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The sports awards ceremony of the year is back with the 2023 ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 12. On a night dedicated to some of the incredible achievements over the past year on the playing field, athletes across various sports will descend on Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. ABC will televise the ceremony that begins at 8 p.m. ET.
Don’t be shocked if this year’s ceremony looks a bit different from years past, as the 2023 ESPY Awards will be without a host for the first time in its 31 years of existence. The reason for this is in light of the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) strike, which has continued since May 2. The ongoing strike is in hopes of better wages and job security for writers in light of the emergence of streaming, thus the negations surrounding the residuals earned from streaming media. Additionally, the use of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT has been a hot topic among the strike issues.
Thus, without the presence of writers, there are limited options for upcoming award shows such as the 2023 ESPYs.
For last year’s 2022 ESPY Awards, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors served as the host. Curry and the Warriors were coming off their fourth NBA Championship in eight years, with Curry having one his first NBA Finals MVP award.
There will be no shortage of NBA stars among the nominees, as LeBron James has earned a nomination after setting the new all-time NBA scoring record, having passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Nikola Jokic is nominated for Best NBA Player, Best Male Athlete, and Best Championship Performance after leading the Denver Nuggets to their first title in franchise history. Patrick Mahomes is nominated for Best NFL Player and Best Athlete after winning his second Super Bowl title with the Kansas City Chiefs.
A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces is nominated for Best Athlete in Women’s Sports, while college basketball stars Caitlin Clark of Iowa, and Angel Reese of LSU, are both nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete, respectively.