Stars, a marching band, mascots: Behind the scenes at ESPN Upfront

NEW YORK — On Tuesday, ESPN held its annual Upfront at the Best Buy Theatre in Manhattan. Hosted by SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele and Mike and Mike in the Morning’s Mike Greenberg, the hour-long event showcased all of ESPN’s exciting programming and new offerings to a standing-room only crowd of advertisers, industry insiders and key media.

Special guests included Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck, NASCAR driver (and ESPN analyst) Carl Edwards and New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler, among others.

Along with the special guests, a cross section of ESPN’s anchors, analysts and personalities participated in the event including Trey Wingo, Bill Simmons, Lisa Salters, Stephen A. Smith, Kenny Mayne and 2012 ESPYS host Rob Riggle.

ESPN’s Eric Johnson, EVP, Multimedia Sales, told Front Row that planning for an Upfront begins nearly a year before the event because it touches so many departments across the company.

Watch the video above to go behind the scenes at ESPN’s 2012 Upfront.

To learn more about a typical ESPN Upfront, click here.