Doug GreenbergOct 27, 2025, 06:51 AM ET
There are certain periods of the sports calendar that stand out more than others. Sometimes, they correspond with the mainstream holiday calendar (such as Thanksgiving for the NFL, Christmas Day for the NBA or Fourth of July for MLB), while other times, championship festivities become quasi-holidays in and of themselves (such as the Super Bowl and March Madness).
But in autumn, a very special type of sports occasion rolls around that celebrates the ubiquity of American sports and gives fans a reason to stay glued to their couches, eyes fixed on the TV screen.
This is, of course, the sports equinox, a day when all four major professional sports leagues in the United States -- MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL -- are in action. Since its very first occurrence on Oct. 17, 1971, there have been 31 such occasions, with the 32nd occurring on Oct. 27, 2025. While not every year has had a sports equinox, since 2015 there has been at least one per year, with sometimes up to three.
Sports equinoxes generally fall in October due to the way league calendars line up: MLB is in its postseason and the NFL is in its second month, while the NBA and NHL begin their seasons during the month. Sometimes, sports equinoxes stretch into November -- the most recent occurrence being Nov. 3, 2022 -- and in 2020, there were actually three equinoxes in September, owing to schedule irregularities from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bettors are taking notice
Aside from being a generally joyous occasion for sports enthusiasts, the "holiday," as BetMGM chief revenue officer Matt Prevost describes it, provides a boost to sports betting handle when bettors look to join in on the excitement and sportsbooks amplify their special offerings to get in on the fun. "It's an incredible period of time," Prevost told ESPN.
According to data from the sportsbook, BetMGM saw 15% more wagers placed on 2024's sports equinox day than on an average day during the rest of the year. The phenomenon is growing in the minds of bettors too, as the 2024 equinox had over 50% more bets and over 33% more handle than the 2023 edition.
The 2025 edition will feature Game 3 of the World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers tied at 1-1, a "Monday Night Football" matchup between the Washington Commanders and Kansas City Chiefs, a big slate of 11 NBA games and two NHL contests. While sports equinoxes don't always fall on Mondays -- they're also possible on Thursdays and Sundays -- the past three (including 2025) have.
NBA provides a boost
Even before the NBA season began, Mondays in October 2025 have provided a veritable feast for sports fans. Oct. 13 featured both MLB championship series, two NFL games and a full NHL slate, while Oct. 20 featured Game 7 of the ALCS -- that propelled the Blue Jays to their first World Series in 32 years -- another two NFL games and another full NHL slate.
Prevost sees NBA joining the action as not only the last piece of the puzzle to complete the equinox, but also as an opportunity to reignite betting for the year and reengage basketball bettors in general, which is especially important given basketball is the second-most bet-on sport behind football marketwide.
"At the start of each season, we have a group of customers that really only bet [on] basketball or are basketball-dominant," said Prevost. "So I think the sports equinox offers us an opportunity to reactivate those customers that are mostly basketball centric. That's probably the promotional activity we'll be most interested in pursuing."
A big impact on MLB, too
Per BetMGM's 2024 data, NBA gets a higher boost in ticket share on sports equinox day compared to the week of the occasion. But the biggest comparative bump for any of the leagues belongs to MLB, which saw significant increases in bet and money percentages on the sports equinox itself. The heightened stakes of MLB postseason and World Series games seem to engage bettors at this time of year more than the dog days of summer.
"Baseball [postseason] kicks in and it's less games, but the games are bigger," DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN. "So even though you get a little bit less content, the games are more meaningful. I think that just adds to the betting interest."
Of course, it also helps the books when the series goes as long as possible, and the 2025 MLB postseason was a mixed bag: Three of the four Wild Card series went the maximum three games, but then only half of the divisional and championship series went the maximum number of games in the following rounds.
The World Series is off to a good start in that regard, plus the presence of the Blue Jays -- who play in Ontario, which is Canada's only province with privately owned sportsbooks -- and the big-market Dodgers is also likely helping matters.
"While we don't pick favorites, the level of fan interest is obviously going to be much higher and the betting interest will be much higher if the most popular teams are in it, and also the states in which we have regulated gaming," Prevost said near the beginning of the postseason.
All eyes on October
October is a big month for sports and sports betting in general, as BetMGM says that October 2024 saw 32.4% more tickets and 27.3% more handle than the average of the other 11 months of the year. Fiserv, a financial technology company that provides payments platforms for several of the country's largest online sportsbooks, describes this time of year as a "defining stress test" for sportsbook infrastructure.
"With the increase in sports betting that takes place in October, the biggest risk to sportsbooks and gaming operators is downtime with their payments system and their ability to support the volume of transactions coming in and going out," Fiserv's head of gaming, hotel, travel & leisure Paul Jardon told ESPN over email. "We have seen our sportsbook and gaming merchants' need to support their customers' growing desire to have real-time access to funds."
Sportsbooks plan to lean into the action with special markets and profit boosts to mark Monday's sports equinox, giving bettors of all levels more incentive to celebrate the holiday. But money on the line or not, the sports equinox represents a perfect opportunity for sports fans to reconnect with the major sports leagues and rejoice in the entertainment they provide.
