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WSOP Signs Multi-Year ESPN Deal: Main Event Returns to Prime-Time TV in 2026

By Pessi Lamm

27 Mar 2026

Pessi Lamm 27 Mar 2026

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WSOP returns to ESPN with 100 hours of yearly coverage.
Live Main Event airs over three nights, Aug 3–5, 2026.
Deal facilitated by NSUS Group's $500 million WSOP acquisition.

WSOP Main Event Returns to ESPN in 2026 With Live Final Table and 100 Hours of Coverage (credit: WSOP)

The World Series of Poker has signed a multi-year agreement with ESPN, restoring the Main Event to prime-time TV after a five-year absence. Coverage begins July 2, 2026, with the live final table airing across three nights on August 3–5. Total commitment: roughly 100 hours of original WSOP content per year across ESPN platforms.

100 Hours of Coverage, Six Hours Per Day, Three Featured Tables

Every WSOP Main Event tournament day gets a minimum of six hours of airtime, a significant step up from the edited packages poker fans had grown used to.
Early rounds will feature three simultaneous featured tables, so viewers can track top players across multiple spots without missing key action.
The live final table format also buries the last remnants of the November Nine era. When a champion is crowned on August 5, it happens in real time.

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The GGPoker Ownership Factor

This deal doesn't happen without the $500 million acquisition of the WSOP brand in 2024 by NSUS Group Inc., the parent company of GGPoker. New ownership means new capital priorities, and landing an ESPN multi-year deal signals exactly what NSUS intends to do with the brand: scale it aggressively toward mainstream sports audiences.

WSOP CEO Ty Stewart framed it plainly:

"Returning to ESPN — the home of our most iconic moments since 1987 — allows us to showcase the human drama of the Main Event like never before."

ESPN VP of Programming Ashley O'Connor echoed the strategic logic from the network side:

"Poker is rich with unexpected narratives, and no one is better positioned to showcase the unfolding stories throughout a tournament than ESPN."

For ESPN, poker is a cost-efficient, story-driven property that can fill prime-time hours in the August dead zone between NBA Finals and NFL kickoff.

WSOP on ESPN: Historical Timeline

undefined — WSOP Main Event on ESPN (image: WSOP)

The WSOP ESPN partnership has had more re-entries than a turbo rebuy tournament:

1978: ESPN airs its first WSOP broadcast
2002: Full partnership begins; hole-card cameras ignite the poker boom
2021: WSOP moves to CBS Sports Network and PokerGO
2026: ESPN partnership restored under GGPoker-backed ownership

The CBS chapter was commercially underwhelming by most industry measures. The return to ESPN with its reach, production infrastructure, and sports-fan crossover audience is a structurally different proposition.

The biggest stage in poker is back on the biggest sports network in the world. Save July 2 when the cards go in the air, and clear your schedule for August 3–5 when the WSOP Main Event crowns its champion live on ESPN for the first time in years.

If you want to be there when the action happens read our How to Qualify to WSOP 2026 -guide.

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