ESPN for the first time in 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.
TWITTER REAX: Former FS1 Senior VP Patrick Crakes wrote one reason ESPN "acquired the CFP was to own from top to bottom a major sponsorship hospitality event," so it "makes sense" to put its focus there. Trans-West Network Solutions' Chris Olson wrote the move "seems smart," as execs "like going to Scottsdale" in February instead of Minnesota.
