OVC Tournament Gains Title Sponsor

Editor: The following is part of a press release from ovcsports.com.

(Brentwood, TN) – The Ohio Valley Conference announced an agreement with Kentucky Wild to be the presenting sponsor of the 2021 OVC Men’s & Women’s Basketball Championships. The event will be named the “OVC Basketball Championships Presented By Kentucky Wild.”

This year’s event is scheduled for March 3-6 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana and will feature eight men’s and eight women’s teams competing for a spot in the NCAA Basketball Tournaments. The 2021 event marks the fourth-straight year the event has been held in Evansville.

The agreement was brokered by OVC Sports Properties, a division of Learfield IMG College the multi-media rights holder of the OVC.

Kentucky Wild spokesperson Laura Burford is proud of their relationship with the OVC.

“We represent over 900,000 passionate outdoor enthusiasts, many of whom are just as passionate about their college basketball,” she said.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife (KDFWR), a long-time corporate partner of the OVC, helps manage the 89,431 miles of streams and 40,409 acres of surface water in Kentucky.  Twenty-nine percent (29%) of employees (133 in total) at the KDFWR are alumni of OVC institutions.

This year’s event will see a change to the women’s bracket. After a recommendation from the women’s basketball coaches and approval by the Council of OVC Directors of Athletics and OVC Board of Presidents, the bracket will switch from a traditional (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, etc.) format to a merit-based format that gives the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds double byes, the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds single byes and matches up No. 5/8 and No. 6/7 in the first round. The women’s basketball teams previously used this format from 2011-14 and the OVC men’s basketball teams have been using the format since 2011.

ABOUT KENTUCKY WILD:
The mission of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is to conserve, protect and enhance Kentucky’s fish and wildlife resources and provide outstanding opportunities for fishing, hunting, trapping, boating, and shooting sports, wildlife viewing and related activities. KDFWR is funded primarily by Kentucky Wild memberships, the sale of fishing and hunting licenses.