Editor: The following is part of a press release from mvc-sports.com.
(St. Louis, MO) – Now in its 114th season, the Missouri Valley Conference will have an exclusive 51-live event package on ESPN networks during the 2020-21 academic year, Commissioner Doug Elgin announced today.
The Valley, which is in the seventh year of a 10-year agreement with ESPN, will clear a total of 29 men’s basketball games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3, as well as ESPN+ — the industry-leading sports streaming service.
Another 20 Missouri Valley Conference events — both regular-season and post-season tournament coverage of women’s basketball — are featured in the package.
Additional regular-season men’s and women’s basketball games produced by MVC institutions will be delivered exclusively by The Valley on ESPN — the league’s co-branded digital network with ESPN available through the ESPN App.
“Our relationship with ESPN is the cornerstone of our linear and digital video initiatives and vital to our continued success,” said Elgin who is in his 33rd year with the Conference and the longest-tenured commissioner in league history.
“In these uncertain times, we are grateful for our increased exposure from numerous live-event and original-content opportunities which have added to the Conference’s tremendous tradition and storied history. Through The Valley on ESPN, we have the ability to reach our fans through multiple platforms, and that is more critical now than ever.”
The MVC men’s basketball package, which includes 16 league productions, starts on Monday, Dec. 28, with Missouri State visiting defending MVC regular-season champion Northern Iowa.
The opening round on March 4 and the first two quarterfinal games on March 5 from the 2021 State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Tournament in St. Louis will also be shown on The Valley on ESPN.
The women’s league slate, which includes 11 Conference productions, begins Friday, Jan. 1, when defending MVC regular-season champion Missouri State travels to Northern Iowa.
The entire women’s basketball tournament — known as Hoops in the Heartland — from the TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Illinois, will be shown on The Valley on ESPN, with coverage beginning on Thursday, March 11.
The Conference, which will be conducting its 13th neutral site women’s tournament overall and fifth in the Quad Cities, also plans to televise its 2021 MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament Preview Show on ESPN+, starting at 3:30 p.m. Central on March 11.
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As we near the closing of the portal window, we've reached 1900. Some of them never to play college basketball again, earn a college degree and some to play at a much lower level than they did last season.
I guess we'll be seeing this in a @RacersHoops uniform this year. Glad AJ is staying in the @ValleyHoops.
