This Thursday (26), the World Series of Poker (WSOP) confirmed more news regarding the 2026 edition of the world series. After five years, the Main Event will return to ESPN broadcast, a major sports broadcaster based in the USA with global reach. Furthermore, this announcement brought along the confirmation of the tournament’s final table dates.
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In an initial announcement, when it revealed the festival schedule, the WSOP confirmed that broadcasts of side events would leave pay-per-view and go to YouTube, becoming available for free to viewers. This remains the case, with tournaments like Millionaire Maker, Poker Players’ Championship and others confirmed on the platform.
However, the Main Event will return to traditional ESPN broadcast. The broadcaster aired the WSOP main event annually until 2021, when the world series began selling its rights to CBS Sports. Now, the world’s premier poker tournament returns to the channel.
In the years when ESPN held the WSOP broadcast rights, the Main Event was also broadcast live in other countries, such as Brazil. However, in the statement published by North American ESPN this Thursday, broadcasts outside the USA are not mentioned. For Brazilian viewers, therefore, it remains to wait for confirmation from ESPN Brazil.
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Neither July, nor November: Main Event FT confirmed in August
When the WSOP announced its 2026 schedule without the Main Event final table dates, speculation soon arose about a possible return of the “November Nine”. In previous years, the world series would form the FT in July, but hold the decision only in November.
However, with this joint announcement from WSOP and ESPN, the mystery was explained. The Main Event final table will take place from August 3-5, being broadcast live. The 20-day interval – between Day 8 of the competition on July 13 and Day 1 of the FT – will serve for the broadcaster to air highlights from the world series and special programs.
Still, ESPN will broadcast the Main Event from Day 1A, on July 2. This will be the date of WSOP’s return to the broadcaster, which promises at least six hours of daily broadcast of the tournament.
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