BCS National Championship Game between nation’s top two teams live on television and online

Extensive coverage of five BCS Games and Bowl Games across ESPN America and ESPN Player 

The pinnacle of the NCAA Football season in the US will be broadcast live and in high definition on ESPN America as it brings viewers exclusive coverage of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and Bowl Games. Every single game will also be available live and on-demand via online service ESPN Player.

This year the BCS National Championship Game will pit top-ranked Louisiana State University, the Southeastern Conference Champions who have a perfect 13-0 record, against second-ranked Alabama (11-1), the 2009/10 National Champions. ESPN America will bring viewers all the atmosphere and live build-up to the game at 11pm GMT on Monday 9th of January 2012, with preview show College GameDay. The match-up will follow from the 76,468-capacity Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans at 1:30am.

The BCS games start at 10pm on Monday 2nd January with a double bill comprising the Rose Bowl – Oregon against Wisconsin – and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, which sees Oklahoma State take on Stanford. On Tuesday 3rd January the Allstate Sugar Bowl will be live at 1:30am as Michigan face Virginia Tech, while on Wednesday 4th January at 1:30am, fans can watch the Discover Orange Bowl between Clemson and West Virginia.

BCS GAMES ON ESPN AMERICA AND ESPN PLAYER

Mon, 2 Jan        10pm                Rose Bowl Game Presented by VIZIO      Wisconsin v Oregon     

Mon, 2 Jan*      1:30am             Tostitos Fiesta Bowl                                      Stanford v Oklahoma St

Tue, 3 Jan*        1:30am             Allstate Sugar Bowl                                       Michigan v Virginia Tech

Wed, 4 Jan*      1:30am             Discover Orange Bowl                                   West Virginia v Clemson

Mon, 9 Jan*      1:30am             Allstate BCS National Championship      Alabama v LSU

* dates are shifted on a 2am-to-2am day calendar, to reflect that the games begin in the overnight period. Ex: a game at 1:30am on 2 Jan. is by standard calendar early morning on 3 Jan.

ESPN America will broadcast 23 live postseason Bowl Games, while ESPN Player will offer live and on-demand access to every one of the 30 match-ups. ESPN America’s live coverage starts at 7pm on Saturday 17th December with the New Mexico Bowl between Temple and Wyoming. The game is the first of three back-to-back contests, also featuring the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – Ohio v Utah St – and the New Orleans Bowl, where San Diego State face Louisiana-Lafayette. The Bowl games run through to Sunday 8th January, including triple bills on Friday 30th Saturday 31st December, with the GoDaddy.com Bowl between Northern Illinois and Arkansas State live at 2am on Sunday 8th January rounding out the action.

This year’s BCS and Bowl Games will feature the best young talent in the country, including all five candidates for the Heisman trophy – awarded to the year’s most outstanding college football player – as players look to shine on the big stage ahead of next year’s NFL Draft. Last year’s first overall draft pick was Heisman-winning quarterback Cam Newton, who won the BCS National Championship with Auburn and now stars for the Carolina Panthers.

Four of the five Heisman finalists will feature in BCS games – early season favourite, Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, will play in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Wisconsin running back Montee Ball will line up in the Rose Bowl, while two of the candidates will be on opposing sides in the National Championship Game – Alabama running back Trent Richardson and LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu. Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, who won the prestigious trophy this weekend, will step onto the field in the Valero Alamo Bowl against Washington, live on ESPN America and ESPN Player at 2am on Thursday 29th December.

Viewers will also be able to keep up with all the action throughout the Bowl period with regular editions of College GameDay and College Football Special providing the latest news, updates and highlights.

COMPLETE BOWL SEASON COVERAGE ON ESPN AMERICA

Sat, 17 Dec       7:00pm             Gildan New Mexico Bowl                                                 Temple v Wyoming       

                              10:30pm           Famous Idaho Potato Bowl                                            Ohio v Utah St 

                               2:00am            R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl                                    SDSU v La Lafayette

Tue, 20 Dec      1:00am             Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg                             Fla Int’l v Marshall         

Wed, 21 Dec     1:00am             San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl     TCU v La Tech  

Thu, 22 Dec      1:00am             MAACO Bowl Las Vegas                                                     Arizona St v Boise St   

Sat, 24 Dec       1:00am             Sheraton Hawaii Bowl                                                          Nevada v So Miss        

Mon, 26 Dec     10:00pm          AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl                          Missouri v UNC

Tue, 27 Dec      9:30pm             Little Caesars Bowl                                                                W Michigan v Purdue    

                              1:00am              Belk Bowl                                                                                    Louisville v NC State    

Wed, 28 Dec     9:30pm             Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman     Toledo v Air Force        

