- ESPN will transform into ESPN 8: The Ocho from July 31 to Aug 3. That will open the door for 30 unique sports, from dodgeball to bubble gum blowing. The fictitious channel was dreamed up in the 2004 film Dodgeball.
Had your fill of baseball, basketball, soccer and football? Been hoping you could catch up on Major League Paintball? Good news. ESPN 8: The Ocho is making a comeback.
The network, first imagined in the film Dodgeball, will take over the main ESPN (as well as its sister stations ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes and ESPN’s social and digital channels) from July 31 through Aug. 3. And with it comes coverage of 30 competitions you wouldn’t normally expect to find on television.
Beyond paintball, you’ll have the chance to watch ultimate frisbee, cornhole, slippery stairs, soap hockey, mailboat jumping and outhouse racing. The network will even air the T-Rex World Championship races on the 31st at 11:00 p.m.
Many of the games will originate from the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla. All totaled, the network will air 65 hours of unconventional sports during this run of The Ocho.
The Ocho-fest kicks off Friday with a trifecta of strangeness. ESPN will carry The Savannah Bananas game from 7-9 p.m. ESPN2 will offer a mix of sports from 7-10 p.m., including the Extreme Archery Championship, National Dodgeball League Championship Games (a nice tip of the cap to the film, though it’s unlikely Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks will be calling the game) and the Pop-A-Shot 2025 National Championship. ESPNU, meanwhile, will air the cornhole world cup from 8-10 p.m.
At midnight, ESPN2 will air the 2004 Dodgeball film.
Other things you’ll see over the course of the weekend include the 2025 Bubble Gum Blowing Championship, Diving Chess, the Goat Racing Championships, Jai-Alai and The Goodyear Blimp Sky Race of the Century.