The ING N.Y. Marathon will be “broadcast live and across the nation for the first time in nearly two decades, the most significant feature of a new television deal" that will be announced Friday by the N.Y. Road Runners, according to Ken Belson of the N.Y. TIMES. As part of a “five-year deal, the race will be carried for three and a half hours on ESPN2,” and for five hours on WABC in N.Y. WABC also will “broadcast the marathon’s opening ceremony and a half-hour preview show the night before the race, which will be held Nov. 4, and ABC will televise a highlight show a few hours after the race.” The N.Y. Half Marathon in March and the Fifth Avenue Mile “may also be televised.” The NYRR will receive “guaranteed payments from the networks and share any revenue generated by the broadcasts.” The race was last broadcast live and nationally in '93, when ABC aired the event. Since then, the race has been “broadcast live in the New York metropolitan area by WPIX and, more recently, by WNBC, an affiliate of NBC, which also produced a highlight show that was shown on tape delay.” Universal Sports also “showed the race to some cable households.” NYRR hopes that “showing the event live across the country on ESPN will attract more runners and sponsors to the club and the marathon” (N.Y. TIMES, 1/6).
