Atlantic 10 Re-Ups Rights Deals With CBS Sports, ESPN and NBC Sports

New five-year agreements mark 40% rights fee increase, 30% more hoops championship games coverage

The Atlantic 10 Conference has secured new five-year agreements with long-time partners CBS Sports, ESPN, and NBC Sports for enhanced media and television rights. Although terms of the agreements, which were announced Thursday, were not made public, the conference says they represent a 40% increase in rights fee revenue. In addition, the deals include considerable expansion for the league’s linear television coverage, increases the number of men’s and women’s basketball championship games by 30% over previous agreements, and expands brand marketing and production investment beginning with the 2024-25 season.

“This media rights agreement is a critical part of maintaining the league’s national position, branding and relevance in men’s and women’s basketball. Our Institutions, student-athletes, coaches, and fans will benefit as the A-10 coverage will continue to be comprehensive,” says Bernadette V. McGlade, Atlantic 10 Commissioner. “We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with CBS Sports, ESPN and NBC Sports and to expand these outstanding partnerships. I thank each media company and their leadership as well as Endeavor’s WME Sports and IMG teams for the commitment to the Atlantic 10 Conference.”

The CBS Television Network and Paramount+ will continue to present the Men’s Basketball Championship final as part of its NCAA Selection Sunday coverage, while ESPN retains the Women’s Basketball Championship final. CBS Sports Network will continue to carry both the men’s and women’s semifinals.

“As partners of the Atlantic 10 for more than two decades, we’re thrilled to extend our long-standing relationship with the conference,” says Dan Weinberg, EVP Programming, CBS Sports. “We look forward to remaining the primary home of A-10 postseason basketball, including the men’s championship final and the men’s and women’s semifinals, as well as offering an expanded slate of regular-season men’s and women’s basketball games across our platforms.”

ESPN Networks will continue to televise the top A-10 regular season selections in both men’s and women’s basketball. The league also enhanced its streaming rights agreement with ESPN+.  Coupled with the linear expansion, and additional television markets established in recent years, the A-10 now has exceptional distribution to serve its fans in a national media footprint. All basketball games not broadcast by a linear partner will be streamed on ESPN+, as will a minimum of approximately 650 Olympic Sports Events. Over the past two years, A-10 institutions have produced over 1,000 events each year on ESPN+, the leading sports streaming service.

“ESPN has had a collaborative and productive relationship with the Atlantic 10 Conference for more than 25 years, and we are very pleased to continue working together through this media rights extension,” says Dan Margulis, ESPN senior director of programming and acquisitions. “We look forward to showcasing even more top rivalries and exceptional student-athletes in the years ahead across a variety of A-10 sports on our networks and ESPN+.”

The Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship will have all fourteen (14) games broadcast on linear television. NBC Sports will add three opening round games to its linear coverage capping off full Championship national TV coverage. The A-10 Women’s Championship quarterfinals, four additional games, will now be carried by NBC Sports lifting the national broadcasts for women to seven (7) championship games. The NBC Sports games will be televised on USA Network. Tournament coverage is in addition to 28 regular season games televised by NBC Sports.

“NBC Sports is thrilled to continue our partnership with the Atlantic-10 Conference for the next five seasons,” says Matthew Grassie, Director of Programming & Rights Management at NBC Sports. “Adding more men’s tournament games and our first set of women’s tournament games on our platforms will only help to increase the exposure of the A-10 to college basketball fans.”

Atlantic 10 institutions reside in states that comprise 39.9 million television households, 33 percent of the total national market. A-10 institutions are located in seven of the top 30 media markets, including New York (1), Chicago (3), Philadelphia (4), Washington (8), Charlotte (21), St. Louis (24) and Pittsburgh (26). All 15 institutions are within or adjacent to the top 60 media markets.

Within the lifetime of this contract, the A-10 will celebrate its 50th Anniversary as a Division I conference during the 2025-26 academic year.  All three media partners are committed to engage in this season of celebration.

“This is a strong and exciting outcome for the A-10,” says Dr. Eric Spina, President at the University of Dayton and Chair of the A-10 Presidents Council.  “The A-10 is a proud basketball conference with competitive, dynamic games throughout the season.  We appreciate and value our broadcast partners, and it is clear they value the A-10.”

Linear coverageof basketball regular season programming will include a total of 98 men’s and women’s basketball games:

• 28 regular season men’s games and eight regular season women’s games, plus ancillary studio coverage and original programming on CBS Sports Network
• ESPN Networks will air 11 men’s and two women’s regular season basketball games
• NBC Sports will televise 25 regular season men’s games and three regular season women’s games

In addition all 14 Men’s Basketball Championship games and all seven Women’s Basketball Championship games will be carried on linear TV:

• Men’s First & Second Rounds, Quarterfinals – USA Network/NBC Sports
• Men’s Semifinals – CBS Sports Network
• Men’s Final – CBS and Paramount+
• Women’s Quarterfinals – USA Network/NBC Sports (First & Second rounds will stream on ESPN+)
• Women’s Semifinals – CBS Sports Network
• Women’s Final – ESPN Networks