ESPN Renewed Athletes Unlimited Deal for Three Years
- here's a breakdown of the key information from the provided text:
- * ESPN renews rights to athletes Unlimited (AU): ESPN has extended its broadcasting agreement wiht AU, a network of professional women's sports leagues, for another three years.
here’s a breakdown of the key information from the provided text:
* ESPN renews rights to athletes Unlimited (AU): ESPN has extended its broadcasting agreement wiht AU, a network of professional women’s sports leagues, for another three years.
* Coverage: The deal includes exclusive coverage of over 50 AU games per year across basketball, softball, lacrosse, and volleyball. All basketball and volleyball games will be on ESPN+ and ESPNU.
* Historic Broadcast: ABC (ESPN’s sister channel) will broadcast at least one AU Softball League championship series game in 2026 – the first time a women’s pro softball game will be shown on US network television.
* AU’s Growth: Athletes Unlimited launched in 2020 with softball and has expanded to include volleyball, lacrosse, and basketball.
* ESPN’s History with AU: ESPN initially held rights for softball and lacrosse in 2022, adding volleyball in 2023 and basketball in February 2024, culminating in full rights coverage.
* Strong Viewership: ESPN cites record viewership for college sports (specifically the Women’s College World Series) as a factor in the renewal.
* MLB Investment: The agreement follows a recent strategic investment in the AU Softball League by Major League Baseball.