ESPN Not Hosting Super Bowl Party, Will Focus On CFP Hospitality

ESPN for the first time more than a decade will not host a party during Super Bowl week in February. It instead will use the money that it would have spent on the Super Bowl on hospitality for the CFP, where it is the exclusive TV partner and already has a big presence. ESPN plans to produce a CFP halftime show for the first time with an artist that it has not yet chosen. The CFP will be in Atlanta; the Super Bowl is in Minneapolis. This would have been the 14th year in a row that ESPN has hosted a Super Bowl party, usually on the Friday before the game.

ESPN said it is reevaluating whether it will bring back its Super Bowl party in Atlanta in '19. ESPN still plans to host clients and have feature hospitality in Minnesota. It also will have much of its edit staff in Minnesota to cover the Super Bowl.