SlamBall Stakes Claim in Las Vegas with UNLV Residency and ESPN Deal

SlamBall relaunches with a residency at UNLV's Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas and an exclusive, two-year national broadcast partnership with ESPN that begins on Opening Night, July 21, from 7-9 p.m. EDT. The league's press release says ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+ will combine to air more than 30 hours of live programming across five weekends, culminating with playoffs and a championship slated for August 17-19.

Founder and CEO Mason Gordon has relocated his family and team from Los Angeles to Southern Nevada and framed the Cox Pavilion run as a deliberate residency strategy. Gordon told local outlets, "Think of it as the greatest sports residency here in Las Vegas. If you have any opportunity to see SlamBall live, it will blow your mind," and summed up the relaunch with, "We’re back by popular demand." He has publicly pitched international expansion via proposed SlamBall Majors and said, "We’ll be able to globalize our game in a fraction of the time that legacy sports took to do it."

The on-site product is being packaged for national exposure and local ticket revenue. The league announced ticket sales beginning June 27; Thrillist reported tickets starting at $30. Sources list eight teams competing in the Las Vegas run, with Thrillist naming Rumble and Mob and Lasvegassun citing the Mob and the Ozone; Trevor Anderson is identified as coach of the Ozone and a former football player turned SlamBall MVP. Opening Night's 7 p.m. Eastern start converts to a 4 p.m. local kickoff at Cox Pavilion, matching local listings.

The sport's spectacle and athlete pipeline are core to the relaunch pitch. CNN described SlamBall's four trampolines in front of each basket and players "bounce as high as 20 feet in the air," while Thrillist highlighted aerial moves such as the Burner and the Gainer. Mob player Dionte Byrd, a former Fort Valley State basketball player, said, "Knowing that it’s all integrated in the sport, it excites me." Gordon invoked early star Stan "Shakes" Fletcher as emblematic of the game's look and style, saying, "He’s an alien from a planet that already had SlamBall."

Business metrics and social lift are notable selling points. Lasvegassun reported that "SlamBall media was viewed more than 200 million times in a yearlong span" before the relaunch announcement, and the league's ESPN pact covers the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Thrillist adds a contrasting programming claim, listing a July 21 to August 13 window with 90 regular games and five playoff games; the league's press release, by contrast, emphasizes a five-week broadcast arc and the Aug 17-19 playoff dates.

What to watch next: tune to ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN+ for Opening Night on July 21 (7-9 p.m. EDT) at Cox Pavilion; monitor ticket availability from the June 27 on-sale and the league's stated playoff window of Aug 17-19. With Gordon promising rapid globalization and a Las Vegas residency in place, the relaunch will be measured by TV hours delivered, whether eight teams translate into sustainable rosters, and whether viral clips and more than 200 million media views convert into consistent live attendance and regular-season engagement.