Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and a pair of fellow Seattle sports legends, soccer player Megan Rapinoe and her partner, Sue Bird of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, will be hosting the ESPY Awards this year.
Of course, instead of standing together at a podium in front of 5,000 audience members in Los Angeles in July, during MLB’s All-Star break, the event will instead take place on Sunday, June 21 – and will be done completely remotely.
Wilson, Bird and Rapinoe are all local to Seattle, with Bird and Rapinoe living together, helping to ease some of the logistics in preparation. Wilson’s wife, Ciara, is expected to participate in some fashion as well.
“We liked the idea of having athletes from diverse sports that represent something for every fan,” show producer Jeff Smith said. “We’re finding ways to make this feel really connected to the audience. They’re so ready to reach out to this community.”
The show also intends to change their focus. Instead of honoring the top athletes and moments in sports from the previous year, the event will celebrate “heroism and humanitarian aid.”
The event will still feature their most prominent awards, including the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage, the Pat Tillman Award for Service and Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.
However, instead of giving canned acceptance speeches, the plan is to show the audience a call informing the award winner of the honor, so everyone can see their reaction in real time.
“We really love this sort of pure reaction,” Smith said. “We found ways to really be able to capture it.”
The ESPYs will no doubt look a lot different this year, like most of the sports world, but seeing a handful of familiar faces doing the hosting will feel good for local Seattle sports fans, and watching Wilson’s attempts at humor should be quite entertaining.
