ESPN has announced the renewal of its deal with the Atlantic 10 Conference. Like CBS Sports Network’s deal, it lasts eight years starting with the 2013-14 season and lasting through 2021.
This new deal will provide ESPN with the A-10 Men’s Basketball Championship starting in 2014. CBS will air the game this season and then the rights revert to ESPN in 2014.
Overall, ESPN will get 14 men’s basketball games and two women’s games. Many will be aired on ESPNU while a handful will be aired either on ESPN or ESPN2.
ESPN also retains the rights to the A-10’s Women’s Basketball Championship game.
Here’s the ESPN announcement on the A-10 rights renewal.
ESPN Extends Agreement with Atlantic 10 Conference for Men’s & Women’s Basketball Rights
ESPN has reached a multiyear extension with the Atlantic 10 Conference for the league’s premier men’s and women’s basketball games, including each conference championship. The agreement – which will begin with the 2013-14 season and conclude in 2021-22 – will continue to include extensive action on ESPNU.As part of the deal, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will remain the conference’s primary rightsholder, televising 14 men’s and two women’s regular season basketball games annually with six of the men’s contests airing on ESPNU. ESPN will continue to control rights to the men’s and women’s conference championship game, televising the men’s game on ESPN, ESPN2 or via sublicense and the women’s game on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU each year.ESPN’s Atlantic 10 programming will be available across multiple platforms, including ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, WatchESPN, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic and ESPN.com.“The Atlantic 10 is a very deep conference with a proven track record of success at the highest levels of the sport,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN senior vice president, college sports programming. “This long-term extension will continue to serve fans with the Conference’s premier content across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU into the next decade.”Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade added, “The partnership between ESPN and the Atlantic 10 Conference is one that we are very proud of. ESPN has been an important media partner with expansive distribution platforms for national and international exposure that has help the Atlantic 10 Conference to grow exponentially. The strong brand association between the A-10 and ESPN has enabled the conference to showcase its basketball and sports inventory on one of the best sports media networks in the world.”
More coming up.
