ESPN Happy with WSOP Final Table Concept

Posted on November 23, 2009 
Filed Under General

Let me ask you something. If the 2008 WSOP main event final table featured a November Nine made up of completely unknown players and drew in good ratings, you would think that the inclusion of poker superstar Phil Ivey and a few other notables like Jeff Shulman in the broadcast of the 2009 November Nine final table would bring in even bigger ratings right? Nope. Turns out the ratings for both years were practically identical, but that hasn’t dulled ESPN’s enthusiasm for the delayed format.

“Look, the attention that Phil was getting — E:60, the cover of ESPN The Magazine — this is part of everyone’s effort to grow the sport. We’re all trying our hardest to get these players out into the ‘mainstream,’ to become recognizable to sports fans,” said White. “I thought this year was one of the best concerted efforts that we’ve all had to try to do that, so I wasn’t disappointed. I was very happy, as far as ESPN goes. I was very happy with our efforts, in some way, to introduce Phil to the general sports public.”

Overall, the 2009 final table attracted 2.1 million viewers, which was actually less than the number that tuned in during the 2008 finale, however the complete WSOP 2009 coverage on a whole did perform better than the entire 2008 coverage. With those results, you would think that ESPN would want to not delay the broadcast of the final table, but White sees it differently.

“I think it helps increase the hype. It allows us to tell stories … I just can’t see how anybody who is actually at the event doesn’t think this is good for poker and doesn’t get goosebumps watching that,” said White. “Do the poker purists like it? No, probably not. But I think people are starting to turn the corner … and no one has been able to tell me how it’s hurt the game.”

Looking forward though, it’s going to be hard to imagine a final table that could match the hype surrounding Phil Ivey’s presence in the ’09 November Nine, and if Phil couldn’t send ratings through the roof, who can?

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