The Atlantic 10 has a new round of media rights deals with existing partners CBS, ESPN, and NBC.
Per a Thursday announcement from the conference, the new deals run for five years through the 2028-29 season and pay the conference an average of 40 percent more than the previous deals.
In November 2020, the conference announced new media rights deals with the same three partners.
ESPN networks will air just 11 regular season games, both men’s and women’s, along with the final of the women’s tournament. The first two rounds of the women’s tournament will air on ESPN+, along with all other men’s and women’s games not selected by other networks for coverage. A minimum of 650 Olympic sports will also air on ESPN+.
NBC’s networks will air 25 men’s regular season games and three regular season women’s games, with all airing on USA Network. NBC will also air the first round, second round, and quarterfinals of the men’s tournament, along with the quarterfinals of the women’s tournament.
CBS will air 28 regular season men’s games and eight regular season women’s games on CBS Sports Network. The network will also air the semifinals of both the men’s and women’s tournaments. The CBS broadcast network will continue airing the final of the men’s tournament.
Overall, the deals bring a total of 98 basketball games, men’s and women’s, to linear television each season.
For the A-10, new media rights deals at a significant increase with three major networks more than offsets the potential downside of games behind a streaming paywall. It’s tough for a mid-major like the A-10 to stand out compared to the power conferences across the country, and it’s pretty encouraging for the conference to strike three media rights deals with national networks, regardless of how many games will be streaming only.
