ESPN has reached a multiyear, multiplatform agreement with FIBA. The deal will include the rights to more than 400 games across six tournaments from '13-15. Events include the '13 and '15 FIBA Americas Championship, the '13 and '15 EuroBasket tournament, the '14 FIBA Basketball World Cup (formerly the FIBA World Championship) and the '14 FIBA World Championship for Women. ESPN’s English- and Spanish-language TV rights extend throughout the U.S. and its territories, excluding Puerto Rico. ESPN previously aired the FIBA Americas Championship and EuroBasket tournament in '09 and '11, and the FIBA World Championship in '10 (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
BIG TEN SQUABBLE: The COLUMBUS DISPATCH noted WBNS-FM personality Scott Torgerson "has been suspended indefinitely" by the radio station for a tweet directed at ESPN "College GameDay" host Desmond Howard. Torgerson tweeted over the weekend that he “wished Howard would ‘get fired or die’ so he could watch ‘GameDay’ again.” Torgerson's Twitter account “has been closed.” WBNS President & GM Dave Van Stone confirmed yesterday that Torgerson was “suspended indefinitely for the tweet.” WBNS is an ESPN Radio affiliate (DISPATCH.com, 10/17).
WIZARDS OF THE AIRWAVES: WFED-AM announced that it is the “new flagship station" of the Wizards. DCRTV.com noted the team will also be heard on WJFK-FM, provided that games “don’t conflict with its coverage of Capitals hockey and, come next spring, Nationals baseball.” Dave Johnson “returns for his 16th consecutive season as the radio play-by-play voice and will be joined once again by color analyst Glenn Consor” (DCRTV.com, 10/16).
NET GAINS: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir noted the Nets’ exhibition game against the Wizards on Monday was the “new-look, new-city team’s highest rated preseason game ever on the YES Network.” The 1.02 local rating in N.Y. is "still small,” but compared to a 0.4 average rating for the '11-12 regular season, “it was a whopper" (NYTIMES.com, 10/16).
