The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced a multi-year media rights agreement that will keep league football and basketball games on ESPN networks through the 2030-31 sports seasons, the conference said.
Under the deal, ESPN will annually air 10 regular-season football games across its linear and digital networks, the conference said. The conference football championship game will air on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. Both the men’s and women’s basketball tournament championship games will appear on a linear ESPN network, while all other rounds of the basketball tournaments will be shown on ESPN digital networks. The agreement also calls for four regular-season men’s basketball games to be carried across ESPN linear and digital platforms, the SWAC said.
The SWAC and ESPN Events also extended the conference’s participation in the MEAC/SWAC kickoff challenge and the Celebration Bowl for six more years through the 2032 season, the conference said. Those games in Atlanta match the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference against the SWAC in a regular-season opener and a postseason game for the champions of the two FCS leagues that make up Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The kickoff challenge began in 2005 when ESPN launched its ESPNU network, the conference said. Alabama A&M is scheduled to play Howard in this season’s edition on Aug. 29. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the network or the conference. The SWAC also launched its own streaming platform last year, the conference said.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
