MVC Announces 24-Game Basketball Package

The Missouri Valley Conference will clear a 24-game men’s basketball television package on FOX Sports Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago in 2015-16, Commissioner Doug Elgin announced Friday.

The Valley, with Niles Media Group of Kansas City serving as its production company, has worked in conjunction with FOX Sports Midwest -- along with its sister regional cable outlets FOX Sports Indiana and FOX Sports Kansas City -- and Comcast SportsNet Chicago to clear the high-definition telecasts.

ESPN3 -- ESPN’s digital network -- will also distribute the telecasts outside the league’s five-state footprint on FOX Sports Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

The telecasts will also be streamed on FOX Sports GO within the FOX Sports Midwest footprint.

“For our regional television network, we made the decision in the spring of 1993 to bring our operation in-house, and through the years, our product has flourished as a direct result from our relationships with FOX Sports Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago,” said Elgin, who is in his 28th year with the Conference.

“This year, 18 of our regular-season league men’s basketball telecasts will be shown by our regional sports network partners. And it’s incredible to me that this will be the 20th-consecutive year that our games will be distributed by FOX Sports Midwest,” said Elgin.

“Finding consistent programming windows that make sense for our teams and our fans is challenging, and when you factor professional content into the equation, it can be a daunting task,” said Jack R. Watkins, MVC Associate Commissioner. “It’s through support shown by Jack Donovan (senior vice president/general manager) at FOX Sports and Phil Bedella (vice president/general manager) at Comcast SportsNet Chicago that we continually achieve our objectives.”

“FOX and Comcast have been unwavering in their commitment to the league, and their involvement continues to spread our 109-year-old brand,” he added.

The nine-week telecast package, which features contests on Saturday afternoons and Tuesday-Wednesday nights, begins on Wednesday, Dec. 30, with Southern Illinois visiting Loyola at Gentile Arena in Chicago, Ill., in a 7 p.m. Central telecast.

The men’s basketball regular-season package in January features Evansville at Missouri State (Jan. 2), Illinois State at Indiana State (Jan. 9), Bradley at Loyola (Jan. 13), Loyola at UNI (Jan. 16), UNI at Illinois State (Jan. 23), Drake at Illinois State (Jan. 26), UNI at Bradley (Jan. 27) and Indiana State at Loyola (Jan. 30).

In the month of February, telecasts include Evansville at UNI (Feb. 3), Missouri State at Evansville (Feb. 6), Drake at Southern Illinois (Feb. 13), Evansville atDrake (Feb. 17), Southern Illinois at Evansville (Feb. 20), Evansville at Bradley(Feb. 23) and Southern Illinois at IllinoisState (Feb. 24).

In addition to the 16-game regular-season package produced by the Conference, FOX Sports Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago will also clear two games produced by Cox Communications of Wichita -- Wichita State at Missouri State (Jan. 13) and Southern Illinois at Wichita State (Feb. 3).

“Balancing availability of programming that appeals to local fan bases and recognizing the brand of a team that has reached at least the round of NCAA Sweet 16 in two of the last three seasons, FOX Sports Midwest and Comcast SportsNet Chicago will clear these telecasts to provide additional exposure beyond the competing teams’ respective footprints,” said Watkins.

“We are grateful that Mark Ewing (programming manager) and Cox Communications will permit these telecasts to be distributed on FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana and Comcast SportsNet Chicago,” said Watkins.

Coverage of the 2016 State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Championship -- the league’s 26th consecutive postseason tournament in St. Louis -- on March 3-6 will feature nine telecasts, including the title tilt on CBS Sports on March 6 -- marking the 11th-straight year the championship game airs on CBS.

Both opening-round games on March 3, and the four quarterfinal games on March 4, will air on FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports Indiana, FOX Sports Kansas City, Comcast SportsNet Chicago and ESPN3 outside the five-state RSN footprint.

The semifinal games on March 5, will be shown on CBS Sports Network for the first time, and the title contest on March 6, will air at 1 p.m. Central on CBS Sports.