CHICAGO – 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. This agreement will make Sycamore athletic contests available to more than 99 million homes.
“The 10-year extension of the ESPN-MVC media rights agreement clearly signals a new era for our Conference,” said Commissioner Doug Elgin. ”Over the term of this new agreement, our member institutions will literally be producing thousands of live events that will be carried on ESPN3.
“The co-branded network that we are announcing today – The Valley on ESPN3 – is recognition that the MVC continues to be relevant in an increasingly competitive Division I environment. The exponential increase in exposure will bring significant benefits to men's and women's basketball, and to every Conference-sponsored sport.”
“I am pleased to announce the launch of The Valley on ESPN3,” said Indiana State Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman. “This will allow our students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, parents and Sycamore Athletics supporters around the world to view most of our teams live, every time we compete home or away. I hope that everyone will join us as we support all of our Sycamore Athletics programs and have the opportunity to view them live on The Valley on ESPN3.”
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 games) in the final six years of the agreement.
“A key aspect of this new campus-based production model will be the involvement of students in academic programs – broadcast media and journalism majors – providing hands-on experience that will translate to opportunities for our graduates to gain entry into television media,” Elgin said.
ISU students will produce home telecasts, gaining opportunities to serve as directors, producers, audio engineers, graphics and replay operators, camera operators and on-air talent. A full-time sports video expert from the ISU Student Media team will train and supervise the broadcast teams.
"This is fantastic experiential learning opportunity for our students,” said Philip Glende, executive director of student media at Indiana State. “ESPN is a leader in sports broadcasting, and this partnership will give students a chance to be part of a team producing nationally distributed live sports video."
It all starts in September when students will produce telecasts of Sycamore volleyball games played at the ISU Arena. Several late season football games at Memorial Stadium will also be featured as well as all men's and women's basketball games at Hulman Center. In 2017-18, home baseball and softball will be added to the line-up and coverage of soccer games will be added in 2018-19. The full schedule will include about 90 games per year.
To create these video productions, Indiana State is acquiring broadcast-quality, high definition video cameras, lenses and field gear, and is constructing a central control room equipped with video mixing and switching equipment on the lower level of Dreiser Hall. The control room will be connected by fiber to all Sycamore sports venues.
The video production season starts with the volleyball game against IUPUI on Sept. 8 and may include as many as 17 volleyball games, followed by football and basketball beginning in November.
“I'm proud of the commitment that our Presidents Council and athletics directors are making to our student-athletes and teams, and to the campus community, in general,” Elgin continued. “The opportunity to promote our academic programs, and to showcase individuals throughout our campus communities will also be greatly enhanced. We are extremely grateful that the Missouri Valley's relationship with ESPN will be stronger than ever.”
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.
ESPN3 is a live multi-screen sports network accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The network is available at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.
The contract with ESPN was negotiated through the Missouri Valley Conference office in St. Louis in consultation with officials from member schools.
Missouri Valley Conference
The Missouri Valley Conference, the nation's second-oldest NCAA Division I conference, continues to be a leader in college athletics and is one of the nation's most progressive conferences, celebrating its 109th season in 2015-16. League members have worked together to focus on common goals and objectives, placing a high value on league harmony, while continuing to invest in athletic programs to compete at the highest level. League all-sport members include Bradley, Drake, Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, Loyola Chicago, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and Wichita State.
ESPN, Inc.
ESPN, Inc., is the world's leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring a portfolio of more than 50 multimedia sports assets. The company is comprised of seven U.S. 24-hour television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes and Longhorn Network (with the SEC Network launching August 2014) and five HD simulcast services (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS and ESPN Deportes). Other businesses include ESPN Regional Television, ESPN International (24 networks, syndication, radio, digital), ESPN Radio (broadcast, satellite, digital, a growing category led by ScoreCenter), digital services (ESPN.com plus a variety of sport-, college-, and market-specific sites; multi-screen WatchESPN and ESPN3; plus mobile TV and video, apps, alerts and messaging), ESPN The Magazine, consumer products and espnW. Based in Bristol, Conn., ESPN is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The Hearst Corporation holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN.
