ESPN Agrees to Extensive Digital Deal with Conference USA, Bolstering the College Sports Offerings on ESPN+
- New Multi-Year Deal Boasts More than 175 Games Annually, at least 125 Combined Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball Games
- ESPN’s Digital Platforms Become Primary Home of Multiple C-USA Conference Championships and Adds Exclusive Early Round Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship Action
- More than 100 Games on ESPN+
ESPN has further bolstered the college sports offerings on ESPN+ with a new, multi-year agreement with Conference USA. The digital deal will deliver more than 175 C-USA games to fans each year, including more than 125 combined football, men’s and women’s basketball games, with more than 100 of the total games on ESPN+ and the remaining games on ESPN3. In addition, ESPN’s digital platforms become the primary home of multiple C-USA Conference Championships, while also adding exclusive early round men’s and women’s basketball championship action.
ESPN+ — the first multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company Direct-to-Consumer & International segment in conjunction with ESPN — continues to add to its college sports programming. This now includes live sports from numerous college athletics conferences, including the America East, Atlantic 10, Atlantic Sun, Horizon, Metro Atlantic, MAC, Missouri Valley, Southland, SoCon, Sun Belt and The Ivy League.
“As we look forward to the 2018-19 season and beyond, ESPN+ will offer the most expansive college sports lineup in the industry, right alongside professional leagues such as MLB, NHL, MLS and premier events from Grand Slam tennis, Top Rank boxing, UFC, the PGA Tour and more.” said Burke Magnus, ESPN executive vice president of programming and scheduling. “We are thrilled to grow our relationship with Conference USA and have its 14 member institutions as part of the impressive digital lineup which now features more games from the conference than any other network, including a significant number of post season games.”
Conference USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said, “ESPN has continually positioned itself on the forefront of digital distribution and emerging platforms, which makes them an ideal fit for us. We look forward to sharing the C-USA brand with their extensive audience for many more years.”
Conference USA Football Games Now among the More than 100 Exclusive Games on ESPN+
This season, 45 Conference USA football games will be available on ESPN’s digital platforms, with 32 streaming on ESPN+. Among the games carried on the subscription service are the home openers of UAB, Charlotte, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Rice, Southern Miss, Western Kentucky, and Louisiana Tech and eight conference games in the season’s final three weeks. The addition of C-USA games adds to the more than 100 exclusive games available on ESPN+ this season.
| Date | Time (ET) | Game | Network |
| Sat, Aug. 25 | 7 p.m. | Prairie View A&M at Rice | ESPN+ |
| Thu, Aug. 30 | 8 p.m. | Savannah State at UAB | ESPN+ |
| Sat, Sept. 1 | 6 p.m. | Fordham at Charlotte | ESPN+ |
| 7 p.m. | Jackson State at Southern Miss | ESPN+ | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Northern Arizona at UTEP | ESPN3 | |
| Sat, Sept. 8 | 6 p.m. | Appalachian State at Charlotte | ESPN+ |
| 6:30 p.m. | Eastern Kentucky at Marshall | ESPN+ | |
| 7 p.m. | UT Martin at Middle Tennessee | ESPN+ | |
| 7 p.m. | Southern at Louisiana Tech | ESPN+ | |
| 7 p.m. | Louisiana-Monroe at Southern Miss | ESPN3 | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Incarnate Word at North Texas | ESPN+ | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Maine at Western Kentucky | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Sept. 15 | 6 p.m. | Old Dominion at Charlotte | ESPN3 |
| Sat, Sept. 22 | 7 p.m. | Texas State at UT-San Antonio | ESPN+ |
| 7 p.m. | Rice at Southern Miss | ESPN+ | |
| 7:30 p.m. | New Mexico State at UTEP | ESPN3 | |
| Sat, Sept. 29 | TBA | Charlotte at UAB | ESPN3 |
