ESPN will air 12 hours of esports including Rocket League, NBA 2K, and Madden
ESPN is set to air 12 hours of esports coverage on April 5th, turning to NBA 2K, Madden NFL 20, and Rocket League tournaments to fill the programming void left behind by traditional sports leagues going on hiatus.
“ESPN Esports Day” is a marathon of live events and taped esports coverage that aired on ESPN2 over the last year, according to a press release. The marathon will begin with three hours of previous Madden NFL 20 content, including recaps of the Madden Classic, Club Championship, and Challenge tournaments.
The Madden block will be followed by the F1 Esports Virtual Grand Prix, a live race featuring F1 drivers behind the virtual wheel. Rocket League will follow with ESPN2 hosting the Season 8 World Championship Grand Finals, and lead into the heavily anticipated NBA 2K tournament, which brings 16 NBA players to participate in a 16-bracket event. ESPN’s esports marathon will end with a repeat presentation of the EXP Apex Legends Pro-Am from last July.
Esports has grown considerably over the last few years, but the industry has seen a surge in interest over the last few weeks. Craig Levine, global chief strategy officer for the CS:GO ESL Pro League, previously told The Verge that “as other sports and entertainment have gone dark, we’ve probably inadvertently benefited.”
Pro athletes unable to train are flocking to Twitch and YouTube to stream themselves playing virtual versions of the sports that made them famous. F1 driver Lando Norris took part in a virtual, and shorter, version of the Australian Grand Prix using F1 2019 on March 22nd. The race pulled in 70,000 concurrent viewers on Norris’ Twitch channel alone, with a total of around 175,000 people watching the race, which combined Norris’ channel and others at one point.
Twitch, one of the main platforms for streaming, has seen an impressive growth as more people spend time at home. The platform went from 982 million hours watched in February to over 1.1 billion hours in March, according to livestreaming tools and services provider StreamElements. That’s a 20 percent growth in viewership. Having pro athletes compete in virtual tournaments, and bringing their fans to sites like Twitch, is a win.
It’s clear that ESPN wants in on that action. The network has for years, but with no other sports to counter-program against, this is esports’ time to shine. The full schedule for ESPN2’s esports marathon can be seen on the network’s website.
ESPN is set to air 12 hours of esports coverage on April 5th, turning to NBA 2K, Madden NFL 20, and Rocket League tournaments to fill the programming void left behind by traditional sports leagues going on hiatus. “ESPN Esports Day” is a marathon of live events and taped esports…
Recent Posts
- Meta’s ‘set it and forget it’ AI ad tools are misfiring and blowing through cash
- Best Binoculars (2024): Nikon, Celestron, Swarovski, Zeiss
- Samsung OLED TVs are down to record-low prices – this is better than Black Friday
- Where to get started with Fallout
- Another link hints at the existence of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Ultra
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011