US sports broadcaster ESPN has secured a long-term extension to its current media rights agreement with the Missouri Valley Conference college sports league.
The new contract with the second-oldest National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I conference runs for 10 years through until the end of the 2023-24 academic year.
Under the deal, which renews a relationship first established in 1986, ESPN will work with the MVC and its 10 member institutions to develop in-house production capabilities at each campus.
This will provide extensive national coverage via the online ESPN3 platform, with a minimum of 820 events annually – including a minimum of 70 men’s basketball fixtures – to be shown during the final six years of the agreement.
ESPN also retains the rights to the MVC men’s basketball tournament semi-finals and championship, along with the women’s basketball tournament championship. The agreement will continue to feature multiple men’s basketball and Olympic sports broadcasts across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews each year.