High School Basketball Events
Recognizing a growing demand among basketball fans to watch the very best players and teams from across the nation compete against one another, Paragon teamed up with the ESPN to showcase high school basketball to a national television audience on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU).
The series began on December 12, 2002, when ESPN2 aired a game featuring prep phenom LeBron James. The buzz surrounding the rising star helped the telecast secure a 1.98 household rating which made it the highest rated regularly scheduled program in ESPN2 history.
Games have included the #1 ranked high school player in the nation each of the past eight seasons: LeBron James (2003), Dwight Howard (2004), Louis Williams (2005), Greg Oden (2006), Kevin Love (2007), Brandon Jennings (2008), Avery Bradley (2009) and Harrison Barnes (2010).
91 total games have been televised, featuring basketball teams from 26 different states, including State Champions from California, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Oregon, West Virginia, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Missouri and Tennessee.
The basketball programs showcased in the telecasts have been among the most successful in the country, including national champions Oak Hill, Virginia (2003, 2004, 2007), Lawrence North, Indiana (2006), St. Anthony, New Jersey (2008), and Findlay Prep, Nevada (2009).
In April 2009, Paragon teamed up with ESPN to create the ESPN RISE National High School Invitational (NHSI), the premier post-season tournament for boys and girls high school basketball teams.
The inaugural NHSI featured highly ranked teams from across the country, culminating in a standing-room-only final match-up of the top two teams in the nation (#1 Oak Hill, VA vs. #2 Findlay Prep, NV).
Find more information on the NHSI, including teams and results at www.nhsihoops.com
Paragon manages all elements related to ESPN’s High School basketball events including: securing the teams and venue, managing team travel and accommodations, developing a ticket sales marketing plan, managing game day operations and selling national sponsorships.
National sponsors of the events have included such clients as: Old Spice, Nike, Gatorade, U.S. Marines, Spalding and Progressive.
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 Event Creation
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