In 2008, as part of a cost-cutting move, ESPN Classic's schedule began to become largely composed of ESPN original programming, highlighting sports such as
poker,
bowling and
boxing, with a decreased emphasis on rebroadcasts of classic major league sporting events (a practice which has, however, been adopted by sports networks associated with a league or individual teams, among other channels). By 2005, the channel had also frequently broadcast overflow programming from the main ESPN channels, and reruns of ESPN-produced telecasts of recent sporting events that the network has declared an "Instant Classic". ESPN Classic was the only U.S.-based ESPN network (and one of two Disney-owned cable channels in the United States, alongside
Freeform) that aired
infomercials, which ran daily from 6:00 to 7:00 a.m.
Eastern Time. As of May 20, 2012, ESPN Classic was the last remaining ESPN-branded network and the only cable channel owned by Disney that does not operate a
high definition simulcast feed, due to the majority of its content being vintage footage produced before the existence of high-definition television; outside of specific programming available in
widescreen, the channel aired all programming in the
4:3 aspect ratio, and it used the
safe area-restricted "
BottomLine" sports
news ticker previously used by
ESPN on ABC broadcasts on sister network
ABC until August 2016 when it switched to a 16:9 presentation. It was also the only ESPN network that is not available on the network's
WatchESPN app for mobile devices as a live feed, likely due to licensing restrictions for the archival content aired on the channel; the few live events it did carry were otherwise listed as provided by ESPN3 on WatchESPN. The network's VOD component was launched for existing subscribers using
Apple TV and
Roku devices through WatchESPN on April 28, 2016, likely under a modified license to allow content distribution via that platform. Older sports programming from the 1990s and earlier has moved almost entirely to league-specific networks including the
Big Ten Network,
MLB Network,
NBA TV,
NHL Network,
NFL Network,
Tennis Channel, or various team-owned
regional sports networks. Likewise, archival games from the
Southeastern Conference and the
University of Texas Longhorns have respectively moved to the ESPN-operated
SEC Network and
Longhorn Network. By 2011, ESPN Classic
drifted toward a mix of
reruns of entertainment series in prime time, and movies (mostly
ESPN Films productions and documentaries such as the
30 for 30 series) making up the majority of the channel's weekend schedule. The majority of "classic" sports events in ESPN Classic's program library as of its shutdown were
college football and
basketball games from the past decade which had not been claimed by conference networks, along with
boxing,
professional wrestling and bowling events whose copyrights were maintained solely by ESPN.
Broadcasting of live events The first live event to be shown on ESPN Classic was the
implosion of the
Kingdome in
Seattle, WA in March 2000. By 2005 however, ESPN Classic began to broadcast more live sporting events, such as special "ESPN Classic Live" telecasts of college basketball games that featured veteran commentators and older-styled graphics. Around this time, ESPN Classic also began to be used as an overflow channel for programming that could not be shown on ESPN or ESPN2 due to scheduling conflicts (these have since been moved to
ESPNews); these have included additional college football and basketball games, the "ESPN Classic Game of the Week" (a Sunday rebroadcast of an ESPN/ABC-televised college football game from the previous Saturday),
IRL events, live coverage of selected
HBCU games (especially since the term "classic" is used for special neutral-site HBCU games), and
tape-delayed UEFA Champions League soccer games. Examples of live sporting events broadcast by ESPN Classic due to scheduling overruns on ESPN or ESPN2, include the following from the third quarter of 2007: • A
WNBA basketball game between the
Sacramento Monarchs and the
Seattle Storm on July 31 (originally aired on ESPN2, it was moved due to a game in which
Barry Bonds attempted to tie the all-time
Major League Baseball home run record and ESPN's airing of an episode of
The Bronx is Burning). In addition, Game 1 of the WNBA Western Conference Final between the
Phoenix Mercury and the
San Antonio Silver Stars on August 30 aired on ESPN Classic, as ESPN2 aired a college football game between the
University of Tulsa and
University of Louisiana at Monroe (as a sidebar, the WNBA did not want the game to start at the originally-scheduled time of 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time as it was being played in
San Antonio, Texas, where it would have aired at 9:00 p.m.
