SlamBall is ready for a comeback as they sign new two-year television contract with ESPN

SlamBall will be making their much awaited comeback to United States’ television after reaching an agreement to a two-year broadcasting partnership with ESPN and the channels’s other branches. 

This means that the exclusive deal will cover the sport’s next 2023 and 2024 campaigns, consisting of 30 hours of playtime from opening night on July 21 all through the playoffs, and finally the championship match on August 19.

The sport, which is inspired by a hybrid of basketball, hockey and football, will be broadcasted on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+ all the way from the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.

According to SlamBall creator Mason Gordon, the sport is only getting more and more popular as time passes by. “ESPN’s multi-year commitment to SlamBall is further validation of the enormous appeal and growth potential of our sport,” the CEO claims.

The revival of SlamBall has revealed a lot of excitement across social media, especially after a huge campaign was on display in the past years trying to bring it back to your television sets.

“The level of interest in our hybrid team sport not just in the U.S., but across the world, has been beyond our expectations for the 2023 season,” Gordon explained. “It’s clear that this is the best talent we have had in the sport’s history.”

The sport’s co-founder Mike Tollin said that for both them and ESPN, the amount of positive feedback was impossible to ignore, as they are all happy to have reached an agreement for its return.

“Mason and I couldn’t help but respond to the #BringBackSlamBall clamor. Live sports dominate the airwaves these days and audiences are looking for the next big thing. It’s a thrill to collaborate with ESPN in bringing this ground-breaking sport back to the world,” he assured.

Investors like athlete Blake Griffin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Michael Rubin and David Blitzer had raised $11 million in the past, and seems like it will finally pay off as they will witness SlamBall back on the screen.

Even though the SlamBall founders assure there is mostly excitement behind their return, not all sport fans are happy

The first time that SlamBall aired was through The National Network over two decades ago, where the sport became recognized across the country. However, after broadcasting two seasons, CEO Mason Gordon fell into disagreements with the network which eventually led to the show being cancelled.

Back in 2008, the sport made its way back to television but only for a short spell, before disappearing from the broadcasting airwaves once again.

Even though there are some die-hard supporters, social media is pretty much divided in half with many sport fans dissing the fact that SlamBall isn’t a traditional game.

“My acl hurts watching this,” account @YoungPiccasso tweeted, making reference to how dangerous the sport can be. “This isn’t breaking news for basketball”, posted another user called @InAbysss.

As for @BinAffleck_, he assures that SlamBall isn’t even worth turning on the screen: “We will not be watching.”