Miouri Valley Conference Extends TV Agreements with ESPN, CBS Sports

The Missouri Valley Conference announced television rights extentions with both of its network partners, ESPN and CBS Sports, this week.

ESPN, Missouri Valley Re-Up Through 2023-24

ESPN and the Missouri Valley Conference have announced a 10-year extension to their current media rights agreement that will provide increased coverage of conference events across ESPN platforms through the 2023-24 academic year.

As part of the deal - which continues a business relationship that began in 1986 - ESPN, the Missouri Valley Conference and its 10 member institutions will work jointly to develop in-house production capabilities at each campus that will provide significant national coverage for multiple sports on ESPN3 and hands-on educational opportunities for students. As a result, ESPN3 will showcase a minimum of 820 events a year (a minimum of 70 men's basketball) in the final six years of the agreement.

ESPN also retains the rights to the Men's Basketball Tournament semifinals and championship and Women's Basketball Tournament championship each year. The agreement will continue to feature multiple men's basketball and Olympic sports game telecasts across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNEWS each year.

CBS Sports Signs Multi-Year Deal to Televise Missouri Valley Conf. Basketball

CBS Sports has reached a multi-year agreement to televise Missouri Valley Conference college basketball games on the CBS Television Network and CBS Sports Network. The deal, which begins this season and continues through 2019-20, is through a sublicense agreement with ESPN.

CBS Sports will continue to broadcast the Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Championship game, which it has aired for ten consecutive years. Arch Madness coverage extends toCBS Sports Network, which for the first time will televise the tournament semi-finals, as well as eight regular-season games per year.

We are excited to expand our relationship with the Missouri Valley Conference, said Dan Weinberg, Executive Vice President, Programming, CBS Sports. Given the national prominence of The Valley, this deal brings more high quality college basketball to CBS Sports Network, and returns the always exciting Missouri Valley Conference Championship to CBS.

We're very proud of the relationship we've had over the past decade with CBS Sports. The network has secured the rights to our tournament championship game through 2020 which is clear recognition of the respect our league has earned in college basketball circles, said MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin. Having our championship game aired on the first weekend in March by CBS Sports places our league in elite company. We are elated to have CBS Sports Network televising a regular-season men's basketball package and our tournament semifinals - a fitting tribute to our student-athletes and coaches.

The perennially strong Missouri Valley Conference saw two teams represent the league in the final Associated Press rankings in 2015 - Wichita State (14) and UNI (11). Both teams played in the NCAA Tournament, with Wichita State reaching the Sweet 16 with victories over storied programs Indiana and Kansas. Wichita State's run marked the sixth MVC team to reach the Sweet 16 in the past 10 years. The Valley also had the nation's best post-season winning percentage (.824) in 2015, as the league's five post-season qualifiers combined for a 14-3 record.

LINK:	http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2015/07/espn-and-missouri-valley-conf...
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