There was lot of debate in the poker world after World Series of Poker committee announced that at this years WSOP they would try something new. They had decided to have a 4 month delay between rest of the WSOP ME and final table. They gave many reasons for this changes that were mostly related to getting more media time for the WSOP finalists and poker in general

Without a doubt ESPN also played a role in the decision to delay the final table. ESPN which is the official World Series OF Poker tv-channel had noticed a slight decline in their poker viewer numbers and they wanted to do something to boost the numbers. And it appears that they made the correct decision, according to the ESPN their average viewer numbers during the WSOP final table were up 46% from last year. 2008 was the first year that the final table was broadcasted during the same day as it happened and it is easy to predict that they will continue doing it in the future, which also means the delay before main event final, as ESPN always wants to first show the events that are played before ME during World Series Of Poker.