NEW ORLEANS - The Sun Belt Conference will air football and basketball games throughout the 2016-17 season on the American Sports Network. The announcement was made Wednesday.
While games on ASN will be broadcasts on “over-the-air” and cable affiliates, they will also be available without blackout restrictions on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
“We are excited about this new partnership between ASN and the Sun Belt Conference,” ULM Director of Athletics Dr. Brian Wickstrom stated. “This allows us the opportunity for possible future ULM football and basketball games to be broadcast on television locally in the Monroe area, something that has never been done before with Warhawk athletics.”
The partnership, made possible through a sublicense agreement with ESPN, allows for a minimum of eight football games and a minimum of 10 basketball games from the Sun Belt to be aired through ASN.
The sublicense agreement reached by ESPN and ASN allows the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned network to produce and distribute Sun Belt Conference games via Sinclair affiliate television stations and other over the air and cable stations nationwide. Sinclair Broadcast Group is the largest owner of television stations in the United States, currently owning or operating 173 television stations in 81 markets nationwide and having affiliations with all the major networks.
The announcement Monday also comes with the announcement of the first wave of football telecasts across the opening three weeks of the season (9/2 – Ball State at Georgia State; 9/3 – Boise State at UL Lafayette; 9/10 – Old Dominion at Appalachian State and Georgia Southern at South Alabama; 9/17 – South Alabama at UL Lafayette).
Additional games will be released at later dates by ASN and the Sun Belt.
About the American Sports Network
American Sports Network is a sports programming division of Sinclair Networks Group, LLC, a division of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. ASN produces broadcasts of sporting events, including NCAA Division I multiple sports, NCAA Division II football, local high school sports under the “Thursday Night Lights” and “Friday Night Rivals” brands, Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake City and D.C. United franchises, and the college football Arizona Bowl. The company, which launched in 2014, produced more than 375 events last year and is now a dedicated 24/7 broadcast network in 22 markets. For more information, visit ASN's website at www.americansportsnet.com.
