ESPN Launches Ambitious Storytelling Initiative PIN KINGS; True Story of High School Wrestlers

ESPN has launched one of its most ambitious storytelling initiatives ever with the multiplatform presentation of PIN KINGS, the true story of two high school wrestling teammates and how their lives intersected into adulthood through drug trafficking, law enforcement and, ultimately, sports. Television, print, digital and audio content all will tell the same story but in formats that fit the specific audiences of each platform.

Pin Kings debuted Monday with the first of 16 podcast episodes offered daily and will culminate with a one-hour, prime-time SC FEATURED television special on Monday, Aug. 22, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Throughout August, the multiplatform presentation also will include a long-form feature in ESPN The Magazine, a digital treatment on ESPN.com, an advance airing on WatchESPN and the ESPN App and a preview of the television special in the weekly SC FEATURED segment on SportsCenter.

"ESPN's mission is to serve sports fans anytime, anywhere, and Pin Kings fits that mission by serving content to sports fans in every manner they consume it," said Victor Vitarelli, senior coordinating producer, ESPN Features Unit. "This is new ground for us. We have never done an original programming cross-platform production of this magnitude."

Written and produced by ESPN The Magazine senior writer Brett Forrest and ESPN producer Jon Fish, Pin Kings tells the story of Alex DeCubas and Kevin Pedersen, co-captains of their high school wrestling team in Miami, whose lives took totally opposite turns. DeCubas became the biggest trafficker of Colombian cocaine on the east coast, while Pedersen became a DEA agent tasked with taking down the Colombian cartels and their American partners, which included his former teammate and friend DeCubas.

Through it all, the lives of the two men continually returned to their experiences in wrestling. Pin Kings traces their story from the beginning until their surprising lives today.

The Pin Kings timeline on ESPN platforms:

Fri., July 31	The Sporting Life on ESPN Audio previews Pin Kings
Mon., Aug. 1	ESPN Audio Pin Kings series of 16 episodic podcasts begins
Thu., Aug. 18	Pin Kings digital treatment posts on ESPN.com
Fri., Aug. 19	One-hour Pin Kings TV special available on WatchESPN and ESPN App
Sun., Aug. 21	SC Featured on SportsCenter previews Pin Kings television special
Mon., Aug. 22	One-hour Pin Kings SC Featured special debuts 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2
Fri., Aug. 26	Pin Kings feature appears in NFL Preview issue of ESPN The Magazine