From “Get up to Speed!”
to “All In One Place.”

The December 1998 capture is the oldest usable one we found; our December 1997 capture came back blank. We opened it at espn.sportszone.com, an address from the SportsZone years, but the browser tab already says ESPN.com. ESPN’s own timeline lists 1998 as the year ESPN SportsZone is renamed ESPN.com.^[1] The logo image at the top does not render in this capture.

The small print still remembers who built the site: Copyright 1995-98 ESPN/Starwave Partners d/b/a ESPN Internet Ventures. Starwave was the Paul Allen-backed technology company in Seattle that made SportsZone with ESPN, and the site went live in April 1995.^[3][1] Early plans had pointed somewhere else entirely, at a Ziff Davis platform similar to AOL and Compuserve.^[2] ESPN’s review of 1997 says Disney’s investment in Starwave led to the creation of ESPN Internet Ventures.^[5]

Look further down and the page is a newspaper with links. One item carries a name that comes back later in this story: Wojnarowski: For Giants, it's Super Bowl Sunday. In the right column, an ABCNEWS.com box carries a headline from Washington, FLASH: Judiciary Votes to Impeach. An ad image’s alt text reads ESPN.com on Active Desktop.

By April 1999 a GO Network bar sits above the logo, with an INFOSEEK SEARCH box and a link for Free E-mail. The red ESPN.com wordmark finally loads. Starwave is gone from the footer, which now reads Copyright ©1999 ESPN Internet Ventures. One image’s alt text says Print this page in HP Color.

In July 2000 the wordmark sits inside a white oval, and the page has grown three columns of boxes. The top story is Wimbledon, Venus gets breaks in sister showdown. A red bar above the logo lists the ESPN Network: ESPN.com, NFL.com, NBA.com, NASCAR, NHL.com, WNBA.com, ABCSports, EXPN, FANTASY and INSIDER.

The April 2001 capture has a sponsor under the logo, powered by COMPAQ. On the right, a TOP SCORES box lists final NBA scores with two small links below it, Scorepost and Wireless. The main story, on Notre Dame and Purdue playing for the women’s national title, has a photo caption about Purdue’s 32-26 halftime lead.

The live part of ESPN.com was a click away. ESPN’s timeline describes its 1996 GameCast as a Java-based box seat with live scoreboards, and it lists ESPN To Go Pagers among the 2001 products.^[1] That year, ESPN said, its wireless scores reached even the tops of New York City taxis.^[6]

The capture is from the evening of April 1, US time. The ESPN The Magazine link reads ESPNMag: Big 5: April Fools!, and a promo image’s alt text says April 1 on ESPN.

The October 2002 capture came from msn.espn.go.com, and an MSN bar runs across the top with Hotmail, Search, Shopping, Money and People & Chat. Below it, the red header makes the first request this story is about: Get Up To Speed! Click here to equip your browser for the enhanced ESPN.com site.

The enhanced site was Flash. In the page’s code, even the big headline Escape Artists is handed to a Flash file, headline.swf?h=Escape+Artists, and the plain text you see is the fallback. The left column has a powered by hp badge and a Free Sports Ticker button. An image whose alt text says Install ESPN Motion points to the next plug-in, and the footer offers a way out: Visit our lite site if you're having problems with this page.

Our June 2003 capture shows the logo as white letters on a black block, and the red banner to its right speaks to the reader directly. The image file is called header2003_nonflash.gif, and it is what a browser without Flash got. The browser we use for captures has no Flash, so we get it too:

Click it and the image map sends you to Macromedia’s download page. The same banner is still there in 2004 and 2005. ESPN Motion, the program for video clips, is in the footer now: Terms of Use for ESPN Motion. ESPN said two million people installed ESPN Motion, high-quality video clips in 2003.^[7]

The June 2004 page adds a dark panel on the right. It announces MyESPN is here! and explains: ESPN.com is the #1 sports web site because we strive to give our users what they want. You can customize it by setting your zip code, and Best of all it's absolutely FREE! The links under it include Download Motion. A year later the panel carries a Sponsored By Windows XP label, and a separate New Video Player promo in red letters sits below it. Fantasy football changed too: ESPN said it was offered for free for the first time in 2005.^[8]

Our June 2006 capture has a large white ESPN wordmark on a red background and a new browser title, ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. The main story is the Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton Sp-Oilers. The Flash request has moved from the header into a white box on the right, and it is shorter now: In order to see this media, please download Macromedia Flash Player™ 8.

The closed ESPN menu in the header holds links to ESPN360, Mobile ESPN and PodCenter, according to the page’s code. Further down, two ads sell Mobile ESPN to fathers. One says ACT BEFORE JUNE 18TH AND GET $50 OFF. The other: Treat yourself to Mobile ESPN on Father's Day and save $50.

The June 2007 capture shows the same Flash Player notice, and the wide banner slot at the top is a blank white rectangle against the red header. The search box lists ESPN.com's Hottest Searches: Sports Guy | MLB ranks | CWS. In February 2008 the page turns black around the edges. A small link on it asks Thoughts on our front page changes?

ESPN’s review of 2009 has a one-line entry for January 5: ESPN.com debuts a redesigned home page.^[9] Our June 2009 capture shows it, a red gradient fading to gray with a scoreboard strip across the top and one large top story. The story is the U.S. Open, under the bar Live on ESPN/360: U.S. Open Coverage, 5-7 p.m. The page’s text also offers Watch Live! ESPN360 from the 17th Hole. The site feedback box has a link to a Redesign Blog.

