bout with Joe Frasier, Magic Johnson’s return to glory in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game and the 1991 New York Giants-Buffalo Bills Super Bowl. All of this is blended with “SportsCentury,” a series of biographies spotlighting well-known athletes, along with old movies like “The Jackie Robinson Story” and TV series like “The White Shadow.”

The retro approach seems to be paying off. Since ESPN acquired a little-known cable channel called Classic Sports Network in 1997, the renamed ESPN Classic has seen its subscriber base go from 7 million homes to roughly 30 million, according to Shapiro. And nearly half of those viewers are between the ages of 18 and 34, a discovery that shocked channel executives.

“We have older programming, but not older viewers. In fact, we skew slightly younger than ESPN does,” Shapiro says.

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While older sports fans may have actually been around to see former stars Ali and Magic perform, it’s the younger ones who apparently crave the opportunity to discover these athletes for the first time. Which fits perfectly with what Shapiro says is his channel’s primary goal.

“We want to educate fans, as well as entertain them,” he explains. “When ESPN first acquired the network, its question was, ‘Where is the hole in our game?’ It had plenty of news and headlines with the regular channel, ESPN2 and ESPN News. The other channels are there for up-to-the-minute sports information. We’re providing news and information about sports history, and ultimately showing how it affects sports today.”

Counters Dick Schaap, who hosts an interview show, “Schaap One on One” for ESPN Classic: “It’s admirable they want to educate, but to me, it’s all about entertainment. However, that doesn’t mean these are two different things. Sports has to entertain. It’s an escape, and that’s what the channel offers, an escape to another era.”

That doesn’t just apply to the viewers. It’s also true for the subjects of the channel’s replays and interview shows. “The athletes are thrilled by this, because they’ll openly admit that if they don’t work with us, they’re forgotten,” says Shapiro. “They say to me, ‘I’m retired now. You are my stage.’ When I met John Elway and Dan Marino, they just said, ‘Tell me what I can do for you, because I can keep on winning when I’m on ESPN Classic.’ ”

“Many of the athletes now consider doing an interview to be a pain,” says Schaap. “They’re just not happy about it, but the older guys like the chance to reveal more of themselves and to just reminisce.”

One of the most prominent retirees who loves the channel is ex-New York Jets star Joe Namath, who not only does some on-air work for the channel, but travels the country pitching it to cable operators.

“When I was playing, I never got to replay my games on TV, whereas all the guys playing now have taped everything on their VCRs from the time they were kids,” says the Hall of Fame quarterback. “With the channel, I get to catch up on a lot of that stuff. And I get to see athletes like Rocky Marciano. I never got to see him fight in person, but he’s still out there fighting on ESPN Classic, and when I see him it gives me goose bumps. Plus, I have to admit I get a kick out of seeing all the old hair and clothing styles. It’s kind of fun to see Julius Erving with those short shorts and the big Afro dunking the ball.”

He’s also experienced the channel’s effect firsthand, adding that “younger people who aren’t nearly old enough to have seen me during my career are always coming up to me in airports, hotels, anywhere, and saying, ‘I just love watching you play now.’ ”

While replaying old sporting events is still a primary part of ESPN Classic, Shapiro says that the channel is trying to broaden out and put those past events in perspective. Each replay includes interstitial interviews with participants in each particular event, while biography series like “SportsCentury” offer in-depth analysis of those who played the game. In addition, because the channel isn’t locked in to showing particular games or sports news programs, it can adjust its programming on short notice.

For instance, when the Kingdome in Seattle was imploded, ESPN Classic aired the destruction live and featured highlights of and interviews with some of that city’s most legendary athletes.

“That was a watershed moment for us,” explains Shapiro. “We kept reading the Seattle papers and hearing about it, and decided we had to be there.”

When Michael Jordan announced his retirement, the channel aired 56 consecutive hours of Jordan stories and highlights, at times garnering a higher rating than cable competitors like A&E; and CNN in the Chicago area. When legendary Dallas Cowboy coach Tom Landry died, “We were there to explain who he was, that he was more than just the man who wore that famous hat,” says Shapiro.

The programming will continue to evolve, he adds, with the possible addition of old sports-related network series like the sitcom “Coach.” In addition, the Sunday night movies will get a bit hipper, with titles like “Caddyshack” and 1978’s “Heaven Can Wait.” When big sports events take place, like the recent Texas-Oklahoma football game or the upcoming World Series, ESPN Classic will send a crew to the location and do live shows as well as feature tape packages highlighting the history of that particular occasion.

None of this will ever completely supplant the rebroadcast of old games, however. The saying goes that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. When it comes to ESPN Classic, those who forget history are thrilled to get a second look.

“What this channel does is evoke good memories for everybody,” explains Shapiro. “We got this letter a while ago from the son of a boxing trainer. He told us he watches our fight replays every week when he knows he’ll see his dad in a boxer’s corner. He grew up never knowing his dad, but he said, ‘Every time I watch a match on ESPN Classic, I get to see him.’ ”