Elgin Interview – Part Two – Television Strategy

(St. Louis, MO) – You don’t ever have to miss a Missouri Valley Conference basketball game again. The Valley has inked a landmark deal that guarantees virtually every game can be seen somewhere. If you have cable TV and the internet the Valley world is at your finger tips.

The SEC and Big 10 have nothing on the MVC. Fox Sports Midwest, ESPN and CBSsports.com will be covering a record number of Valley basketball games this year and for many years to come.

The Missouri Valley Conference will have a 115-live event package on ESPN networks during the 2015-16 academic year. The Valley, which is in the second year of a 10-year agreement with ESPN, will clear 56 men’s basketball telecasts on ESPN platforms — ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.

Five MVC schools will compete in ESPN Events-branded multi-team tournaments.

“Participation in all five of the ESPN Events-branded tournaments is extraordinary for The Valley,” said MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin. “You can never start too early in building at-large resumes for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee and having the opportunity to play these teams on a neutral floor in front of a national audience is huge exposure for our Conference.”

Commissioner Elgin says for the league to remain competitive they had to make a major television push. Getting all three of their media partners to provide blanket coverage was a must.

 

The Missouri Valley Conference will clear a 24-game men’s basketball television package on FOX Sports Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago in 2015-16.

“Finding consistent programming windows that make sense for our teams and our fans is challenging, and when you factor professional content into the equation, it can be a daunting task,” said Jack R. Watkins, MVC Associate Commissioner. “It’s through support shown by Jack Donovan (senior vice president/general manager) at FOX Sports and Phil Bedella (vice president/general manager) at Comcast SportsNet Chicago that we continually achieve our objectives.”

FSM has been a key player in the Valley’s media strategy. MVC fans know their regional Fox affiliate to be their sentimental home for Valley hoops. With nationally known and respected in-house broadcasters like Mitch Holthus, Mark Adams and John Rooney on the call not only are the games great to watch but they are an entertaining and educational. Those broadcasters and others like Scott Warmann, Tom Ackerman and Rich Zvosec wear their Valley colors on their sleeves and know and appreciate the league like few others.

CBS Sports Network will air a 10-game Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball television package, including the State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals as well as eight regular-season games. Additionally, CBS Sports will continue to televise the Arch Madness title game, which it has aired for ten consecutive years.

The growing presence of CBS Sports Network is a key component to the multi-layered strategy. Elgin says CBS is synonymous with ‘March Madness’ and the NCAA tournament.

 

So set your DVR, type in your URL’s get ready to feast on MVC basketball this season.

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(Note: portions of this story come from MVC press releases)