| 7 p.m. | UTEP at UT-San Antonio | ESPN+ | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Florida International | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Oct. 6 | 7 p.m. | UT-San Antonio at Rice | ESPN3 |
| Sat, Oct. 13 | 1 p.m. | UAB at Rice | ESPN+ |
| 2 p.m. | Southern Miss at North Texas | ESPN3 | |
| 3:30 p.m. | Western Kentucky at Charlotte | ESPN+ | |
| 7 p.m. | Louisiana Tech at UT-San Antonio | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Oct. 20 | 3 p.m. | Charlotte at Middle Tennessee | ESPN3 |
| 3:30 p.m. | UTEP at Louisiana Tech | ESPN+ | |
| 7 p.m. | UT-San Antonio at Southern Miss | ESPN+ | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Rice at Florida International | ESPN+ | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Old Dominion at Western Kentucky | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Oct. 27 | 2 p.m. | Southern Miss at Charlotte | ESPN3 |
| 3:30 p.m. | Middle Tennessee at Old Dominion | ESPN+ | |
| 4 p.m. | Rice at North Texas | ESPN+ | |
| 7:30 p.m. | UAB at UTEP | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Nov. 3 | 3:30 p.m. | UTEP at Rice | ESPN3 |
| Sat, Nov. 10 | 2 p.m. | North Texas at Old Dominion | ESPN3 |
| 2:30 p.m. | Charlotte at Marshall | ESPN+ | |
| 3 p.m. | Middle Tennessee at UTEP | ESPN+ | |
| 7 p.m. | Rice at Louisiana Tech | ESPN+ | |
| 7 p.m. | Florida International at UT-San Antonio | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Nov. 17 | 2 p.m. | Florida International at Charlotte | ESPN3 |
| 2 p.m. | VMI at Old Dominion | ESPN+ | |
| Sat, Nov. 24 | 1 p.m. | Old Dominion at Rice | ESPN+ |
| 3 p.m. | Southern Miss at UTEP | ESPN+ | |
| 3 p.m. | UAB at Middle Tennessee | ESPN3 | |
| 7:00 p.m. | North Texas at UT-San Antonio | ESPN+ |
C-USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Offerings Increase on ESPN’s Digital Platforms; Exclusive Post-Season Games Added
Conference USA men’s and women’s basketball will expand their presence on ESPN’s digital platforms under the new deal, with more than 85 regular season games available each season and exclusive coverage of both conference championship’s first rounds.
ESPN’s Digital Platforms Become the Primary Home of Multiple Conference Championships
Together, ESPN+ and ESPN3 will now be the primary home of multiple C-USA Conference Championships, with more than 40 post season games each year across a variety of sports, including:
- Men’s Soccer: All six games including the championship finals
- Women’s Soccer: All seven games including the championship finals
- Volleyball: All seven games including the championship finals
- Baseball: All games leading up the championship game
- Softball: All games leading up to the championship game
ESPN’s digital platforms will also spotlight additional Conference USA Championships throughout the year with special highlight shows. Among the sports expected to be featured include cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, swimming and diving, golf and tennis.
About ESPN+
ESPN+ is the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International division in conjunction with ESPN. It offers fans thousands of additional live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN’s linear TV or digital networks. This includes hundreds of MLB, NHL and MLS games, Grand Slam tennis, Top Rank boxing, PGA Tour golf, college sports, international rugby, cricket, the full library of ESPN Films (including 30 for 30) and more. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year).
ESPN+ is an integrated part of the completely redesigned ESPN App. Already the leading sports app, the new ESPN App is the premier all-in-one digital sports platform for fans and is a showcase of the company’s culture of innovation. With a richer, increasingly more personalized experience, the new ESPN App curates all of ESPN’s incredible content into an experience unique to each fan’s individual tastes. ESPN+ is also available through ESPN.com.
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Media contact: Derek Volner at 860-384-9986; [email protected] and @DerekVolner
