ESPN2 debuted on October 1, 1993, as a sister station of ESPN. Nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was to be branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross, snowboarding, and BMX racing.

The original ESPN2 graphic featured ESPN in its traditional script with a '2' that looked like spray painted graffiti. On-screen graphics used a odd font with random capital letters, as "tHis iS aN ExAMplE". No announcers wore ties and traditional sports had "deuce names", NASCAR was "Hell on Wheels", the NHL was "Fire on Ice", and so on.

The first program on ESPN2 was SportsNight, a sports news hybrid featuring Keith Olbermann and Suzy Kolber. The debut was noted by Olbermann's statement at the beginning of transmission: "Good evening, and welcome to the end of our careers." Several notable ESPN personalities debuted on ESPN2's SportsNight, among them Stuart Scott and Kenny Mayne .

This format was not successful. The so-called MTV Generation was not interested in sports, and traditional sports fans were turned off by the youth gimmick. The channel was then reformatted. ESPN2 has become "ESPN Junior", often airing spill over programs from ESPN, dubbed "The Mothership". Graphics and announcer dress are nearly the same as ESPN, only using blue where ESPN uses red. ESPN's sports ticker at the bottom of the screen is featured on all ESPN2 programs, whereas ESPN only features the ticker during its highlights programs and at :28 and :58 on the hour during live game coverage. ESPN2 now appears in 65 million homes in the United States.