ESPN and CBS Sports have reached long-term distribution deals with Conference USA, which features a mid-week schedule for the college conference's October football games beginning in 2023.

The deal calls for CBS Sports Network to air 18 of C-USA's college football and college basketball games annually, along with televising the conference’s football, men’s college basketball semifinal and championship games, the women’s basketball championship game as well as baseball and softball championship games.

“Conference USA has been a key partner for nearly two decades and we are pleased to extend our longstanding relationship,” CBS Sports Executive VP of Programming Dan Weinberg said in a statement. “As the primary television home of Conference USA, we are exc ited to showcase the conference’s best across sports throughout the year. This new deal adds even more live games and events to our CBS Sports Network lineup and we look forward to crowning champions in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and softball for years to come.”

ESPN linear networks will carry eight football games per season, as well as a minimum of five regular season men’s basketball games and one regular season women’s basketball game. Streaming service ESPN Plus will stream over 450 live conference sporting events, including all additional regular season football games and the conference’s USA Olympic sports events, said officials.

“ESPN is thrilled to continue its association with Conference USA and improve its selections to offer better and more games than ever before,” ESPN VP of Programming and Acquisitions Nick Dawson said. “Our combination of industry-leading linear networks and digital platforms will feature hundreds of events across multiple sports each year, providing C-USA, its member institutions, student athletes and fans unmatched simplicity and access to their favorite C-USA teams and games.”

Also: Big 12 Conference Seals Stabilizing $2.28 Billion TV Rights Extension with ESPN and Fox

To create higher visibility for its college football games, the nine-team conference will offer its October games during the week, with CBS, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU sharing the weeknight schedule, according to the conference.

“This is a major step forward for Conference USA in terms of our multimedia rights as it relates to streamlined exposure, accessibility for our fans and greater financial resources for our members,” C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said in a statement. “Building on our strong relationships with CBS and ESPN enabled us to provide increased exposure and consistent broadcast homes for our membership and fans as we continue to see the landscape of Conference USA and college athletics evolve.” ■

beIN Sports, heading into its first college football season carrying Conference USA games starting Saturday, Sept. 3, said former football stars Donovan McNabb, O.J. McDuffie and Ki-Jana Carter have joined for in-studio commentary. Jeremy St. Louis will host a 30-minute pregame show, halftime show and postgame show with the former players. Matt Martucci and Brett Romberg will handle in-game calls and former Dalas Cowboys cheerleader Jordan Daigle will report from the sidelines. 

beIN Sports, known more for soccer and international events, picked up Conference USA TV rights in May, sharing them with CBS Sports, American Sports Network and ESPN. Schools in the NCAA Division I conference are: Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP, UTSA and WKU.

Pictured, left to right: McDuffie, McNabb, St. Louis and Carter. Photo via beIN Sports.

In 2012, beIN Sports exploded onto the global stage as a major player in the soccer world.

In the U.S., a Spanish-language channel and English-language channel were simultaneously launched, giving viewers even more access to top-flight fútbol from the world’s top clubs.

beIN Sports is now set to take a broader approach to attracting viewers to its English-language American feed. In contrast, the Miami-based media company is reaffirming its soccer focus on beIN Sports en Español while expanding a signature studio show to five nights a week.

At an upfront event held May 16 in New York, beIN Media Group Deputy CEO Yousef Al Obaidly said that the English-language beIN Sports network would add coverage of Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) events, making the network its official TV channel for all tournaments played from 2017 to 2021.

Also, beIN Sports has launched coverage of North American Soccer League (NASL) games on its English-language feed as part of a previously announced long-term broadcast agreement. The NASL is widely considered to be the equivalent of a second-division U.S. men’s professional soccer league, below Major League Soccer (MLS). NASL teams include Miami FC, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Puerto Rico FC and the New York Cosmos, among other clubs in the U.S. and Canada.

beIN Sports has also locked up the exclusive broadcast rights to the MotoAmerica professional motorcycle racing series. Coverage will be paired with pre-existing motorcycle racing shows WorldSBK and MotoGP.

Also being added to the slate on beIN Sports’s English-language channel is mixed martial arts programming.

beIN Sports also said at the upfront that it would begin airing college football and college basketball games on its English-language channel. After the upfront, the network announced that it had reached a multiyear TV pact with the college conference Conference USA.

“This year, we are expanding our multiplatform offerings and rethinking our English programming strategy to more fervently reflect our commitment to North American sports fans,” Al Obaidly said.

Unlike the English-language service, the Spanish U.S. service of beIN Sports will stick with its soccer-centric focus. The channel has proven widely popular with fans of Spain’s first-division soccer league, La Liga; Italy’s top soccer division, Serie A; and France’s first-tier soccer league, Ligue 1. In markets such as Miami, which boasts a large population of Latinos from across the Americas and from Spain, the channel can be seen on TVs in restaurants, bars and lounges throughout the city.

Added to the mix are CONMEBOL and CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers, featuring the men’s national soccer clubs in competition for entry and positioning for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, set for June 14-July 18, 2018 in Russia.

In fact, the lone “enhancement” to beIN Sports’s Spanish-language lineup is an expansion of its soccer-focused studio show, The Locker Room, from two nights five nights per week.

Fox Sports will televise more than 200 men’s and women’s college basketball games this season from several major conferences, Fox Sports executives said Tuesday.

The Fox broadcast network will air a minimum of 10 college basketball contests, beginning with the Nov. 4 exhibition contest between Northwood and Villanova. Fox Sports 1 will carry more than 150 men’s and women’s contests, including the entire Big East men’s tournament, the Conference USA men’s championship game, the Big East women’s tournament semifinals and final and the full Big 12 women’s tournament, said network officials.

Fox Sports 1 will tip off its coverage Nov. 16, with the Creighton-Chicago State game, followed by doubleheaders on back-to-back nights. On Nov. 17 the network will air the Villanova-Maryland Eastern Shore and Providence-Binghamton games, while on Nov. 18 the network will televise the Xavier-Long Beach State and DePaul-Drake contests.

College basketball games on Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Fox Sports Regional Networks and Fox College Sports also can be seen on Fox Sports’ Fox Sports Go app, said network officials.