ESPN, Big East Reach New Deals For Basketball, Football

ESPN Inks Six-Year Deals To Air Multiple Big East Sporting Contests

ESPN and the Big East Conference have reached new six-year deals for men’s basketball and football, as well as other sports, across numerous ESPN platforms and ABC. Under the men’s basketball portion, which begins with the ’07-08 season, every Big East intra-conference game will air on an ESPN entity, excluding select games airing on CBS. The deal maintains the conference’s spot on ESPN’s Big Monday, and adds a new Thursday night presence on ESPN or ESPN2. The football aspect begins in ’08 and will keep ESPN/ABC as the exclusive cable and broadcast home for the conference. Separate deals for both women’s basketball and select Olympic sports have also been reached. The relationship between ESPN and the Big East began in ’79 (ESPN).