ABOUT

About

ABOUT ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION

Charlotte, N.C.-based ESPN Regional Television is a television sports marketing, syndication, event-management and production company. A subsidiary of ESPN, Inc., ESPN Regional Television is the nation’s largest producer and syndicator of live sports programming, producing more than 1,200 sporting events annually, which accounts for more than 3,400 live and/or original hours of programming.

Formerly Creative Sports, ESPN Regional Television was acquired by ESPN on May 9, 1994, and was later combined with OCC Sports and renamed ESPN Regional Television in 1997.

The company has regional offices in Birmingham, AL, Las Vegas, NV, Albuquerque, NM, Dallas and Fort Worth, TX, St. Petersburg, FL, and Huntington, WV.

Do you have an advertising, sponsorship or program carriage question? Click here for answers.

WHAT ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION DOES

ESPN Regional Television utilizes the term ESPN Plus to brand regional programming the company produces. The company’s efforts are divided into television production, college sports syndication, event ownership and corporate sponsorships/entitlement.

ESPN Regional Television produces numerous events which are featured on many national and regional outlets including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN360.com, ABC, FOX Sports Net and most other Regional Sports Networks, along with hundreds of over-the-air television stations.

ESPN Regional Television also handles the primary production responsibilities for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports television network.

ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION PROGRAMMING

Here is a list of programming produced by ESPN Regional Television:

• NCAA baseball/softball
• NCAA men’s basketball
• NCAA women’s basketball
• NCAA football
• NCAA wrestling
• NCAA volleyball
• Home Depot College Football Awards
• McDonald’s All-American Game
• NHRA

ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION AND SYNDICATION RIGHTS

ESPN Regional Television retains the “local and regional” syndication telecast rights to the conferences below. These are in addition to any national over-the-air or cable rights the ESPN family of networks may own.

• BIG EAST (football and men’s basketball)
• SEC (football, men’s and women’s basketball)
• BIG 12 (men’s basketball)
• Mid-American (football and men’s basketball)
• WAC (football and men’s basketball)

*For the BIG 12, ESPN Regional Television has regional rights only. For more on ESPN Regional Television and syndication, click here.

ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION AND COLLEGE SPORTS SYNDICATION

ESPN Regional Television syndicates games to outlets throughout territories of its partner conferences, and is responsible for producing each of these telecasts and hiring the production staff, including the commentators. Combining its regional college football and basketball reach, ESPN Regional Television reaches 67.0 million homes, or 60 percent of U.S. households, and provides much of the inventory for ESPN’s out-of-market pay-per-view packages, ESPN FULL COURT (basketball) and ESPN GamePlan (football).

ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION AND EVENT OWNERSHIP

ESPN Regional Television also owns, manages, and stages a number of top sporting events. Here is a complete list:

Basketball:

DIRECTV Classic (Anaheim, Calif.)
State Farm Champions Classic (Atlanta, Ga)
Charleston Classic presented by FosterGrant (S.C.)
Hawaiian Islands Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu)
Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.)
Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan)
RAMADA BracketBusters

Football:

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas)
MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.)
Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque)
BBVA Compass Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.)
MAACO Bowl Las Vegas
Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg
Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu)

ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION Corporate Sponsorship/Entitlement Rights

ESPN Regional Television markets and sells the entitlement and corporate marketing rights for the Big 12 Conference. The Phillips 66 entitlement of the Big 12 Basketball Championships is one of the longest running collegiate sponsorships in the country. Through ESPN Regional Television, the Big 12 has relationships with Chick-fil-A, Geico, ConocoPhillips, Dr Pepper/Sunkist, Gatorade, Motel 6 and XM Radio.