Dog “athletes” are coming to ESPN now. It appears ESPN and the American Kennel Club (AKC) have now reached a multiyear, exclusive, agreement to stream and televise some of the AKC dog competitions. They will also be given access to the AKC library for future programming.
Will they be hosted by Goofy? Will a costumed Pluto make appearances? I bet there will be Disney Parks commercials.
According to Laughing Place, the agreement will impact several of the “prestigious” dog competitions including the AKC National Championship Presented by Royal Canin.” The agreement appears to be for three years and includes digital rights for some events to “stream live on the ESPN App.”
The deal will begin with the AKC Fastest Dog USA event. It will stream live on the ESPN App on December 11th from 2-4 PM EST. Then they will televise it on ESPN2 at 6PM on December 13th.
The AKC National Championship (in Orlando) will be streamed on the ESPN App at 4:30 PM on December 12 and December 13. Then ABC will air a three-hour show from Sunday January 17th at 2 PM. Yes. Disney is going to the dogs.
ESPN will also televise the AKC Agility Championship in March, the AKC Agility Premier Cup in May, the North American Diving Dogs Premier Cup in September and the AKC Flyball Championship in October.
They will all be aired twice on ESPN channels and on Nat Geo Wild.
I knew that Disney was laying people off and chasing after sporting event deals like the Super Bowl, but apparently they are after any sporting category they feel they can leverage for their channels. Let’s face it, people love doggos. But I’m literally sitting here shaking my head and trying to wrap my brain around it.
When you think about it Disney makes sense. They had several dog themed movies including “The Ugly Dachshund” which was specifically about dog competitions. If you look at it that way it makes sense, just putting it on ESPN is a strange choice, especially since they just got rid of some of their “talent” from the channel.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier. What do you think?
Comment and let us know.
Source: Laughing PlaceÂ
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