Behind-the-Scenes of 'Pac-12 Sports Report Presented by adidas' Season 3

The third season of 'Pac-12 Sports Report Presented by adidas' kicks off today at 9 p.m. PT on Pac-12 National. Mike Yam and Ashley Adamson will host the weekly show every Monday night, discussing all of the Conference’s top stories.

“I can’t even tell you how excited I am to be able to work with Ashley on a regular basis. The last three years we’ve worked at the Networks but have only sparingly done some shows together. We get along off-camera very well, and the fact that we have a good relationship I think is really going to help the chemistry right from the start when we step on set,” said Yam.

Although the premise of the show remains the same, there will a push this season to make Sports Report the networks’ real flagship show. Adam Stanco, the show’s producer, checked in with us before the show’s first rehearsal:

“We’re thrilled because there have been multiple efforts of support around the company as a whole,” said Stanco. “Our crew is a year older and even more seasoned. We’re pumped about this really being ‘the show’ on the networks.”

The creative services team has also contributed to the improvement of Sports Report by providing a new logo and graphics package described by Stanco as “fresh, sharp, modern and innovative.”

With a new look, Sports Report will contain many of the existing segments, such as “Pigskin with Parker”, Glenn Parker’s weekly football analysis, and “12 Best”, a countdown of the Conference’s best moments. The show will continue to feature interviews with student athletes, which according to Stanco, “embody what the show is all about.”

To stress the importance of student-athlete interviews, Sports Report will now include a new segment to help audiences get to know student-athletes:

“Along with all of the storylines and highlights from the conference which are fundamental to the show, the teammate challenge will take the place of last year’s mascot challenge. There’s going to be an element we’re working with our digital team on in which Ashley is going to play a version of the ‘Newlywed Game’. Teammates are going to play to show how well they know their teammate. We’ll have athletes from every school in the Pac-12. Teammates will jump on board and have to answer questions to see how well they know each other. It’s a competition between the schools, and at the end of the season, the top two schools will be selected for the championship.”

With even more opportunities to get student-athletes on the show, we asked Stanco if he is looking forward to getting anyone specific on camera. He has five people in mind:

• “Cali Farquharson of Arizona State women’s soccer was a lot of fun last year. She sang for us; she’s a blast, and she’s an outstanding student-athlete. I would love to get her back on the show.”
• “Since we were last one the air, Jordan Morris, Stanford soccer star has had a few call ups to the men’s US national team… He was on the air last year, but now that he’s blown up, we would love to get him on.”
• “We’re trying to get Andre de Grasse, the USC men’s track star, who just won the bronze at the World Championships. We’ve been asking since last year, but his schedule has been so crazy. We would love to get him now that he’s an internationally-known superstar in the track world.”
• “Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, two superstar basketball recruits at Cal. I’m hoping to get them on at some point, maybe even the teammate challenge.”

Tonight’s featured student-athlete will be Jane Campbell of Stanford women’s soccer. Tune in to see Yam and Adamson’s debut as co-hosts.

“Even before rehearsal, we were shooting some promos and we had some laughs about some of the things that have happened over the last few years when we’ve been working at Pac-12 Networks together. I think that tone and that fun vibe with the storytelling aspect which we both love is really going to help push the show,” said Yam.