Experience UFC 306 and a Sports Extravaganza This Saturday on ESPN+: More than 225 Live Events
September is "a peak time in serving sports fans in countless ways," says SVP, ESPN+ John Lasker and UFC 306 in Sphere in Las Vegas on Saturday is a highlight
With more than 32,000 live events this year, ESPN+ continues to roll through 2024 as the No. 1 sports streaming platform. Front Row checked in with Senior Vice President, ESPN+, John Lasker to see what’s in store for ESPN+ this fall, starting with UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche: O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili this Saturday.
The last couple of weekends, and Saturdays in particular, have been among the biggest ever for ESPN+. What makes this Saturday another one to look forward to?
September is one of the greatest sports months of the year and is a month when ESPN truly shines as the preeminent digital sports destination. It’s a peak time in serving sports fans in countless ways, including scores, schedules, news, fantasy, wagering, highlights, and of course, streaming. We’re doing just that across a broad spectrum of sports and interests, and this Saturday with more than 225 live events on ESPN+ including women’s college volleyball and soccer, LaLiga and Bundesliga, more than 60 live college football games, and of course, the highly anticipated UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
Speaking of Riyadh Season Noche, the event is celebrating Mexican Independence Day. How does that play into programming on ESPN+ this Saturday?
UFC 306 is a special event in so many ways, including the fact it’s happening just two days before Mexican Independence Day and one day before National Hispanic Heritage Month begins. The UFC has done an incredible job in honoring that fact with a fantastic card designed to celebrate the holiday. That said, our focus on serving the U.S. Hispanic sports fan is not unique to this Saturday, but the event will be covered from all angles through our ESPN Deportes linear network, ESPN.com, ESPN App and ESPN Social platforms, including UFC Countdown, live coverage of weigh-ins, pre-show from inside The Sphere, Live Prelims, and much more. Of course, like all of our UFC Fight Nights and pay-per-view events on ESPN+, the entire event will be available to stream in Spanish. We know it will be a great night. Our UFC Fight Night on Mexican Independence Day last year was one of our best ever on ESPN+.
What else do we have to look forward to on ESPN+ this fall?
The next couple of months on ESPN+ will be incredible. We’ll have more than 12,000 live sports events between now and the end of the year, highlighted by a stacked college football schedule, NHL season kicking off in October, our first Monday Night Football exclusive game on Oct. 21, women’s and men’s college basketball tipping off in November, NCAA Championships for women’s soccer volleyball, and four big UFC pay-per-view events, including UFC 309 from Madison Square Garden and UFC 310 from Las Vegas. We can’t wait!