The Big East and FloSports have been working together since 2020, and they’re now going to continue that partnership for three more years. That partnership started with women’s basketball during the 2020-21 season, then expanded to cover more than 600 events during the 2021-22 season, including Olympic sports and original content. The sides announced Thursday they’ve signed a three-year extension, which will see more than 225 Big East Digital Network on FloSports events, and more than 600 total events in the 2022-23 athletic season. Here’s more on that from a release:
“We’re excited to extend our partnership with FloSports, which has been a great home for the BIG EAST Digital Network,” said Vince Nicastro, BIG EAST Deputy Commissioner. “FloSports has been a fantastic platform to showcase our women’s basketball and Olympic Sports programs, as well as the original content our outstanding in-house digital team creates throughout the year. We are committed to further enhancing the quality of the over 600 events the Conference office and institutions produce every year, with Scott Hecht, our new Senior Associate Commissioner of Broadcasting, spearheading that initiative in collaboration with FloSports. We are eager to deliver top-notch programming to our fans which will highlight the incredible student-athletes, coaches and programs of the BIG EAST.”
“With a shared belief in delivering outstanding college sports to a wider audience through digital platforms, FloSports is proud to continue our successful partnership with the BIG EAST,” said Michael Levy, Vice President, Global Rights Acquisition, FloSports. “Since the onset of this partnership, we’ve seen steady, consistent growth both in viewership and engagement for BIG EAST athletics. We look forward to another three years of collaboration with Scott and the BIG EAST team that will put a spotlight on the talented athletes and coaches that are the definition of excellence in college sports.”
BEDN on FloSports is expected to produce more than 225 events in 2022-23, with a focus on women’s basketball, which accounts for over 75 streamed games per season. The BIG EAST’s 11 member institutions will also provide FloSports with additional regular-season streams, bringing the expected total number of events to over 600 for the year. Sport-by-sport event schedules for FloSports will be announced throughout the year, prior to the start of each season.
The Big East also has linear TV deals with Fox, CBS Sports Network, and SNY (with the latter only for UConn women’s basketball games). But there’s a lot of game content they’re creating that isn’t being carried on linear networks. So it seems to make sense for them to extend their partnership with FloSports for those events. And this makes sense for FloSports, which has announced several notable NCAA conference deals lately. We’ll see how this deal works out for both sides.