The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has signed a new, mega deal with ESPN for broadcasting rights. The broadcasting giants have won the rights to broadcast 40 NCAA titles, including more coverage of DII and DIII titles, consisting of 21 women’s and 19 men’s competitions. ESPN has splashed out $920 million to sign this multi-million dollar deal.
The NCAA have been growing in popularity in the United States with all the matches getting high viewership. The popularity of the women’s game has seen a steady rise across the United States since being exclusive with ESPN. Almost 10 million people watched the championship game between Iowa with Caitlin Clark and LSU with Angel Reese.
Now, with the ESPN deal, NCAA tennis will flourish too. The mega deal has included many games like Softball, Volleyball, Baseball, Basketball and Tennis. Although start times are not guaranteed, the agreement states that national championship competitions in women’s Division I basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s gymnastics, and FCS, the second-tier Division I football league, will appear on ABC. Additionally, ESPN’s network will feature selection programs for at least 10 other championships, including tennis.
The 40 games in the NCAA-ESPN agreement include men’s tennis and women’s tennis. With the American tennis already on the rise with a young core, this deal will only make it stronger. American tennis is flourishing with the emergence of young talents like Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff. Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Sebastian Korda are other youngsters who look promising.
NCAA President delighted with the ESPN deal
NCAA President Charlie Baker admitted that he was delighted to get the deal over the line. The President further added that he has managed to get the best deal with ESPN. Baker also said that there were many interested parties but ESPN had the best deal.
“We had lots of conversations with lots of third parties and lots of interested parties, but we stayed with ESPN as long as they continued to make progress on the deal. I do believe this was the best deal that was available.”
The American college game is set to reach even greater heights after this deal. The NCAA is set to make a lot of money from the deal that could be used to improve the tournament and make it even more bigger. With audience tuning in for the NCAA matches, it is exciting times ahead for college tournaments.
