For decades ESPN’s flagship program, SportsCenter, featured a daily segment on their show called SportsCenter Top 10 highlighting the best plays from around the world of sports. It became a longstanding fan favorite by featuring plays from both the world’s biggest superstars as well as young, amateur athletes from all corners of the country. But in recent years, a new wave of sports media brands began popping up, stealing from the SportsCenter Top 10 playbook and gaining millions of fans and followers along the way. Now, SportsCenter needed to find a new way of winning over a new generation of sports fans and of rewarding today’s young athletes in a way only Sportscenter could. Our goal was simple: to win back our place in the hearts and minds of young athletes, and to stand by our belief that greatness can happen anywhere.

We launched the first-ever Home of SportsCenter Top 10, a nationwide tour that rolled into the hometowns of young, amateur athletes whose incredible plays had made it onto the SportsCenter Top 10. By bringing ten different installations to ten different athletes in ten different towns throughout the country, SportsCenter was able to roll out a metaphorical (and sometimes literal) red carpet that made these young athletes feel like the stars of the show. Each installation was custom designed to pay tribute to the athlete, their plays and the places they’re from. And it all culminated, appropriately enough, on October 10th (10/10) with Top 10 Day, when SportsCenter filmed a special live segment of the show at a high-school in Liberal, Missouri, we surprised softball player and recent stroke survivor, Brooke Bearden, with a celebration that her small hometown will never forget.

As we spoke with various high school athletes from across the country who had previously made it onto the show, we heard firsthand how these athletes were humbled by the fact that getting their plays featured on SportsCenter Top 10 became a source of pride for their teams and their towns. These kids loved feeling like a local hometown sensation. And this was a unique advantage for SportsCenter that simply wasn’t true of most other sports highlight channels. This inspired us to set out and bring the bright lights of SportsCenter directly to the places where these athletes call home. By bringing ten different installations to ten different athletes in ten different towns throughout the country, SportsCenter was able to reward young, amateur athletes with a celebration that made them feel a part of something bigger than themselves.

Over the course of 5 weeks we traveled to 10 towns across nine states creating custom installations and tributes based on young, hometown athletes. We had to coordinate with local leaders, develop work in accordance with municipal ordinances with each execution. Of course, there were also some fun hurdles that we had to overcome to truly make this work feel meaningful and memorable. Whether it was figuring out how to rent a helicopter on a budget in Covington, TN., or finding a way to roll out a fully functioning SportsCenter-branded Zamboni in Eden Prairie, MN., we had to make sure each local event and installation received the scale and excitement it deserved.

Home of SportsCenter Top 10 gave ESPN a chance to reestablish the emotional bonds that sports fans have long had with SportsCenter by bringing its iconic brand to a more grassroots audience. Not only did Home of SportsCenter Top 10 energize small towns across America, it also helped pave the way for the SportsCenter brand to connect with an entirely new generation of athletes. Across ESPN and SportsCenter’s digital channels, we expanded the story as a way to introduce fans from around the world to all ten of our young, amateur athletes. On social media, an outpouring of legendary college programs, beloved sports franchises and major professional leagues -- everyone from Alabama’s football program to Major League Soccer to the New York Jets -- all joined in on the #SCTop10 celebrations by submitting their own favorite plays and trying to get their own cities on the map.