ESPN8 The Ocho is an annual special

program block Block programming is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united. Overview Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attra ...

showcasing seldom-seen obscure sports that airs on the networks of ESPN Inc. The Ocho consists of lesser-known, unconventional and humorous sports and other competitions with some athletic or physical skill component, including crossnet,

quadball Quidditch, also known as quadball, is a sport of two teams of seven players each mounted on a broomstick, and is played on a hockey rink-sized pitch. The sport was created in 2005 at Middlebury College in Vermont, and was inspired by the fictiona ...

, trampoline dodgeball, air hockey, darts,

disc golf Disc golf, also known as frisbee golf, is a flying disc sport in which players throw a disc at a target; it is played using rules similar to golf. Most disc golf discs are made out of polypropylene plastic, otherwise known as polypropene, which ...

, kabaddi, chess boxing, bed races,

sport stacking Sport stacking, also known as cup stacking or speed stacking, is an individual and team sport that involves stacking 9 or 12 (usually 12) specially designed cups in pre-determined sequences as quickly as possible. The cups are specially designed ...

, electrician games, dodge juggle, death diving, cherry pit spitting, stupid robot fighting,

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

games, cow chip throwing, pizza dough throwing,

frog jumping Frog jumping is a competitive pastime for humans in which frogs are entered into competitions to jumping, jump certain distances. Frog jumping contests are held in small communities scattered around the United States, as part of the folk culture. ...

cheese rolling The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in England. Participants race down the long hill after a round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down it. ...

grocery bag Shopping bags are medium-sized bags, typically around 10–20 litres (2.5–5 gallons) in volume (though much larger versions exist, especially for non-grocery shopping), that are used by shoppers to carry home their purchases. Some are intended ...

competitions, extreme pogo, shuffleboard, breakdancing,

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

, and more. It is traditionally aired in early August, the eighth month of the year. Much of the programming consists of previously recorded content and reruns previously aired on the ESPN networks, some as far back as the 1990s. As of December 2023, ESPN8 The Ocho is also offered as a

FAST channel Free ad-supported streaming television, commonly abbreviated FAST, is a category of streaming television services which are available to consumers without a paid subscription, are funded solely by advertising, and stream traditional television prog ...

on ABC's website and app.

Origins

The concept of ESPN8 originated as a fictional television channel in the 2004 film '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'', in which it was a full-time channel showcasing obscure competitions (its name being a comic exaggeration, since at the time there were only four linear ESPN channels—ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS and ESPN Classic; the fifth,

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hears ...

, launched a year after the film). Its nickname "The Ocho" was a play on ESPN2's 1990s nickname "The Deuce." Starting August 8, 2017, ESPN paid homage to its lampooned portrayal in ''Dodgeball'' by airing a day-long "ESPN8: The Ocho" marathon on its college sports channel

as a way to fill airtime on the channel during the collegiate offseason. The 2017 airing was a success, prompting ESPN to repeat the block the next year, this time licensing the ''Dodgeball'' film from

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

for inclusion in the block ( ESPN's parent company would buy 20th Century Fox the next year); it made some other adjustments to the 2018 schedule, including heavier editing to shorten each sport's time slot, hoping to accommodate short attention spans. Due to a lack of live sports programming during the COVID-19 pandemic, ESPN announced on March 22, 2020, that it would reprise the stunt earlier than scheduled on ESPN2. It did it on May 2, 2020, on ESPN, and then August 8, 2020, on ESPN2 as well as the Big Screen in '' Fortnite Party Royale''. A collection of sports that were featured on ESPN8, as well as the ESPN8 broadcast on these said networks, were available on the ESPN app. The program was held again on ESPN2 on August 3, 2023. In December 2023, ESPN launched an ESPN8 free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel on

ABC.com The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Califor ...

and the ABC app.

Impact

The tongue-in-cheek inclusion of such sports on ESPN's schedule has led to increased exposure opportunities for those sports, which have performed well for ESPN. ESPN added a

cornhole Cornhole (also known regionally as sack toss, or bags) is a lawn game popular in North America in which players or teams take turns throwing fabric bean bags at a raised, angled board with a hole in its far end. The goal of the game is to score ...

tournament airing in July 2018 outside the block, which it noted outdrew the WNBA All-Star Game, regular season Major League Baseball games and the final stage of the Tour de France among the key demographic of men age 18 to 49. The inclusion of the Excel World Championships, an eSport that involves using spreadsheet programs in a competition to solve a series of problems, helped give the contest mainstream attention and credibility.

Scheduling

2023

References

{{ESPN ESPN Television programming blocks in the United States

Origins

Impact

Scheduling

2023

See also

References