From 16-24 October 2027, Santiago, Chile, will host the Special Olympics World Games. This marks the first Games to be held in Latin America and in a Spanish-speaking country. The Capitol will welcome 6,000+ athletes from more than 170 countries to the National Stadium Park (Parque Estadio Nacional), where they will compete across 23 sports.
ESPN will join the Special Olympics World Games Santiago 2027 as the Global Broadcast Partner. In addition to Santiago 2027, ESPN is also the Global Broadcast Partner for the World Winter Games and USA Games, rounding out an eight-year agreement announced in 2019.
“Media coverage of the World Games represents an opportunity for millions of people to discover our athletes, witness their talent and challenge perceptions of what people with intellectual disabilities can achieve,” said Zehra Sayin, Chief Marketing, Communications, and Development Officer at Special Olympics International. “ESPN has helped bring Special Olympics athletes and their stories to global audiences for decades, and we look forward to working together again to showcase this historic first World Games in Latin America.”
More Than Four Decades Alongside Special Olympics
ESPN’s relationship with Special Olympics spans more than 42 years, with its multimedia coverage beginning in 2013. Since then, it has been the official broadcaster of Special Olympics World Games and USA Games events in Los Angeles (2015), World Winter Games Austria (2017), and USA Games Seattle (2018), World Games Abu Dhabi (2019), USA Games Orlando (2022), World Games Berlin (2023), Winter World Games Turin (2025) and World Games Minneapolis (2026), as well as the 50th anniversary of Special Olympics.
ESPN also serves as the Global Presenting Sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports® to promote social inclusion and acceptance through the power of sports — bringing athletes with and without intellectual disabilities together on the same team through shared sports trainings and competitive experiences. Since 2013, ESPN has helped increase Unified Sport participants globally by 111%, now reaching over 1.8M globally.
In addition to the competitions, ESPN has added year-round news coverage and features on the athletes, communities, coaches, and culture of Special Olympics.
“ESPN and The Walt Disney Company are incredibly proud to once again showcase the inspiring stories of Special Olympics athletes representing their home countries and competing on the global stage in Santiago next year,” said Burke Magnus, President of ESPN Content. “Special Olympics represents so much of what makes sports special — the ability to unite communities and positively impact lives. We look forward to celebrating these remarkable athletes and sharing their stories across our platforms through powerful storytelling.”
“It is a source of pride for us that ESPN, with more than four decades alongside Special Olympics, is part of Santiago 2027. Having our athletes’ stories reach audiences around the world is an opportunity to change how people view intellectual disabilities and an incentive for Chile to make significant progress on inclusion,” said Rodrigo Gardella, Executive Director of the Special Olympics World Games Santiago 2027 Local Organizing Committee.
