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ESPN Seeks to Make World Series of Poker Mainstream Event

NBC may have thousands of hours of Summer Olympics coverage, but ESPN has its own world championship event - the Harrah’s Entertainment World Series of Poker - and, like NBC, the network is announcing more significant coverage of the event than ever.

For the first time, the World Series of Poker finals will air the evening the games are played, rather than as a documentary weeks after the last hand, writes Brandweek. The Texas Hold-em World Championship field is currently down to nine players. Those nine will play down to the final two on Sunday, Nov. 9, with the final head-to-head beginning Nov. 10.

ESPN will promote the final event in time for Monday’s newswires, according to the article. The network, along with Harrah’s Entertainment, hopes the promotion leading up to the face-off between the final two players will boost viewership and awareness of the event, making it more compelling to the mainstream community and bringing in more sponsors.

Ty Stewart, corporate director for the WSOP, says the build-up and hype will be like what viewers have seen for Deal or No Deal. After the event is complete, he says, WSOP will reevaluate to see if the format is something they want to use to “build [WSOP] into a long-term franchise.”

The final two players will vie for nearly $9.1 million. About 30 brands are onboard as sponsors, including Miller High Life and Hershey.