September 13, 2006
\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
\nCONTACT:
\nTilea Coleman, ESPN Communications, (860) 766-3438
\nRichard Lindau, NWL Director of Operations, (507) 536-4579<\/p>\n
Rochester, MN \u2013 The Northwoods League and ESPNU have reached a two-year agreement, with a mutual option on a third year, to televise Northwoods League games nationally beginning 2007.<\/p>\n
The first year of the agreement (2007) will feature three games, followed by six to seven games in 2008. Following the exercise of a mutual option in 2009, the ESPNU schedule will call for 10 to 11 games.<\/p>\n
"This is a groundbreaking and unprecedented event for Summer Collegiate Baseball,\u201d said Northwoods League President Dick Radatz, Jr. "We are extremely excited to be partnering with the ESPN family on this venture.\u201d<\/p>\n
"We are thrilled to add this category of college sports programming to the ESPNU summer schedule,\u201d said Burke Magnus, vice president and general manager, ESPNU. "The Northwoods League has an outstanding legacy and we are excited to join them in presenting their talent to college baseball fans throughout the country. This agreement further proves our commitment to serving college sports fans 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Northwoods League plays more games, draws more fans, and plays in better venues than any Summer Collegiate Baseball League in North America. The League recently completed its thirteenth season of play in August, and had 96 of its current players or alumni taken in last June\u2019s Major League Amateur Draft.<\/p>\n
About ESPNU<\/p>\n
ESPNU was launched in March 2005. The ESPNU schedule featured 477 live events (regular-season and championships) in the network\u2019s first year. ESPNU also offers comprehensive studio programming, replays of ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN.<\/p>\n
Regional Television games, plus specials and more. In addition, the network has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA calling for extensive coverage of numerous NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons and has content deals for college football, basketball and other Olympic sports with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Atlantic 10, BIG EAST, Big South, Big Ten, Mid-American Conference, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), Southland, Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and more.<\/p>\n
In addition, ESPNU.com, a new online college sports hub, was launched on August 28. It is the online companion to the ESPNU college sports television network, functioning as an online home for college sports multi-media content.
\nESPNU has secured distribution agreements with DIRECTV (Channel 609), Echostar\u2019s DISH Network (Channel 148), Insight Communications, Mediacom, Verizon, several smaller affiliates and is close to distribution agreements with others. The 24-hour television network is the key component of the multi-media ESPNU initiative that will also deliver college sports content across ESPN\u2019s family of services, such as ESPN The Magazine, Mobile ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN360, merchandising and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
September 13, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Tilea Coleman, ESPN Communications, (860) 766-3438 Richard Lindau, NWL Director of Operations, (507) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-team-news"],"yoast_head":"\n