Fresh · long read · August 2026
If it's almost a sport — we've got it here
Right now, August 6–9, ESPN is switching on a channel that doesn't exist — for the tenth time. 74.5 hours of corgi races, the Microsoft Excel World Championship and a hockey game staffed entirely by goalies. Here's how a joke from a 2004 comedy became an annual Disney franchise, why a media giant keeps the circus running — and where the betting angle hides.
ESPN8 THE OCHO · 10th edition — the anniversary one · 74.5 h of programming over four days · 23 sports making their debut · 8/8 — the franchise's sacred date
The black soil of betting. Longreads, data-driven research and games about the betting industry.
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Longreads
Long read · August 2026
If it's almost a sport — we've got it here
Ten years of ESPN8 The Ocho: how a Dodgeball joke became a Disney franchise — and where the betting angle hides
Long read · August 2026
Betting communism
How Spain became the country where a bookmaker can't kick out a winner
Long read · July 2026
Underdog isn't the underdog anymore
The $1.3B IG × Underdog deal: the company's story from an attic to the London Stock Exchange
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Research
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