CBS Sports Inks Multi-Year Deal for Tough Mudder Endurance Races

CBS Sports and active lifestyle/endurance events company Tough Mudder have agreed to a multi-year partnership that brings Tough Mudder to broadcast, cable and digital on CBS Sports, CBS Sports Network and CBSSports.com beginning this fall. The series will provide an inside look at World’s Toughest Mudder, the grueling 24-hour extreme endurance race in which participants and teams compete in one of the toughest events on the planet and the road to being named the World’s Toughest Mudder Champion. The winning team of two or more at World’s Toughest Mudder 2016, who completes 100 miles together is eligible for $100,000 in grand prize money, which will be presented by Cellucor.

In addition, Tough Mudder, Inc. will debut its newest event series, Toughest Mudder, in 2017. The next evolution of theTough Mudder challenges includes six Toughest Mudder events in 2017 across North America and the United Kingdom, which will be covered by CBS Sports Network.

In both 2016 and 2017, CBS Sports will air a special, in-depth look at World’s Toughest Mudder. The 2016 edition debuts on Christmas Day, Sunday, December 25 (3:00 PM, ET).

In 2016, CBS Sports Network premieres two programs that will both air in the month of December. Road to the World’s Toughest Mudder provides a comprehensive look at Tough Mudder leading up to the 2016 World’s Toughest Mudder event in Las Vegas. CBS Sports Network also will air a post-event roundtable show airing immediately following World’s ToughestMudder on CBS on Dec. 25, featuring the top competitors from the 2016 event.

In 2017, CBS Sports Network will air coverage from the entire six-event Toughest Mudder Series, going behind-the-scenes as teams train and compete in the new event.

CBS Sports Digital will feature live streaming coverage of Toughest Mudder events on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports apps for mobile and connected TV devices, along with on-demand video content available across CBS Sports digital and social platforms.

“We are thrilled to partner with CBS Sports on this endeavor and to introduce our newest event series to the world,” says Will Dean, Founder and Chief Executive Offer of Tough Mudder, Inc. “This partnership enables us to further grow our community through another event series and to further expand Mudder Nation beyond its nearly 2.5 million global participants. The aspects of teamwork and camaraderie and the extreme mental and physical challenges that participants experience at our events are what make Tough Mudder truly unique. We are excited for the opportunity to bring the Tough Mudder story to life to millions more people through our partnership with CBS Sports and to introduce Toughest Mudder to people around the world.”

“The perseverance, strength, camaraderie and drama surrounding the Tough Mudder participants and events are made for television,” says Dan Weinberg, Executive Vice President, Programming, CBS Sports. “We’re excited to showcase the action to our viewers, while extending our portfolio of programming into a new area of sports competition.”

Toughest Mudder is an eight-hour, overnight competitive race format designed for participants to truly find their limit and the next step on their road to becoming the World’s Toughest Mudder. Participants and teams will be ranked and over $30,000 in prizes will be awarded to the top finishers. The qualifying ranking, a minimum of 25 miles completed at Toughest Mudderevents, will allow teams or individuals to qualify for the “Contender Category” at World’s Toughest Mudder and be eligible for prizing.