# What does ESPN Stand for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2001, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077 "2001-01-21T00:55:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dubland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dubland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dubland)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/1 "2001-01-21T00:55:18Z")
What does ESPN Stand for? I Need to know. thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/2 "2001-01-21T01:04:59Z")
This is a General Question. As such, it belongs in the forum General Questions. Don’t worry: A nice moderator will move it shortly. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/3 "2001-01-21T01:10:42Z")
Or a not-so-nice one, as the case may be. 😉 Off we go, to GQ! ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/4 "2001-01-21T01:13:59Z")
ESPN used to stand for Entertainment Sports Programming Network. However, now it stands for ESPN and the initials have no meaning. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/5 "2001-01-21T01:16:42Z")
We have a winner: [http://espn.go.com/sitetools/s/help/espn-faq.html#espn](http://espn.go.com/sitetools/s/help/espn-faq.html#espn) ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/6 "2001-01-21T01:21:26Z")
And they all laughed at me when I told them that my endless hours of sports television was for naught! Hah! ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/7 "2001-01-21T01:23:36Z")
Hmm, pronoun trouble there. Perhaps all those hours of sports television watching did affect me. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/8 "2001-01-21T02:50:47Z")
I thought ESPN was the Telepathy Network. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/9 "2001-01-21T03:01:54Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=37264](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=37264) and [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=30044](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=30044) There’s definitely something to be said for search engines… ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/10 "2001-01-21T05:13:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by omni-not \* > \*\*[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=37264](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=37264) > > There’s definitely something to be said for search engines… > > \*\* Dude, please refrain yourself from linking to that thread ever again! I knew that monstrous typo was going to come back to haunt me one time or another. Immediately after I first laid eyes on the title of this thread I knew that the inevitable was finally going to happen: someone was going to link to that monstrosity of a thread I started back in my newbie days…I still have nightmares about it. Oh well, guess some mistakes are bound to stick with you forever. :rolleyes: BTW, since we are deciphering what channel names stand for, anyone knows what **Bravo** means? It just seems like an odd name for a movie channel, unless it refers to the fact that their programming is so good that it makes you jump out of your seat in ecstatic delight and fervently proclaim: Bravo! Bravissimo! What a great flick! Or maybe not. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/11 "2001-01-21T16:02:07Z")
O.K., I’ll refrain. But just because you asked nicely. As far as BRAVO! is concerned, I don’t think it’s an acronym of any sort. That’s usually what the audience cries out after a great performance in the artistic domain (occasionally in the sexual one as well, but that’s a different matter (and perhaps the subject of a new thread)altogether). ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/12 "2001-01-21T19:56:24Z")
da na nuat – da na naut ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-espn-stand-for/51077/13 "2001-01-22T14:25:11Z")
I’m not sure that ESPN FAQ goes all the way back (yes, I know there’s a credibility question coming up). In articles I’ve read about it, the story has been that the original name was supposed to be Eastern Sports Programming Network, or “ESP Network” for short (cute, huh?). The original business plan, laughably modest by current standards, was bringing U. of Connecticut (“UConn Huskies”, get it? har har har) basketball games to sports taverns across Connecticut by the miracle of satellite dishes. When they got their first stationery order from the printers, instead of ESP, it said ESPN, and they were too cheap to bother changing it. The official translation of the E was changed from Eastern to Entertainment when their horizons broadened a bit - but they’d still rather keep their operation in Bristol CT instead of moving the 2 hours to NYC and keeping Keith Olbermann under contract. Sigh … I remember hearing about this new concept of a 24-hour sports network and wondering how they’d ever fill all that airtime …