MVC tournament finals back to ESPN?

by **MVCfans** » October 24th, 2011, 8:14 am

Just saw the press release. New agreement between the Valley and ESPN. More games on ESPN3 and the rights to the MVC tournament final.

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by **unipanther99** » October 24th, 2011, 8:17 am

Hopefully the final will stay on Sunday.

by **Duan** » October 24th, 2011, 8:34 am

unipanther99 wrote:Hopefully the final will stay on Sunday.

Wow, never thought about that! I hope so too!

by **MVCfans** » October 24th, 2011, 8:38 am

The valley just tweeted out that even though ESPN has the rights, the final will still be on CBS. Essentially ESPN subleases them to CBS. What this means is that we're probably stuck in the bracket busters for another 5 years though.

by **BirdmanBB** » October 24th, 2011, 9:06 am

What does this agreement have to do with the bracketbusters? The way the press release read that even beyond this agreement is the chance for additional appearences because of the bracketbuster, not as a part of it.

It sounds like this is an increase compared to our curent deal, but I wonder by how much.

8 games to be broadcasted yearly on espn(2) sounds great. It would definitely lure better mid major teams for home/home's because of the tv exposure. They also retain the rights to distribute all MVC-TV games on ESPN3. They are giving us 4 men's and 4 women's on ESPN3 that will increase each year, along with 8 men's games on ESPNU.

edit: I think I read over this, but the 8 games on ESPN(2) sound like they are for regular season games. I'm guessing schools indivually contract TV for their non-conference tv games.

by **dannyobyrne** » October 24th, 2011, 9:37 am

BirdmanBB wrote:What does this agreement have to do with the bracketbusters? The way the press release read that even beyond this agreement is the chance for additional appearences because of the bracketbuster, not as a part of it.

As part of the current agreement, ESPN holds the rights to the MVC title game, but they essentially sub-lease it to CBS on the condition that we participate in the BracketBuster event. As it looks like ESPN still holds the rights, and will still be "sub-leasing" it to CBS, I think that's where the conclusion is being drawn that we're going to be involved in this god-awful event for five more years.

by **LanceShock** » October 24th, 2011, 10:42 am

Have you looked at the nonconference schedules that Valley schools put together? While BracketBusters could be better, unless the Valley can make an additional deal with another conference for a challenge, I don't see the extra nonconference games schools would schedule being any better than the BracketBuster games.

by **unipanther99** » October 24th, 2011, 12:43 pm

Bracketbusters has been great for UNI over the years. I know others have had problematic match-ups, but I think it has helped more than it has hurt.

by **unipanther99** » October 24th, 2011, 2:28 pm

The fox sports/comcast schedule was just announced: http://www.mvc-sports.com/media/2011-12 ... omcast.pdf

by **Red** » October 25th, 2011, 8:34 am

I don't care who shows the game, but I think we need to stay on Sunday. I can't imagine how bad attendance would be on a Monday or Tuesday night.