ESPN Announces New Deal with NCAA For 40 Men’s and Women’s College Sports Championships

The worldwide leader in sports is keeping some of its most important content on its airwaves. ESPN and the NCAA have announced a new eight-year broadcast deal that encompasses 40 championship events in the United States in both men’s and women’s sports. With this deal taking effect this fall, it is clear that college sports will continue to be a cornerstone of ESPN programming as Disney looks to launch a standalone streaming version of the sports conglomerate next year.

• ESPN’s new deal with the NCAA takes hold on Sept. 1, 2024.
• The deal covers the annual NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, FCS playoffs, Division II and Division III football championships, full rights to the NIT, and more.
• The deal is a crucial item for ESPN to check off its to-do list as it prepares to launch a cable-free streaming version of itself.

What’s Included in ESPN’s New Deal with NCAA?

The new deal between the NCAA and ESPN means that the channel will continue to have a massive presence in college sports broadcasting for until at least 2032. It covers 21 women’s championship events and 19 men’s events, spanning essentially every sport a fan could ask for.

“ESPN and the NCAA have enjoyed a strong and collaborative relationship for more than four decades, and we are thrilled that it will continue as part of this new, long-term agreement,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said. “The ESPN networks and platforms will exclusively present a record number of championships, including all rounds of several marquee events that, together with the NCAA, we have grown over time. This unprecedented deal also further strengthens The Walt Disney Company’s industry-leading commitment to women’s sports and will help fuel our continued growth, including in the critical streaming space.”

The championship events embraced by the new deal between the NCAA and ESPN include:

• Men’s Championships: Soccer, football (FCS, DII & DIII), cross country, water polo, indoor track & field, swimming & diving, wrestling, ice hockey, gymnastics, fencing, volleyball, lacrosse, outdoor track & field, tennis, baseball and basketball (including DII semifinals & DIII semifinals and championship).

• Women’s Championships: Soccer, field hockey, volleyball (including DII & DIII), cross country, indoor track & field, swimming & diving, basketball (including DII & DIII), ice hockey, bowling, gymnastics, fencing, beach volleyball, lacrosse, outdoor track & field, tennis, softball, and water polo.

• Additionally: Men’s National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT); NCAA Div I Men’s Basketball Championship (international rights).

As the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship game between the Michigan Wolverines and Washington Huskies on Monday will be the final in the four-team playoff era, it’s fair to wonder whether ESPN will continue to have exclusivity, or if other college football broadcasters like CBS, Fox, or NBC could get in the mix. The CFP is set to expand to 12 teams beginning next season, and it is believed that ESPN will not be the broadcast home of all of the newly added games; essentially every big media company has expressed some level of interest in getting in on the bigger inventory of CFP games.

Will New Deal Help ESPN As it Prepares to Launch New Streamer?

Disney is committed to launching a streaming version of the ESPN family of channels that won’t require a cable subscription by 2025. The company has spoken with all the major sports leagues in the U.S. about becoming minority investors, as it attempts to ensure it will have as wide a selection of sports offerings as possible.

The new deal with the NCAA will be a huge boon to ESPN’s streaming platform. Having such a wide variety of premier live college sports events, including 40 championships will help maintain customer perception of ESPN as indispensable for sports fans. These events aren’t the biggest ratings drivers compared to marquee events like NFL games, but they still bring in an impressive audience; last year’s Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament Final Four drew an average of 6.5 million viewers per contest, an 87% increase over 2022’s numbers.

Keeping such events in its inventory shows ESPN is committed to launching a streaming service that truly does have as many sports as possible. What that means for the price of the eventual service is another discussion, but fans can be happy that ESPN will keep its partnership with the NCAA going for another eight years.