Iowa State University Athletics
Big 12, ESPN Enhance Rights Agreement
04.10.2019 | Athletics
AMES, Iowa – The Big 12 and ESPN announced Wednesday a partnership agreement that will bring hundreds of conference events to ESPN+, the direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service. The new Big 12-branded presence will be initiated at Iowa State in 2020-21.
"This is a very important and strategic move by both the Big 12 Conference and ESPN, and the announcement further enhances the Big 12 brand and favorably positions the Conference for years to come," Iowa State Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard said. "To be the first Autonomy Conference to have a branded identity on the ESPN+ platform speaks to the long-term growth of the Conference and our commitment to embrace technology in order to best deliver content to our fans."
The partnership with ESPN aligns all of the conference's telecast rights (both linear and digital) in anticipation of its broadcast agreements going to market in 2024-25. Iowa State expects that its Cyclones.tv presence will continue, including its linear channel on Mediacom.
"Mediacom has been a tremendous partner for our institution and they have been instrumental in helping Iowa State Athletics grow its brand," Pollard said. "We do recognize that live game telecasts for all sports, previously aired on Cyclones.tv and Mediacom, will move to the ESPN+ platform. However, we'll continue to show other programming including media conferences, coaches' shows, special features and replays of all live home game content."
Pollard added that this rights deal is great for the conference and its member institutions. It will launch at Iowa State on July 1, 2020.
"The Big 12-branded identity on ESPN+ will raise the visibility of the league and further solidifies our standing as one of the elite conferences nationally."
