The 2026 WSOP will feature a brand-new "Mothership Stage," spanning 25,000 square feet and equipped with 12 live broadcast tables and 12,000 LED panels. This production scale represents a complete upgrade from the ESPN era, delivering an unprecedented viewing experience for poker fans.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is now in full swing, and the biggest stage for poker now has a real physical stage.
The WSOP has unveiled its new "Mothership Stage" for the 2026 series, a massive 25,000-square-foot production space featuring 12 broadcast tables, towering LED screens, and lighting equipment comparable to the nearby "Sphere." It will serve as the home of the broadcast tables throughout the summer (starting tonight with the $25,000 heads-up tournament) and will then take center stage in the 2026 WSOP Main Event, which returns to ESPN this year.
The venue is also home to the brand-new live broadcast program "WSOP Countdown," hosted by Jeff Platt, Joe Stapleton, and broadcast legend Norman Chad, which brings poker fans all the day's major news, player interviews, and highlights before the start of each day's matches.
Here's a glimpse of the stage every poker player dreams of reaching this summer:
Photos of the new WSOP stage
Please see below for some photos of the new WSOP live arena:
The area covers more than 25,000 square feet.
The venue contains 12,000 LED panels.
There are 17 tables for players to compete against each other during the live broadcast.
It took 8,000 man-hours to build.
"Our true arena"
When the curtain fell over the new production space, the WSOP Countdown team reacted immediately. Jeff Platt summarized the scale of the venue as "beyond my imagination," describing it as "a true arena for us, absolutely special." Platt added that it was "the new home of the World Series of Poker."
In his response, David Williams pointed to the history and scale, reflecting on the return of ESPN-era production values. He stated that he was "truly honored," adding, "I couldn't refuse." Regarding the scale and ambition of the venue, he said, "This scale, if not larger than a major production like 'The Great Chef,' is at least on par."
"If you want to get on the big stage, you have to build a big stage."
Meanwhile, newcomer Joe Stapleton said, "Standing on a stage that's more than ten times the size of all the houses I've ever lived in combined feels really strange. If you want to get on a big stage, you have to build a big stage."
For Norman Chad, a legendary broadcaster in WSOP history, this moment marks another milestone in the long evolution of poker broadcasting. He describes it as "Poker Craze 2.0 or 3.0," noting the huge changes from earlier eras and stating that "the Rio Hotel couldn't accommodate this scale."
Spunky Hwang focused on a broader vision, outlining the next steps for WSOP content. "We hope this is the third era," he said, describing a shift beyond traditional broadcasting and live streaming toward a unified production model built around scale, storytelling, and live reporting.
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