The Best TV Shows on ESPN2

Every ESPN2 Show Ranked From Best To Worst

As of August 2025, we’ve curated over 20 of ESPN2’s premier shows for your viewing pleasure. Across the timeline from 2003 to N/A, ESPN2 has presented audiences with over 20 captivating shows. Some of the best tv shows from ESPN2 include Jim Rome Is Burning and Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, airing in 2003 and 2003 respectively.

  • Highly Questionable
    Highly Questionable (N/A)10.0

    Lively sports commentary with a rotating cast of columnists and commentators.

  • Blood, Sweat & Tears: Haney vs. Lomachenko
    Blood, Sweat & Tears: Haney vs. Lomachenko (2023)10.0

    The two-part series features 30-minute all-access episodes taking fight fans inside the training camps of both fighters.

  • Basketball: A Love Story
    Basketball: A Love Story (2018)7.0

    'Basketball: A Love Story' is a series of 62 interconnected short stories that creates a vibrant mosaic of the game, featuring 165 exclusive interviews. The cast encompasses basketball's most prominent figures and explores the complex nature of love as it relates to the game.

  • The Ultimate Fighter
    The Ultimate Fighter (2005)6.3

    The next generation of UFC stars are produced in an intense elimination tournament that separates the contenders from the pretenders.

  • First Take
    First Take (N/A)6.0

    First Take is an American morning sports talk program on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD. Two back-to-back two-hour episodes air each weekday from Monday through Friday, with the live episode airing from 10 a.m. ET until noon, followed by a repeat. The show is broadcast from ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut in Studio E. The entire show, without commercials, is available as an audio-only podcast the afternoon of the same day, following the broadcast of the recorded show.

  • Mike & Mike
    Mike & Mike (2006)5.4

    Mike & Mike is an American sports-talk radio show hosted by Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg on ESPN Radio and simulcast on television, normally on ESPN2. If ESPN is broadcasting a live sporting event during the show's timeslot, SportsCenter will air on ESPN2, and the show's simulcast will therefore then air on ESPNews. If both ESPN and ESPN2 are showing live sporting events, Sportscenter will air on ESPNews and the show will air on either ESPNU or ESPN Classic. The show primarily focuses on the day's biggest sports topics and the humorous banter between the Mikes. On February 24, 2010, the duo celebrated 10 years of doing the show together. On May 7, 2007, the show moved from its longtime radio studio home to the television studio used for Sunday NFL Countdown and Baseball Tonight, and began broadcasting in high-definition. A daily "best-of" show airs daily on ESPN2. Additionally, a weekly radio recap aired Saturday mornings at 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. and then moved to 5 a.m. ET before being discontinued in October 2009. The radio version of "best of" returned in February 2010 in the 5am timeslot. In addition, there is a "best-of" podcast distributed every weekday as well.

  • Jim Rome Is Burning
    Jim Rome Is Burning (2003)5.0

    Host Jim Rome interviews sports figures, gives personal opinions on a few of the day's sports stories and is joined by analysts to discuss controversies in sports. Weekly correspondent segments featuring athletes take viewers closer to an aspect of a sport -- inside a team's locker room, a practice or a day in the life of the featured athlete or team.

  • Cold Pizza
    Cold Pizza (2003)2.0

    Cold Pizza was a television sports morning talk show that aired weekdays on ESPN2. The show's style was more akin to Good Morning America than SportsCenter's straight news and highlights format. It included daily sports news, interviews with sports journalists, athletes, and personalities, and an assortment of other sports and non-sports topics. This show began airing on October 20, 2003. The show's launch team and daily production management was led by broadcast executives James Cohen, Joseph Maar and Todd Mason. Although Cold Pizza was simulcast on ESPN2HD, it was not produced or presented in high definition. On October 2, 2006, DirecTV became the presenting sponsor with the show titled as Cold Pizza presented by DirecTV. Two back-to-back two-hour episodes aired each weekday from Monday through Friday, with the live episode airing from 10 a.m. ET until noon, followed by a repeat at 12 p.m. ET. The show was hosted by former SportsCenter personality, Dana Jacobson, who joined the program in 2005, and Jay Crawford, who was with the show for its entire run. Skip Bayless contributed during the "1st and 10" segments. Woody Paige, who had been his antagonist during those segments, left after the November 28, 2006, episode, citing health and personal reasons, leaving New York to return to the Denver Post, where he had been a longtime writer.

  • MLS Soccer Saturday
    MLS Soccer Saturday (N/A)1.0

    MLS Soccer Saturday was a weekly presentation of Major League Soccer games that aired on ESPN from 1996 to 2006. MLS Soccer Saturday was the first weekly presentation of MLS games, which usually started at 4PM EST and was sponsored by Radioshack. Before the start of the 2007 season, the league and ESPN announced that MLS Primetime Thursday would be the flagship broadcast as part of a new television contract, ending an 11-year broadcast run of matches on Saturday afternoons.

  • Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
    Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (2003)N/A

  • It's the Shoes
    It's the Shoes (2005)N/A

    Bibbito Garcia takes you across the country to check out some of the rarest and most unusual sneaker collections owned by celebs.

  • The Fantasy Show
    The Fantasy Show (2006)N/A

    The Fantasy Show is a fantasy football talk and debate show on ESPN2. The show was supposed to air for 18 weeks a year during the National Football League season every Thursday at 6:30pm ET on ESPN2. However, the debut season of the show only had 11 episodes. In 2017 the series was resurrected and now features Matthew Berry.

  • Scripps National Spelling Bee
    Scripps National Spelling Bee (N/A)N/A

  • On The Clock
    On The Clock (2023)N/A

    This show follows four top quarterback prospects throughout their final college football season and into the offseason as they prepare for the NFL Combine, their Pro Days and ultimately the NFL Draft.

  • Madden Nation
    Madden Nation (N/A)N/A

    Madden Nation was an American reality television show, created as a joint effort between EA SPORTS and ESPN Original Entertainment to take viewers inside the world of Madden NFL, a popular video game with over 10 million players worldwide. The series premiered on December 6, 2005 and is currently in its fourth season on ESPN2. The show was influenced by the competitive atmosphere created at one of the top Madden websites MaddenPlayersClub.com. The eight episode series featured the nation’s top Madden NFL gamers—along with real-life NFL player sponsors— playing against each other in elimination-style tournaments. Throughout the competition, the players traveled across the country in the Madden Nation Bus making their way to New York City for the tournament finals and a chance to win the $100,000 grand prize. The final game of both seasons was held in Times Square on the ABC Super Sign.

  • Player 54: Chasing the XFL Dream
    Player 54: Chasing the XFL Dream (2023)N/A

    Behind the scenes of building a league and its teams, the series highlights the XFL's motto: "Where dreams meet opportunity." The nine-part docuseries follows the creation of the XFL under new leadership.

  • Football Friday
    Football Friday (N/A)N/A

    Football Friday is a football news and analysis television show on ESPNEWS every Friday, year-round, at 8pm ET to 9pm ET and reairs at noon ET, on Saturdays. Since debuting in 2004, the show has been hosted by Stan Verrett along with analysis from former pro fullback Merril Hoge. Originally the show just ran through the football season, but since September 1, 2006 through its final original airing on January 2, 2009, it has run on Fridays year-round. Football Friday is a fast-paced program that covers everything from college football to the National Football League and even high school football. Throughout the show, Stan and Merril run through all the highlights, injury updates, interviews and analysis to preview the upcoming weekend in football.

  • NASCAR Now
    NASCAR Now (N/A)N/A

    NASCAR Now is a NASCAR news and analysis show that airs year round Monday through Friday as a thirty-minute show at 5:00pm ET on ESPN2. NASCAR Now, that debuted on February 5, 2007, is broadcast in HD from Bristol, Connecticut and also has a daily segment on SportsCenter. ESPN2 also airs editions of the show on the day of all NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, starting with the Daytona 500. A race preview show airs at 10 A.M. ET on race day, with a post-race edition running on ESPN2 on the evening following the event. Unlike its predecessor, RPM 2Night, NASCAR Now covers only NASCAR news and information and there are no highlight restrictions on the program; both video and still photos are available for its use. It is part of ESPN's new television package with NASCAR, which gives them the opportunity to produce and air a daily show about the sanctioning body. Previously, Speed Channel had the exclusive rights to produce daily NASCAR magazine shows. On April 29, 2008, the show hosted a special one-hour edition of NASCAR Now to commemorate Dale Earnhardt Day. On August 19, 2009, President Barack Obama did a live interview on the program after honoring the defending Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and the rest of the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers at the White House.

  • ESPN2 Garage
    ESPN2 Garage (N/A)N/A

    ESPN2 Garage is a new ninety minute programming block dedicated to the automotive and motorsports world on ESPN2. Debuting Saturday, January 6, 2006, the programming will air on ESPN2 from 5pm ET to 6:30pm ET on weekdays, from 10am ET to 12pm ET on Saturdays and from 10am ET to 11am ET on Sundays. This programming block will be the preceding the new daily automotive news and analysis program, NASCAR Now. ESPN2 Garage programming will cover topics ranging from car preparation, automotive auctions, how-to help, racing programs, automotive entertainment/reality and even an animated series about a family of motorsports fans entitled The Pits.

  • College Football Live
    College Football Live (2007)N/A

    College Football Live is a show that airs weekdays during the college football season on ESPN or ESPN2, and ESPNU. Its premiere was on Monday, July 23, 2007. Wendi Nix serves as the lead host, and it also features ESPN college football analysts Desmond Howard, Joey Galloway, David Pollack, Trevor Matich and others. College Football Live also features Live interviews with college coaches and players.