ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Conference will distribute a men’s basketball telecast package on FOX Sports Midwest and NBC Sports Chicago in 2020-21, Commissioner Doug Elgin announced today.
MVC TV Network Release (PDF)
The Valley, with Kansas City-based LTN Global serving as its production company, has worked in conjunction with FOX Sports Midwest -- along with its sister regional outlets FOX Sports Indiana and FOX Sports Kansas City -- and NBC Sports Chicago to clear the telecasts.
The Valley on ESPN -- the league’s co-branded digital platform via the ESPN app -- will also distribute the productions outside the two networks’ combined six-state footprint -- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Telecasts shown within the regional sports networks’ distribution area will be streamed on the FOX Sports GO app.
The Valley is in a multi-year agreement with FOX Sports Midwest through the 2023-24 academic year and has a one-year contract with NBC Sports Chicago.
“The combination of our regional partnerships with FOX Sports Midwest and NBC Sports Chicago, and the long-standing cooperation between those networks and ESPN, have generated nationwide linear and digital distribution of our men’s basketball games,” said Elgin, who is in his 33rd year and the longest-tenured commissioner in the league’s 114-year history. “This alliance provides numerous ways for our fans to consume our men’s basketball content.”
The 2020-21 package features seven appearances by two-time defending State Farm MVC Tournament champion Bradley and five by 2020 MVC regular-season champion Northern Iowa. Five schools -- Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Southern Illinois and Valparaiso -- will each receive three exposures.
Prior to the start of the Conference’s telecast package, one non-MVC game opens the FOX Sports Midwest package, as Indiana State visits Saint Louis on Tuesday, December 15, in a 7 p.m. Central game at Chaifetz Arena in downtown St. Louis.
The league telecast schedule tips off Sunday, Dec. 27, when 2018 NCAA Final Four participant Loyola plays host to Illinois State at Gentile Arena on the north side of Chicago, Illinois.
On Monday, Dec. 28, Bradley visits Valparaiso at The Athletics Recreation Center in northwest Indiana.
January coverage includes Northern Iowa at Evansville (Jan. 2), Bradley at Northern Iowa (Jan. 9), Indiana State at Illinois State (Jan. 16), Drake at Missouri State (Jan. 18), Illinois State at Bradley (Jan. 20), Southern Illinois at Missouri State (Jan. 21), Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois (Jan. 30) and Bradley at Indiana State (Jan. 31).
The February schedule features Southern Illinois at Bradley (Feb. 6), Indiana State at Northern Iowa (Feb. 7), Valparaiso at Northern Iowa (Feb. 13), Evansville at Drake (Feb. 14), Valparaiso at Loyola (Feb. 17) and Drake at Bradley (Feb. 26).
The 2021 State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Championship -- the league’s 31st-consecutive event in St. Louis -- on March 4-7 will feature nine games with the first six contests being shown on FOX Sports Midwest and NBC Sports Chicago.
Both opening-round games on March 4 and the four quarterfinal games on March 5 will air on FOX Sports Midwest-Indiana-Kansas City, NBC Sports Chicago and The Valley on ESPN outside the six-state RSN footprint.
The semifinals on March 6 will be on CBS Sports Network, and the title contest on March 7 will air at 1 p.m. Central on CBS Sports for a 16th-consecutive season.
In 2020, The Valley joined the Big East (New York City) as the only Division I athletics leagues to conduct their men’s basketball tournaments in the same city for 30 or more consecutive years.
The 2021 event will mark the 25th-straight year that FOX Sports Midwest-Indiana-Kansas City has distributed Arch Madness telecasts.
FOX Sports Midwest-Indiana-Kansas City began carrying MVC-produced content during the 1996-97 academic term -- the first year the Conference brought all 10 teams to St. Louis for Arch Madness.