Coming soon to ESPN8: The Ocho

The NBA Draft was held last night. But it wasn’t the only basketball-related sport making headlines.

Yesterday, ESPN and SlamBall – a trampoline-based form of basketball that also incorporates elements of football and hockey – announced a two-year media rights deal that’ll see games televised across ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN+ during the sport’s 2023 and 2024 seasons.

And while financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, it’s the latest in a series of moves showcasing the popularity of the two-plus-decade-old sport. As LL Cool J would say: don’t call it a comeback – SlamBall has been here for years.

• SlamBall was televised in the early 2000s on channels like SpikeTV (now Paramount Network) and CSTV (CBS Sports Network) before being disbanded following a disagreement. The sport’s return was fueled in large part by a viral social media campaign that generated more than 200 million views for the hashtag #BringBackSlamBall, Front Office Sports reports.
• News of the media rights deal with ESPN also comes on the heels of a recently closed $11 million Series A funding round for the sport, which included investors like Blake Griffin, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, and Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin.

🤝📺 Zoom out: Speaking of moolah – SlamBall isn’t the only upstart sport raking in that media rights dough. Over the past two years, CBS, ESPN, and Amazon Prime have all inked deals to show pickleball events on their respective networks.