New Deal with ESPN for the Mid-Con

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The Mid-Continent Conference and ESPN, Inc. announced today its five-year contract extension through 2009-10 to televise the Mid-Con Men?s Basketball Championship game. Additionally, the agreement will also allow ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, to televise selected regular-season and conference championship games in all sports.

?We are pleased to continue and expand our long-standing relationship with ESPN,? Mid-Con Commissioner Tom Douple said. ?The opportunity to have additional sports televised on the ESPN family of networks is very exciting for the Mid-Continent Conference.?

?This agreement signifies our ongoing commitment to the Mid-Continent Conference and the great value we see in its athletics program,? said Burke Magnus, vice president and general manager, ESPNU. ?The addition of ESPNU also allows us to increase our programming offerings to the Mid-Con and countless college sports fans.?

The Mid-Continent Conference Men?s Basketball Championship game has appeared on ESPN or ESPN2 each of the last 12 years. The 2006 Mid-Con Men?s Championship game is slated to air on ESPN March 7 at 6 p.m. (Central). The conference announced recently that the 2006 Mid-Con Women?s Basketball Championship game will appear on ESPNU, March 7 at 12:30 p.m. (Central).

The 2006 Mid-Continent Conference Men?s & Women?s Basketball Championships will take place at the John Q. Hammons Arena at the UMAC in Tulsa, Okla., for the second-straight year. This year?s tournament will take place Saturday, March 4 - Tuesday, March 7, 2006.

The Mid-Continent Conference is comprised of nine member institutions - Centenary College of Louisiana, Chicago State University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), Oakland University, Oral Roberts University, Southern Utah University, Valparaiso University and Western Illinois University. The conference also has two associate members in swimming & diving. The league offers championships in 19 sports.

Based in Bristol, Conn., ESPN, Inc. features a portfolio of over 50 multimedia sports assets. The company is comprised of seven domestic television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN Today), ESPN and ESPN2 HD, simulcast services, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN International (networks, syndication, radio, web sites), ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, SportsTicker, ESPN Enterprises, ESPN Zones (sports-themed restaurants), and other growing new businesses including ESPN360 (Broadband), Mobile ESPN, ESPN on Demand, ESPN Interactive and ESPN PPV.

ESPNU was launched in March 2005. The ESPNU schedule will feature more than 400 live events (regular-season and championships) in the network?s first year. Action includes a variety of top football and men?s and women?s basketball, mixed with baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, ice hockey, wrestling and more. ESPNU also offers comprehensive studio programming, replays of ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional Television games, plus specials and more. In addition, the network has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA calling for extensive coverage of numerous NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons.

ESPNU has secured distribution agreements with DIRECTV (Channel 609), Echostar?s DISH Network (Channel 148), Adelphia, Insight Communications, Mediacom, Verizon, several smaller affiliates and is close to distribution agreements with others. The 24-hour television network is the key component of the multi-media ESPNU initiative that will deliver college sports content across ESPN?s family of services, such as ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Mobile, ESPN Radio, ESPN Interactive, ESPN360, merchandising and more.