ESPN's BottomLine ticker is no more during sports games; why did the company make that decision?

Here’s the bottom line on ESPN’s BottomLine ticker: It’s time is up.

The Worldwide Leader has been phasing out its scroll at the bottom of the screen, which was an innovation when it was introduced in 1995.

That process appears to be complete now that the college football and college basketball seasons are upon us and there was no BottomLine (yes, it’s officially two words squished together) during ESPN’s game coverage.

“We’re always looking for ways to better serve sports fans,” an ESPN spokesperson said. “By removing the BottomLine during live action, we’re creating a cleaner presentation that keeps the focus where it belongs — on the field.”

In an era when scores and news are available in real time on phones and other devices, the BottomLine ticker has almost completely gone the way of the dodo. The TikTok generation doesn’t need a ticker.

ESPN has already phased out the ticker for the College Football Playoff and for other major events, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, grand slam tennis and major golf championships.

According to ESPN, the BottomLine will continue to appear during pregame, halftime and postgame studio programming, and during weather delays or if there’s significant breaking news or an ESPN programming change. News and talk-format shows could also still see tickers in use.

Otherwise, score alerts on the main ESPN channels during games will be flashed either in the top right of the TV screen or atop the score bug from time to time.

The BottomLine had become a dumping ground for not only scores and news updates, but also a way for ESPN to sell ads (many of them in recent years for gambling concerns) or to highlight upcoming programming on the network.

Sports fans watching a game on ESPN in the pre-smartphone era always knew they could watch the BottomLine for a minute or so to see scores and news flashing by at the bottom of the screen. If you missed one, don’t worry – it would come back around again eventually.

But much as with "Sports Phone" in the last century and 20/20 sports updates on WFAN, the BottomLine soon began to outlive its usefulness in an era in which information is available instantaneously to fans and — especially since the legalization of sports betting — to gamblers.

“There’s a handful of things that we've grown accustomed to as sports fans,” said Lance Becker, a former ESPN production assistant who also worked for YES Network and Bleacher Report. “Like watching SportsCenter or the BottomLine, or just in general how we consume things, and those things just age out. I think the BottomLine is one of those things that age out. Literally, you have your phone. Anything you want to see, it's right there.

“My thing is, I spent part of my career working design. Aesthetically, I find the BottomLine to be such an eyesore. It just takes up valuable real estate. The information is antiquated. I don't need to see the Monday Night Football promo. I know when Monday Night Football is. No one needs to tell me that Pat McAfee, Jason Kelce . . . they're all going to be there. We got it. I don't need that anymore. No one needs that information. I'm all for losing the BottomLine.”

Linda Cohn, the retired SportsCenter anchor and Newfield High School alumnus, said on her self-titled podcast: "I was at ESPN when it was introduced back in 1995, first on ESPN2 before eventually it spread across ESPN and onto SportsCenter. And when they decided to put that ticker at the bottom of SportsCenter, many of us SportsCenter anchors, we were up in arms.

"Remember, we wrote our own shows. We put a lot of time and effort into those on-camera lead-ins. This information, the setup, and hopefully a clever line or two. Then suddenly, while we're talking, scores and breaking news were moving at the bottom of the screen. That's a distraction. You're not going to pay attention to us. We were upset. They're all going to stare at the ticker at the bottom of the screen.

"Now, more than 30 years later, how about that? ESPN is removing it from its college football broadcast because, wait for it, it can be distracting. So apparently we SportsCenter anchors were right way back then. It just took ESPN a few decades to admit it."