NCAA Division I Women's Championship Added to ESPN Coverage

As part of a new $500 million multimedia agreement announced Thursday between ESPN and the NCAA that lasts through 2023-24, the Division I women’s lacrosse championship will now be broadcast on ESPNU.
The network added NCAA championship coverage in seven sports -- Division I women’s lacrosse, women's gymnastics, men's and women's fencing, Division I men's and women's outdoor track, and women's bowling -- to give the network coverage of 24 NCAA championships.
ESPN has already broadcast the Division I men’s lacrosse championship for 17 consecutive years and shown 28 men’s lacrosse championships since 1980, and has expanded coverage on ESPNU in recent years.
The new deal continues men's coverage, and guarantees coverage of the women's championship and semifinals on an ESPN platform, an NCAA spokesperson told Lacrosse Magazine on Monday. ESPN also has the right to carry preliminary round action if it chooses, which would air on ESPN3.com, according to an NCAA press release.
The agreement, which is headlined by ESPN gaining the exclusive international rights for the men’s basketball “March Madness,” tournament – takes effect immediately.
The deal includes more than 600 hours and 300 telecasts of live coverage annually. It continues the network's U.S. coverage of the women's basketball tourney and the College World Series for baseball and softball, and broad rights covering the NCAA Division I football championship.
And now it will include both Division I men’s and women’s lacrosse title games. Last year, an 11th hour deal put the NCAA women’s lacrosse final four on the Big Ten Network.
Until that point, women’s lacrosse coaches were upset that their championship, which had been shown on CBS College Sports for years, would not be on television. Instead, a 14-year deal reached between Turner Sports and the NCAA put coverage exclusively on the Internet on NCAA.com. That announcement was met with sadness when made at the 2010 IWCLA coaches’ convention. But Northwestern, the BTN, Turner and the NCAA agreed leading up to last year’s final four to give the BTN the Internet feed for a telecast.
They won’t have to worry about making another deal this year.
"ESPN specifically asked for and showed its interest and desire for the Division I women's lacrosse championship to be included as part of their overall coverage in the agreement, which led to the granting of rights," said Cameron Schuh, NCAA Associate Director for Public and Media Relations.
"The NCAA looks forward to ESPN showcasing the event," Schuh said. "The coverage will enable the story of the Division I women's lacrosse student-athletes to be told, along with the opportunity to demonstrate their talents, to a much broader national audience than ever before."
During the 2011-12 season, 15 NCAA national champions will be crowned on ESPNU in the following events: National Collegiate women's bowling; National collegiate men's and women's fencing; Division III football; National Collegiate women's gymnastics; Division I men's and women's indoor track & field; Division I women's lacrosse; Division I men's and women's outdoor track & field; Division I men's and women's soccer; Division I men's and women's swimming & diving, and National Collegiate men's volleyball.
“We have enjoyed a great relationship with the NCAA that has spanned the history of ESPN,” said George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN and ABC Sports, and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks. “This is our most comprehensive agreement yet and ensures sports fans will have access to top-level NCAA athletics across ESPN networks and platforms.”
The Division I women's championship game is scheduled for May 27 at Stony Brook University's LaValle Stadium on Long Island.