The Best TV Shows on ESPN2

Every ESPN2 Show Ranked From Best To Worst

A broadcaster of distinction, ESPN2 has aired more than 20 shows between 2005 and N/A. Among ESPN2’s finest offerings are The Ultimate Fighter and Highly Questionable, which debuted in 2005 and N/A, respectively. As of October 2025, our compilation of ESPN2’s top-rated series boasts over 20 unique shows.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • NHL 2Night
    NHL 2Night (N/A)N/A

    NHL 2Night is a formerTV show that had highlights of National Hockey League games five nights a week on ESPN2. It was usually broadcast live at midnight eastern time or immediately following an NHL telecast on ESPN2. It was then re-broadcast a few times throughout the night and following day. The show debuted in 1995. The show was originally hosted by Bill Pidto and then later John Buccigross. Barry Melrose was the main analyst of the show.

  • MLS Game of the Week
    MLS Game of the Week (N/A)N/A

    MLS Game of the Week is the weekly presentation of Major League Soccer games on ESPN2.

  • High School Showcase
    High School Showcase (N/A)N/A

    High School Showcase, known under its corporate sponsored name as the GEICO High School Showcase, is a presentation of high school football and high school basketball on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. Since debuting in 2005, it primarily airs on Friday at 8pm ET on ESPNU, following ESPNU Recruiting Insider, but will occasionally air at various times and days on ESPN and ESPN2. Various commentators call the game every week, although Mike Hall and Tom Luginbill anchor the halftime report and in-game updates. The series was previously Old Spice Red Zone High School Showcase; the series also has previously had Honda as a presenting sponsor. Old Spice High School Showcase debuted in 2005 as a way to fill programming on the then-nascent ESPNU channel, which had debuted in March 2005. The series aired only four games in 2005, but after much success ESPN expanded its schedule to a full thirteen game season. Part of what lead ESPN to expanding its schedule is, in 2005, ESPN aired the highest rated high school football game in television history. Nease High School vs. Hoover High School garnered a 1.0 rating and attracted nearly one million households. Despite the expansion, the airing of high school football games on Thanksgiving weekend, a particularly important day in high school football in many parts of the country and one where high school football used to air on ESPN in the past, has been eliminated; ESPN no longer airs any high school football due to the founding of the Old Spice Classic and 76 Classic, college basketball tournaments that were founded in 2006 and 2007 and make up the bulk of the ESPN networks' schedules that weekend.

  • 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.