Here Are the Hottest Items in ESPN's ESPY Auction
By Kyle Koster
ESPN’s ESPY auction, where commoners can bid on life experiences with the proceeds going to benefit the V Foundation for Cancer Research, continues until Wednesday morning. So the time to bid on something is now. We wouldn’t want you to regret not acting when you had the chance.
A wide array of options have been presented to tickle viewers’ itchiest buying bone. Want a private batting lesson with Mark Teixeira? A $2,151 bid puts you in pole position. Want to announce a selection at the NFL Draft? That’ll cost you at least $6,189. A private pitch with Mark Cuban checks in at $36.600.
Looking at some of the talent-driven options reveals a few things, which may or may not be important. For instance, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz South Beach hang is lapping the competition (over $15,000). By comparison, a barbecue with Golic & Wingo and meeting the First Take crew sits around $5,000, a VIP SportsCenter experience with Scott Van Pelt at $4,500, and a Sunday Night Baseball meet and greet around $3,000. Chilling with Will Cain will set you back $2,550.
There are many factors that go into making an experience preferable to another. But boiled down, this is at its heart, a popularity contest. The traditional “Faces of ESPN” are generally drawing more interest than those deeper down the depth chart.
Slice it any way you want, there’s something funny about Le Batard’s motley crew causing an all-out bidding war. They are in many ways the antithesis of Bristol and seem to operate on a totally different plane. Obviously, there’s a draw there. It’s also Miami, which is very nice this time of year.
Again, this is it a wholly unscientific look into who moves the needle. Perhaps — and apologies to Peter King here — I’m the only one who finds it interesting.