Most of our captures are from mid-June, so the U.S. Open golf championship is on the page in many of them, from Olin Browne in 2005 to Rickie Fowler in 2017 and 2023.

In March 2010 the top story, Bubble Trouble, sits under a black rectangle. The player area is black in this capture. A CITIES tab is in the menu. By June 2011 a gray strip above the logo lists EDITIONS and CITIES: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. ESPN said in 2009 that sites launched specific to sports in Chicago, Boston, Dallas and Los Angeles.^[9] The header now reads LIVE NOW next to the logo.

In June 2012 the header says LIVE NOW: ESPN3, ESPN2 CWS: Stony Brook-UCLA, and the photo of Tiger Woods carries a red bar, Live on ESPN, ESPN3 & WatchESPN.com: Coverage of the U.S. Open. Ten years after Get Up To Speed!, the red bars name the channels where the event is on.

The 2012 code names no Flash files at all, and neither does the 2013 code. The June 2013 bar reads Live on ESPN Radio: Round 3 of the U.S. Open, and the row of tabs above the photo includes WATCH LIVE after TOP STORIES.

On the evening of June 15, 2014 the score is inside the top story. Spurs Rising Higher runs under a photo from the game, and a box in the corner shows Miami 48, San Antonio 68, third quarter, 3:42 left. The black bar above says Live on ABC, ESPN3 & ESPN Radio: Game 5 of NBA Finals. A link under the score says Gamecast, the name that started as a Java box seat in 1996. This was the last June of the red page.

On April 1, 2015, the site’s 20th anniversary, ESPN.com was rebuilt. ESPN wrote that The design is the result of a mobile-first approach.^[10] Our June 2015 capture is white, with a thin black bar and the ESPN wordmark on a red tab. On the right is a column headed NOW, which ESPN called a stream of up-to-the-minute sports moments and conversations.^[10]

The new page is built around video, and in our captures the video areas render as gray boxes with play buttons in 2015 and 2016. On the left, a Favorites box says Log in to ESPN or join to view your favorites.

The June 2016 top story is TV: Watch live: Part 3 of O.J.: Made in America. In June 2017 the left column has Quick Links and a list of ESPN Sites with FiveThirtyEight and The Undefeated, and the big video frames render blank white. In the right column is a clip that will come back:

In April 2018 ESPN announced that ESPN+ would launch on April 12, at $4.99 a month.^[11][12] The announcement included a note to editors: Correct reference is “ESPN+” not “ESPN Plus”.^[11] In our June 2018 capture the top of the left column is a box called Subscribe Now, with two links, ESPN+ and MLB.TV. ESPN said in September it had integrated ESPN Insider into the ESPN+ service the month before.^[12] Insider had a BECOME AN INSIDER link on the 1998 page.

Our June 2019 capture shows the ESPN+ logo in the black bar, next to Watch, Listen and Fantasy. Its browser tab reads ESPN: Serving fans. Anytime. Anywhere. The top story is a trade, Sources: Lakers reach deal for Anthony Davis, and its summary ends with league sources tell ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. His byline was on the December 1998 page, more than 20 years earlier.

The June 2020 page has the same three columns, and its left column is a snapshot of that June. Under an orange SUBSCRIBE NOW button are 30 For 30: Long Gone Summer and UEFA Euro classics. The Quick Links include The Last Dance, NBA's Plan to Return, MLS is Back Tournament and When Could Sports Return? The tab title adds one word: ESPN: Serving sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere.

The layout barely moves for three years. In June 2021 the ESPN+ list offers EURO 2020: Multi View, and the Quick Links include Tokyo Olympics: The Latest. In March 2022 a section further down is headed MLB LOCKOUT, 23 years after the NBA lockout column on our first capture. In June 2023 the top story holds a live U.S. Open leaderboard, with R. Fowler and X. Schauffele tied at -8.

Our June 2024 capture shows a second brand next to ESPN+ in the black bar: ESPN BET. Above the Stanley Cup Final story is a betting line, Panthers EVEN, Oilers -120. At the bottom, the small print explains: ESPN BET is owned and operated by PENN Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries ('PENN'). It ends with call 1-800-GAMBLER.

The June 2025 page still shows both logos in the bar. Two months later, on August 21, 2025, ESPN launched a service making ESPN’s full suite of 12 networks and services available directly to fans for the first time ever, with an Unlimited plan for $29.99/month.^[13]

The June 2026 capture is built around it. The right end of the bar has three links, Watch, Fantasy and Where to Watch, and the words ESPN+ appear nowhere in the page’s text. A black box tops the left column: All of ESPN. All In One Place. and a Sign Up Now button. The copyright line has changed from ESPN Enterprises, Inc. to ESPN Enterprises, LLC. The code of the More Sports menu lists WWE and Bananas, and X Games, still there in 2025, is no longer on the list.

In December 1998 live sports on ESPN.com was a department in the left column, a link called LIVE RADIO/TV between DEPARTMENTS and TV LISTINGS. The top of the page was a column about the NBA lockout.

In June 2026 the top of the page is a video player with a LIVE tag and a red dot, and under it a final score from the Men’s College World Series, Georgia 3, Oklahoma 4. In between, the page asked for Flash, then for ESPN Motion, then for a subscription. The column of headlines is still there, on the right.