ST. LOUIS -- For the fifth-straight year, CBS Sports Network will distribute a package of Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball games, including the State Farm MVC Tournament semifinals as well as eight regular-season contests, MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin announced today.
CBS, which has shown every title game of Arch Madness since 2006, will televise the 2020 championship tilt on March 8.
In 2018, CBS Sports and the MVC agreed to a multi-year extension to televise MVC men's basketball games on CBS and CBS Sports Network. The deal, which continues through 2023-24, is through a sublicense agreement with ESPN.
"Our partnership with CBS Sports, which began with the televising of the Arch Madness title game, has blossomed into a showcase for our men's basketball on a regular-season and post-season scale," said Elgin, who is in his 32nd year with the Missouri Valley Conference and the longest-tenured commissioner in the league's 113-year history.
"Next March, we will conduct our 30th-straight men's basketball tournament in St. Louis, and fittingly, CBS Sports will be there to document and share the pageantry of our anniversary celebration under the Arch," Elgin added.
The 2019-20 regular-season package of games on CBS Sports Network highlights 2018 NCAA Final Four participant, 2019 NIT participant and two-time defending MVC regular-season champion Loyola.
Of the seven pre-determined CBS Sports Network productions, Loyola will appear in three games, while 2019 Arch Madness champion and NCAA Tournament participant Bradley along with Missouri State will receive two appearances each.
The CBSSN package begins on Tuesday, Jan. 7, as 2019 MVC regular-season co-champion Drake plays host to Loyola in an 8 p.m. Central telecast at Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
The January slate concludes with Missouri State playing host to Valparaiso on Thursday, Jan. 23.
ESPN and CBSSN will utilize a Wildcard Selection process to determine Sunday, Feb. 9 clearances for Valparaiso at Loyola or Evansville at Bradley -- 1 p.m. Central on CBSSN or 3 p.m. Central on ESPNU.
In the month of February, remaining telecasts include Loyola at Indiana State (Feb. 5), Bradley at Southern Illinois (Feb. 15), Loyola at Missouri State (Feb. 22) and Bradley at Illinois State (Feb. 26).
The CBS Sports Network lineup concludes on Saturday, Feb. 29, when ESPN and CBSSN will use the Wildcard process to choose from five games -- Illinois State at Evansville, Loyola at Bradley, Valparaiso at Indiana State, Southern Illinois at Missouri State or Northern Iowa at Drake.
The tipoff for the CBS Sports Network choice will be at 1 p.m. Central, while the ESPN2 tip time will be at 5 p.m. Central. The Wildcard selections will be announced on Friday, Feb. 7.
CBS Sports' coverage of the 2020 State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship will include the semis on March 7 on CBS Sports Network. The title contest on March 8 will air at 1 p.m. Central on CBS Sports.
This year, the Missouri Valley will join the Big East (New York City) as the only Division I athletics conferences to conduct their men's basketball tournaments in the same city for 30 or more consecutive years.
Additional exposure will occur through Northern Iowa's participation in the Cancun Challenge in Mexico, Loyola's competing in the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase and Bradley visiting Memphis.
Northern Iowa will meet West Virginia in the Cancun Challenge semis at 7:30 p.m. Central on Nov. 26. Should UNI defeat WVU, it will play the winner of Wichita State-South Carolina in the finals at 7:30 p.m. Central on Nov. 27. Should the Panthers lose, UNI would play the loser of that game at 5 p.m. in the consolation final.
Loyola will play Vanderbilt at 5:30 p.m. Central on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, while Bradley will tangle with Memphis on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 8 p.m. at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee.
