The House of Highlights Show Down dodgeball tournament, live streamed on YouTube on June 18th, 2021, featured popular YouTube influencers competing for a $250,000 cash prize.

Sponsored by Pizza Hut, a substantial amount of money went into the Show Down production filmed at Warner Brothers Studios in Los Angeles, California ($1 million by one insider estimate). The production illustrates that dodgeball can be a very marketable commodity and provides an example of what a professional dodgeball presentation looks like.

Though it was nice to see dodgeball featured in a professional presentation, it was also frustrating not to see real dodgeball players in the competition. Almost all of the competitors were lacking in skills. Many threw the balls short, and one player kept throwing air balls. Imagine how exciting the tournament would have been with the top athletes of today’s competitive dodgeball teams.

Of note for the dodgeball community, USA Dodgeball president Jake Mason and executive director Brendan Tickner did a nice job of reffing the tournament. Dodgeball legend Vince Marchbanks, described as the Lebron James of Dodgeball by the Wall Street Journal, was in attendance as a coach for one of the teams.