What started as a joke in a hit comedy movie, somehow came to fruition in real life.
ESPN is known as the worldwide leader in sports. Typically, this means the network extensively covers mainstream sports like football and basketball, while also providing coverage of developments in the baseball, golf, hockey and auto racing worlds.
For four days in August, the channel gets re-branded. Rather than being ESPN, it becomes ESPN 8 The Ocho. Under this identity, the programming shifts its attention to events that don't typically come to mind when thinking of sports coverage. Some events you can find during "The Ocho" weekend include dodgeball, pillow fighting, goat racing, T-Rex races and Golden Tee Golf World Championships, among many other events.
The weekend event lineup including dodgeball is purposeful. It is not only recognizable, with many playing the "sport" on the playground as kids, but also because it pays homage to the origin of the entire idea of The Ocho.
Here is more on how the movie "Dodgeball" inspired the creation of ESPN 8 The Ocho.
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What is ESPN 8 The Ocho?
ESPN is Disney's sports company. It encompasses everything in the sports world, including coverage and live games. They have a variety of different networks, but the two main ones are ESPN and ESPN2. When the company began to focus more on live streaming, the platform was dubbed ESPN3.
Sticking with the naming theme, ESPN 8 The Ocho was the name chosen to air obscure sports. It aligns with the other channels under the ESPN platform, while also paying homage to the origin of the idea.
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ESPN 8 The Ocho origin
The idea of an ESPN channel covering wacky sports originated from the movie "Dodgeball." It starred Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller as rival gym owners. With his Average Joe's Gym needing more funding, Vaughn entered a team into a nationwide dodgeball tournament. Stiller countered with his own team to try to force Average Joe's to close. Both teams made it to the championship game, which was broadcast on a fictional channel called ESPN 8 The Ocho, which specialized in airing events that were "almost a sport."
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When was ESPN 8 The Ocho created?
At the time that "Dodgeball" was released in 2004, ESPN's channels were ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, and ESPN Classic. ESPNU launched a year after the nickname. Calling ESPN 8 The Ocho in the movie was a reference to ESPN referring to ESPN2 as "the Deuce" in 1990.
ESPN made The Ocho an official thing on Aug. 8, 2017 nearly 13 years after the movie debuted. ESPN used the platform to fill airtime on ESPNU during the college football offseason. ESPN brought back the day-long conversion in 2018 and again in 2020. ESPN8 returned in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, ESPN honored "ocho years of Ocho" by expanding the coverage to four days. It was a success, and the four-day structure was continued in 2025.
ESPN has also since launched an ESPN 8 channel on ABC.com and the ABC app, which was then phased out, so it was moved to The Roku Channel. It also launched in Canada under the name "TSN The Ocho."
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What sports are on ESPN 8 The Ocho?
It may be easier to list what sports aren't on ESPN 8 The Ocho. The goal of the channel is to provide coverage of events that are "barely sports." Here are the events from the 2025 lineup as an example.
- Flugtag
- Streamer Games
- Pro Roller Hockey
- National Ball Hockey
- National Putting Tour
- Goat Racing
- T-Rex Races
- Corgi Races
- Dog Surfing
- Roofball
- Onewheel World Championship
- Golden Tee World Championships
- Freestyle Trampoline Championship
- Auctioneers Championship
- Mullet Championships
- Beach Tennis
- Wrestball
- Jai-Alai
- Outhouse Racing
- Swiss Stone Tossing
- Mailboat Jumping
- Bubble Gum Blowing Championship
- FlingShot
- Goodyear Blimp race
- Paintball Championship
- OmegaBall
- Kickball
- Trickshots
- Popdarts
- Slippery Stairs
- Savannah Bananas
- Archery
- Dodgeball
- Pop-A-Shot
- Pillow Fighting
- Carjitsu
- Chess
- Microsoft Excel World Championships
- Robot Fighting
- Foot Golf
- Armwrestling
- Ping Pong
- Bike Polo
- Axe and Knife Throwing
- Tire Wrestling
- Soap Hockey
- Tractor Pulling
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Category: General Sports