                              1:00am             Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl                             California v Texas         

Thu, 29 Dec      10:30pm          Champs Sports Bowl                                                              Florida St v N Dame     

                             2:00am              Valero Alamo Bowl                                                                 Washington v Baylor    

Fri, 30 Dec        5:00pm             Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl                               BYU v Tulsa     

                              8:30pm             New Era Pinstripe Bowl                                                        Rutgers v Iowa St         

                             11:30pm           Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl           Miss St v W Forest       

Sat, 31 Dec       7:00pm             Hyundai Sun Bowl                                                                 Georgia Tech v Utah

                             8:30pm             AutoZone Liberty Bowl                                                       Cincinnati v Vanderbilt  

                           12.30am            Chick-fil-A Bowl                                                                       Virginia v Auburn          

Mon, 2 Jan      6:00pm             Capital One Bowl                                                                     Nebraska v S Carolina  

                            6:00pm             Outback Bowl                                                                           Michigan State v Georgia

Sun, 8 Jan        2:00am             GoDaddy.com Bowl                                                              Arkansas St v N Illinois

NCAA FOOTBALL BCS AND BOWL GAMES ON ESPN PLAYER

Fans will be able to watch all the BCS games live and on demand on ESPN Player, as well as nearly all the action from Bowl season. ESPN Player College Pass gives American collegiate sports fans access to all of the NCAA football coverage, as well as complete coverage of NCAA college basketball (including the NCAA March^® Madness^® Tournament), lacrosse, baseball, ice hockey and more. The broadband sports service gives fans the ability to pause and rewind on-demand events, allowing them to scroll to any part of the game they may have missed, review a great play with the 10-second rewind button, or return the start of the game with a single click.

Visit ESPNPlayer.com to for more information and to subscribe to ESPN Player College Pass.

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About ESPN Player

ESPN Player, ESPN’s broadband platform in Europe, provides sports fans with live and on-demand sports action from the U.S. and Europe online.  It joins ESPN’s growing digital portfolio in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which includes the online and mobile websites ESPNcricinfo.com, ESPNsoccernet.com, ESPNscrum.com, ESPNf1.com and the UK-focused sports portal ESPN.co.uk.

ESPN Player features more than 1500 live events and thousands of hours of live an on-demand sport, including but not limited to:

• US College Football:  Hundreds of games from the university gridiron of the US, including regular season, Bowl Games and Bowl Championship Series;
• US College Basketball:  Hundreds of games from the hard courts of the USA’s top universities, including the regular season, Championship Week and, for the first time, March Madness
• US College Lacrosse, Baseball, Softball, Ice Hockey, Soccer, Volleyball and more
• X Games
• American Le Mans

ESPN Player puts the user in full control of their broadband sports viewing experience. Fans have the ability to pause and rewind on-demand events, giving the viewer the ability to scroll to any part of the game they may have missed, review a great play or goal with the 60-second rewind button, or return the start of the game with a single click. Subscriptions to ESPN Player are available for Daily, Monthly and Annual Passes.

ESPN Player features high quality streaming video, with games streamed at up to 2.2mbps.  Player also utilises adaptive streaming technology that dynamically adjusts to maximize video quality depending upon a user’s connection speed and various other factors.  

Costs for College Pass subscription:

• £8.99 for a one-day
• £17.99 for a single month
• £99.99 for one year

About ESPN

ESPN, Inc. is the world’s leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring a portfolio of over 50 multimedia sports assets. 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.

ESPN International has grown to include ownership — in whole or in part — of 46 television networks outside of the United States, as well as a variety of brand extension businesses, which allow ESPN to reach fans in 200 countries and territories.

Throughout Europe, ESPN now includes a portfolio of television and digital brands including ESPN/ ESPN HD (UK and Ireland), ESPN Classic, ESPN America/ESPN America HD, ESPN.co.uk, ESPNCricinfo.com, ESPNSoccernet.com, ESPNScrum.com, ESPNF1.com, ESPN Goals (UK only) and ESPN Player (broadband). 

ESPN Classic now has five networks (UK, French, Italian, pan-European, African and Middle Eastern feeds) available in more than 40 countries.

ESPN America and ESPN America HD, the only European networks devoted exclusively to the best in North American sport, features coverage of the NFL, NHL, MLB and NCAA Football and Basketball across Europe, available to 19 million homes in more than 40 countries. 

In the UK and Ireland, ESPN and ESPN HD feature exclusive live coverage of the Barclays Premier League, the FA Cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby, Clydesdale Bank Premier League, UEFA Europa League, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga, UFC, French Top 14 Rugby, NBA, NFL, MLB and much more.