I recently attended the ESPN Sports Fest which showcased what one can look forward to on the Disney owned channel this summer.
The mainly American sports channel, ESPN, also has an African component highlighting some African Sports content.
I got to play some American Football and pretend I was an NBA player by shooting some hoops on the mini basketball court. Others in attendance tried their hand at shadow boxing, at the media event.
Kyle de Klerk, Director of Sports Commercial and Business at The Walt Disney Company, addressed the audience and showcased what locals can look forward to in a short promo video – as can be seen in my TikTok & Instagram video below.
Here’s a video of the highlights of the day.
ESPN Africa is the only licence holder to broadcast the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and many more American sports leagues and tournaments in Africa.
The channel also aims to highlight African boxing. The ESPN Africa Boxing events bring local boxing fans a series of monthly knock-out events throughout 2022 and 2023. The series features South African , Pan African and Intercontinental contests attracting the very best African and international boxing talent. ESPN Africa Boxing events are broadcast live on the last Thursday of every month (or second last) starting at 19h00. The 3 hour event attracts sports fans across the continent who enjoy the fine arts of Africa’s top boxing talent.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the world’s premiere basketball league, based in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams with 29 teams based in the USA and one team from Canada. The NBA has experienced a surge in popularity across the African Continent with fans attracted to both the technical elements of the sport as well as the lifestyle elements associated with the players, like Lebron James and Steph Curry. ESPN Africa broadcasts 6 live games per week including 3 repeats of each fixture. All games during the post season including play-offs and finals are broadcast on ESPN2.
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC) . The NFL is one of the major North American professional sports leagues and the highest professional level of American football in the world. ESPN Africa broadcasts 4 live games per week including 3 repeats of each fixture. All games during the post season including play-offs and Super Bowl are exclusively available on ESPN2.
Other sporting codes showcased on ESPN include:
Major League Baseball
National Hockey League
English Football League
Belgian Juliper Pro League
Dutch Eredivisie
Scottish Premiership
Magazine Shows
HOW TO TUNE INTO ESPN IN SOUTH AFRICA:
ESPN: DSTV 218, StarSat 248
ESPN2: DSTV 219, StarSat 249
For more information, visit africa.espn.com
Mzansi Life & Style by Mishkah Roman-Cassiem 