ESPN Brings Back ‘The Ocho’ With Live Cornhole Tourney

By Jon Lafayette
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

ESPN is bringing the fictional ESPN8: The Ocho back to real life as a stunt on Aug. 7.  

Programming on what is usually ESPN2 (once known as The Deuce) will include the 2019 WCO World Cornhole Championship, the first live event on The Ocho, inspired by the 2004 film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

The Dodgeball film will start and conclude the network’s programming and at 2 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Related: ESPN Anchor Bob Ley Announces Retirement

The ersatz channel is being sponsored by State Farm.

This is the third time ESPN has programmed The Ocho on ESPN2.

Other programming on the Ocho includes spikeball, axe throwing, stone skipping, cherry pit spitting and lawn mower racing.

The network takeover will be backed on multiple platforms. ESPN.com will provide tips for playing some of the games being shown on TV, some with step-by-step instructions. ESPN the Magazine will have a sit-down interview with Tony Gemignani, known as the LeBron of pizza acrobatics. ESPN social media will feature highlights and videos from The Ohco.

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Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.