The Basketball Tournament extends ESPN deal

Pay-television broadcaster ESPN has signed a multi-year extension to its rights deal for the Basketball Tournament, a US-based amateur, single-elimination competition.

ESPN will show coverage of all 63 games during this year’s contest across its platforms.

ESPN has also committed to broadcasting a minimum of 15 games on its ESPN or ESPN2 channels, up from nine during the 2016 event.

The Basketball Tournament features 64 teams of top professional, college alumni and international players competing in a five-on-five contest for a winner-take-all prize of $2m (€1.9m).

The 2017 edition of the tournament is due to begin on July 8.