ESPN Is Ready for College

The women’s national college basketball tournament will get more air time and possible scheduling changes under a $200-million, 11-year TV deal announced Thursday by the NCAA and ESPN.

The expiring NCAA-ESPN contract, covering a number of sports, was for $19 million over seven years.

NCAA President Cedric Dempsey said the contract to televise 21 national championships was 1 1/2 years in the making.

The biggest effect will be on the women’s basketball tournament.

Beginning in 2003, ESPN will televise all 63 tournament games, nearly three times as many as the minimum of 23 from the last contract. ESPN will televise first- and second-round games on ESPN and ESPN2 regionally, and will make out-of-market games available in a pay-per-view package. Starting with regional semifinals, all games will be televised nationally.

“The women’s tournament is a premier event and it is growing in stature,” ESPN President George Bodenheimer said. “By having the tournament exclusively, we think it fuels the growth.”

That growth also might produce schedule changes.

If approved by the NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, the women’s Final Four would move to a Sunday-Tuesday format. Currently, the Final Four is played on Friday and Sunday.

Dempsey said CBS Sports also made a financial bid but offered no coverage plan. CBS carries the men’s tournament.

The women’s tournament isn’t the only sport affected by the deal.

ESPN will begin televising the final game of the College World Series, which was previously aired by CBS.

The new contract also prompted the NCAA to consider format changes to the event.

Dennis Popp, NCAA director of championships, told the Omaha World-Herald that discussions will start when the Division I Baseball Committee meets with ESPN officials later this month.

Poppe said there are three options to consider beginning in 2003.

One is to retain the current format--two double-elimination brackets and a one-game championship.

The second is to return to the one-bracket format used until 1988. A third would be to move to a best-of-three playoff for the final, which would be more consistent with super regional play.

The agreement also calls for expanded coverage of the Women’s College World Series and the possibility of televising the Division II women’s basketball championship live.

ESPN now has television rights for Division I championships in men’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s indoor track, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s lacrosse, men’s gymnastics, softball and wrestling. CBS Sports carries the men’s and women’s outdoor track championships.