ABC SportsBeat (1981)

In the fall of 1981, legendary sports journalist Howard Cosell debuted a serious investigative 30-minute magazine show, "ABC SportsBeat" on ABC's weekend schedule. Cosell covered topics that were not part of general sports coverage - including the first story about drugs in professional sports (the story of former Minnesota Viking Carl Eller's cocaine use), an in-depth look at how NFL owners negotiated tax breaks and incentives for building new stadiums, and together with African-American tennis player Arthur Ashe, an investigation into apartheid and sports. Though ratings were low, Cosell and his staff earned three Emmy Awards for excellence in reporting, and broke new ground in sports journalism. At the time, "ABC SportsBeat" was the first and only regularly scheduled network program devoted solely to sports journalism.