Partners
Partner with the
American Popdarts League
2027 Founding Partnership. Only one title sponsor and three founding partners, national television across ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN News and ESPN8: The Ocho. 2027 is the first season the American Popdarts League opens its doors to partners.
Partners
Become a partner
Backyard-simple to understand, impossible to look away from, and engineered from day one for the broadcast era. Four national broadcasts and 40+ re-airs in season one.
See the 2027 partner classOrganizers
Run sanctioned events
Host official leagues and tournaments that count toward the national rankings. Organizers apply on the Start a League page, the official route, with the APL certification steps.
Become an organizer
The property
2026, by the numbers
The American Popdarts League is an entertainment sport built for television, backyard-simple to understand, impossible to look away from, and engineered from day one for the broadcast era. In a single season the APL went from a brand-new format to a national broadcast property carried across the ESPN networks, with outlier organic reach and a devoted, fast-growing audience.
783M+
verified social views · 2026, through Sept 1
392M+
National Championship
265M+
West Coast Wild Card · Area 15
40+
national re-airs, and counting
Verified views on Popdarts and APL owned channels, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, through Sept 1, 2026. The APL-channel figure is a year-to-date total and is not broken out by event. Figures exclude ESPN main-channel clips, Barstool and other external reposts, shares and viral clips, so real totals run higher.
The breakdown
Every platform, every event
Exact figures from the league’s own chart, four sources, four platforms, verified views through Sept 1, 2026.
| Source | TikTok | YouTube | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 events | |||||
| National Championship | 165.770M | 200.230M | 21.740M | 4.731M | 392.471M |
| West Coast Wild Card | 114.283M | 48.890M | 96.485M | 5.378M | 265.036M |
| East Coast Wild Card | 6.893M | 8.599M | 1.564M | 5.106M | 22.162M |
| APL social channels | |||||
| APL channels (YTD) | 62.170M | 40.000M | 0.812M | 0.895M | 103.877M |
| Grand total verified views | 783.546M | ||||
APL row reflects year-to-date channel totals and is not broken out by event.
Broadcast
National television, across the ESPN networks
The APL isn’t a one-channel property. Our live events and re-airs run across ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN News and ESPN8: The Ocho, the scarcest, most credible inventory in sports marketing, and rare for a league at our stage.
4
live national broadcasts · 2025-26 · ESPN+ & ESPN2
40+
national re-airs · mostly ESPN News & The Ocho
+270%
ratings growth, year one to year two
The contract
Our ESPN contract covered four national broadcasts in 2025-26. We’re planning at least four for 2026-27, likely more.
Ocho Day 2027: fourth to second
For Ocho Day 2027 the APL moves into the second-best time slot of the entire three-day event, up from fourth in year one. We expect it to deliver the best ratings of the whole broadcast.
On the floor
Content engine
One event, 265 million verified views
West Coast Wild Card, Area 15 (Las Vegas). 22 pieces of broadcast-floor content from one live event drove 265M+ verified views across four platforms, not a one-off, a repeatable engine that fires event after event.
114.3M
Facebook
48.9M
Instagram
96.5M
TikTok
5.4M
YouTube
West Coast Wild Card, Area 15. Verified views on owned channels through Sept 1, 2026.
Why now
We took zero sponsors in year one, on purpose
We built the audience, the broadcast reputation and the numbers first, so a partner’s first impression of the APL is a proven property, not a pitch deck full of promises.
You’re not buying potential. You’re getting the ground floor of something that already works.
2027 is the first season we open the league to sponsors. Year one was the proof. This is the invitation.
Partnership levels
The 2027 founding partner class
One title sponsor and three founding partners. That is the entire inaugural class, scarcity by design, so every partner is unmistakable on screen.
Only 4 slots
National
1 title sponsor + 3 founding partners, the entire 2027 inaugural class.
The founding class, and the only level that carries the national broadcast package: on-court branding and integrated segments across ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN News and The Ocho, a featured presence inside the content engine, activation at marquee live events, and 40+ re-airs keeping your brand on screen long after each event ends.
Open tier
Regional
Scoped per market and per season.
For regional brands, venues and local businesses that want to own a market rather than the network. Presence across sanctioned league nights and events in your state or metro, and club-level placement in the directory players actually use to find a night. Scope is quoted per market and per season. Tell us the market and we will put the specifics in writing.
What a founding partnership includes
Broadcast
On-court branding, signage and integrated segments across our national broadcasts on ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN News & The Ocho.
Social & content
A featured presence inside the content engine that drove 783M+ verified views in 2026.
Live & venue
Activation at marquee live events like the Area 15 Wild Card, in front of a roaring crowd.
Year-round
40+ re-airs on ESPN News and The Ocho keep your brand on screen long after each event ends.
Those are the founding-class inclusions. Regional packages are scoped per market and per season. Ask, and we will price the specifics.
Production
We own the production
Which means your brand can live inside the show, not just around it.
In-slot commercials
Program commercials during the live segment, available to every partner who wants them.
In-show activations
Custom brand moments built into the broadcast itself, so you’re part of the story, not a break from it.
Every re-air, everywhere
Those moments ride along on 40+ re-airs, in bars, venues and living rooms across America.
If you can dream it, we can build it
Picture your mascot woven into a live moment, your product in a player’s hands mid-match, or a signature segment built around your brand. Because we control production end to end, the only limit is the idea.
The case
Why brands partner with the APL
A stage people actually enjoy
The APL is fun, high-energy and family-friendly, the kind of positive, brand-safe environment partners want to be part of.
Made for bold, culture-first moments
The APL is built for exactly the shareable, meme-ready moments that break through the noise and get people talking.
Ground-floor status
As one of only four founding partners you help define the league’s sponsorship era, instead of buying in years later at a premium.
Data you can stand behind
A full media-value and audience breakdown, built for a data-driven team, ready whenever you want to go deeper.
Partner with us
Start the conversation
Tell us who you are and which level you’re interested in. A member of our team follows up within two business days, a real conversation, not a rate card.
319
ranked players
30+
clubs
30
states
$25,000
Nationals prize pool
Stats as of Sep 4, 2026 · powered by Scoreholio
Partner intake
Company, contact, the level you want, and anything you already know about the activation. Two minutes.
What happens next
Your inquiry goes straight to the league’s partnerships lead and you get an acknowledgement immediately. A member of our team follows up within two business days with what fits, the national founding class or Regional.
Sponsorship packages are quoted per event and per season, nothing is priced on this page.
Partners
Let’s build something together.
We want you to feel like a true partner, not a logo on a banner. You know your product better than anyone. Our job is to give you the best stage in the country to show it off, on national television, with the creative freedom to do it your way.