ESPN Knows You’ll Pay Attention to Its Upfront If Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs and Leslie Odom Jr. Are Performing

With upfronts in full swing for the 2016–2017 television season, networks are always on the hunt for new, exciting ways to liven up their presentations and keep snappy reporters at bay. (Do you know how many presentations there are? A lot. And often very early.) ESPN, keenly sensing an opportunity to one-up the competition, eschewed the standard complimentary brunch and instead enlisted Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs and Leslie Odom Jr. to open and close the event — not with a Hamilton number, but with an original motivating and empowering performance. (Sample lyrics: “You’re the stuff of comets / don’t you let ‘em dim your fire baby / get higher baby.�) So, as of now, ESPN is essentially the Steph Curry of upfronts.