US Women’s National Team Soccer Stars Can’t Escape Stoppage Time in ESPN Spot

ESPN and United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) footballers Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Sophia Smith return after the recent ‘Orange Slices’ spot with another ‘This Is Sports Centre’ commercial this time titled ‘Stoppage Time’.

Dropping on 16 January during the sports media giant’s coverage of the NFL Super Wild Car Weekend game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, ‘Stoppage Time’

The creative, like the previous trio of ads in the series to have rolled out at the start of 2023, was again developed in harness with agency Arts & Letters.

The spot is set at ESPN’s Bristol (Connecticut) campus sees SportsCentre anchors Jay Harris and Nicole Briscoe with Rapinoe, Sauerbrunn, Smith, as well as with University of Connecticut mascot Jonathan the Husky chatting about a ‘usage report’. But, as a clock strikes noon and the group prepare to leave, a referee arrives to add nine minutes of added time to the lecture – which is much to Harris’ delight and everyone else’s dismay.

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This is the third This is SportsCenter commercial to return since the return in late December – the second iteration was ‘Performance Evaluation‘. More ads will launch throughout the year featuring Olympic Gold Medalist Track & Field phenom Sydney McLaughlin, along with more athletes, mascots and SportsCenter anchors such as Hannah Storm, and others.