Can an ESPN analyst revive the Scripps Spelling Bee?

Viewership of the world’s most prestigious English spelling competition is on the rocks, so its organizers are trying something neoteric (new). Tonight’s Scripps National Spelling Bee finals will be hosted by ESPN analyst and recent Celebrity Jeopardy! winner Mina Kimes, who plans to inject more sports-like excitement into the bee.She’s known for providing in-depth explanations of the strengths and weaknesses of NFL players and coaches based on game footage. She prepared similarly for the bee: “These kids are elite competitors,” she told the Associated Press, adding, “the more you watch, the more you see the way their brains work.”A fourth-quarter run could be exactly what’s needed by Scripps, the media company that runs the century-old competition:The bee’s television audience surpassed 1 million viewers for the 2012 finals, which aired on ESPN.Viewership started dipping before the pandemic, reaching only 559,000 in 2019.Scripps then moved the bee to its own broadcast networks, Ion and Bounce, in 2022. The finals got 488,000 viewers last year.Final answer? Scripps also brought in Jeopardy! executive producer Michael Davies to lead this year’s broadcast, given how successfully he has expanded the trivia franchise since taking over in 2021.Looking (hours) ahead…tonight’s finalists will compete for a ~$50,000 grand prize during the live event at 8pm ET.—ML