Sports on Television

Dennis Deninger is an Emmy-award winning television production executive and innovative educator who has produced live sports television from six continents and across the USA. He teaches at the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, both at Syracuse University, his alma mater. Deninger has created graduate and undergraduate level courses, and is the founding director of the Newhouse School’s sports communications emphasis program. Deninger spent twenty-five years at ESPN leading production teams for studio programming, live remote events and digital video platforms. He joined ESPN in October 1982 as one of the first four coordinating producers for SportsCenter and held that position until 1986. That was the year he created the Scholastic Sports America series which continued for fifteen years on ESPN. During the course of his career at ESPN, Dennis Deninger launched more than a dozen new televised series and events including the National Spelling Bee, Major League Soccer, and Racing to the Kentucky Derby, plus he created the most successful daily sports video series in the history of the internet, SportsCenter Right Now, which was originally titled the SportsCenter Minute. Dennis Deninger has won Emmy Awards for innovation in sports television, production on digital platforms, and educational television. He developed for American television the digital instant review technology called "Shot Spot" now in use at virtually all major tennis tournaments. He launched ESPN’s coverage.of Wimbledon and the French Open, plus was the executive in charge of production for a dozen Australian Opens, Friday Night Fights, Triple Crown horse racing, PBA bowling and a variety of other live events. As Coordinating Producer for World Cup ’94, Dennis Deninger was responsible for all coverage on ABC and ESPN. He and his team created the first continuously displayed sponsored score-box for live sports which has become a staple of American television. He won an Emmy and three Parents’ Choice Awards, plus the National Clarion Award as executive producer of ESPN SportsFigures, an educational series that shows how math and science are at work in every sport. Deninger is on the board of directors of the Cheshire Education Foundation, which works to enhance public education in Cheshire, CT. He served as an elected member of the Cheshire Board of Education from 1993-97. Each year Dennis returns to his hometown of Hornell, NY to serve as master of ceremonies for the annual "Sports Night" Special Olympics fundraiser. Dennis resides in Cheshire, CT with his wife Gail. They have two sons, Matthew and Kevin.  

1. Television that Matters  2. Beginnings: The Decades of Experimentation and Fulfillment  3. The Modern Era Begins  4. The Pro Football Ascendancy  5. The ESPN Era  6. Programming Sports on Television  7. Producing Sports on Television  8. The Evolution of Sports Commentators  9. International Sports Broadcasting  10. Who's Watching TV Sports, and Why?  11. Advertising and Sponsorship  12. Power and Economics  13. Politics and Government in Sports Television  14. The Social and Cultural Impact of Televised Sport  15. Coming Up Next