local time; had the game started at 10:00 p.m., it would have aired on ESPN2). • The
Firestone Indy 400 IndyCar race on August 5 (which was moved from ESPN2 due to a rain delay) • Two preliminary round games of
USA Basketball in the
FIBA Americas Championship in
Las Vegas, Nevada on August 22 and 23 and a semifinal between the US and
Puerto Rico on September 1 (ESPN2 had obtained rights, but had other program commitments) • The third quarter of the WNBA playoff game between the
Indiana Fever and
Connecticut Sun on August 23, 2007. This was also scheduled for ESPN2, but it was preceded by a
Little League World Series game. After an entire half went untelevised, ESPN Classic decided to pull a rebroadcast of a
Major League Soccer game in favor of replacing ESPN2 as Taiwan and Japan continued a game that went very long by Little League standards. Japan would win the game in 10 innings, and ESPN2 picked up the coverage in the fourth quarter. Ironically, the WNBA game would set a record for longest playoff game as the Sun defeated the Fever in
triple overtime. • Two
Champ Car World Series races in September and one in October. Since then, these games or events had been shown live on ESPN Classic: • The 2008
Indy Japan 300, which was won by
Danica Patrick (the first female winner of an IndyCar event). • The entirety of the 2008
NASCAR Nationwide Series Lipton Tea 250. The race was simulcast with
Speed and ESPN360.com, as ESPN2 was obligated to an NBA playoff game during the scheduled time of the race (ESPN2 would later join the race in progress and air it in its entirety on tape delay). In addition, the network had planned to air the 2008
Sharpie Mini 300, picking up the coverage from
ABC, had it continued; however, NASCAR called the race before its conclusion (171 out of 300 laps) because of rain.
Clint Bowyer was declared the race winner. • The
College World Series game between the
University of Georgia and
Fresno State University on June 22, 2008, as there were a couple of days of rain-outs, and due to a baseball game being broadcast on ESPN, and a drag racing event being televised on
ESPN2, the game was forced to air on ESPN Classic. • The following
World Cup qualifying matches:
United States and
Cuba on October 11, 2008, the November 19 match between the
United States and
Guatemala, and the USA-
El Salvador match on September 5, 2009. • The opening five minutes of the
Winter X Games, on January 30, 2010. The event aired on ESPN2 a few minutes later, due to a runover of an
Indiana-
Illinois basketball game. • The first hour of a college baseball Super Regional division series game between
Texas A&M and
Florida State University on June 11, 2011, due to a rain delay of a game between the
University of Virginia and
University of California-Irvine. ESPN Classic also served as the official broadcaster of the annual
Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony until 2009 (when it moved to
MLB Network). On August 25, 2012, ESPN Classic aired an
Atlantic League baseball game between the
Sugar Land Skeeters and
Bridgeport Bluefish; the game featured Major League Baseball legend
Roger Clemens as a starting pitcher for the Skeeters. (In 2014, ESPN acquired permanent rights to Skeeters games, but moved the games to its online portal,
ESPN3.) While not a live event, in 2008, ESPN Classic also notably broadcast a previously untelevised college basketball game played on January 23, between
Baylor and
Texas A&M, which Baylor won 116–110 in five overtimes. Due to an unlikely set of circumstances, the actual game, held at
Reed Arena on the A&M campus, was never televised. ESPN Classic used the feeds from the arena's in-house cameras, normally used to allow highlights to be displayed on
Jumbotron screens, and the original play-by-play and commentary from A&M's radio broadcasters to create a complete telecast. The telecast aired on March 5 on ESPN Classic before the rematch between the two teams
at Baylor aired on ESPN2. ESPN Classic was also used for ESPN's multiple-perspective telecasts under the
Full Circle and Megacast brands; in these cases, ESPN Classic carried the "Sounds of the Game" feed, which is broadcast without commentary.
Fan interactive specials Beginning in the mid-2000s, ESPN Classic aired a series of specials counting down the greatest teams in the history of certain sports, as determined by fan balloting. In March 2006, the 1981-82
North Carolina Tar Heels won the fan poll for best-ever college basketball team, in October 2006, the 1927
New York Yankees won for best Major League Baseball team, and in December 2006, the 1995
Nebraska Cornhuskers won the fan poll for best-ever college football team. Each of these programs featured expert analysis and live interactive voting online at
ESPN.com, with the first votes being cast one week before the scheduled live show and continued balloting online and via
text messaging until the end of the show. ==Cessation of original programming==