The Big East Conference has agreed to a two-year radio rights and content agreement with WestwoodOne for men's and women's basketball, Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman announced today.
The agreement provides WestwoodOne with exclusive national radio rights to select marquee Big East regular season games, semifinal and championship game coverage of the 2014 and 2015 Big East Conference men's and women's basketball championship tournaments.
In addition, WestwoodOne will make all of its broadcasts available for live audio streaming on the Conference's official website. The 2014 men's tournament is still scheduled for March 12-15 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and the 2014 women's tournament will be held March 8-11 at Allstate Arena in Chicago.
"We are very excited to partner with WestwoodOne in providing our fans across the county with additional live access to Big East basketball games," Commissioner Ackerman said. "We know how intently Big East students, alumni and fans follow the performance of our schools on the court. WestwoodOne's national reach reach and streaming capabilities will make it easier than ever to connect to the action."
WestwoodOne's coverage of Big East basketball will begin with a New Year's Eve doubleheader, featuring the first Big East Conference home games for Villanova vs. Butler and Creighton vs. Marquette at 7:15 pm ET and 9:45 pm ET respectively. In addition to acquiring the exclusive rights to select Big East games, WestwoodOne will stream the broadcast on its own website and distribute the game audio to hundreds of media partners throughout the United States.
Hall of Fame Georgetown Coach John Thompson, former Big East coach Steve Lappas and former Big East star Donny Marshall will be among the analysts hosting conference broadcasts this season.
"The Big East is synonymous with excellence," WestwoodOne Sports Executive Vice President Howard Deneroff said on Wednesday.
"We are thrilled to add this conference, rich in heritage and stature, to our portfolio of NCAA basketball games. We look forward to working together to create new memories for Big East fans nationwide."
Along with the Big East Championships, WestwoodOne Sports will broadcast 21 other basketball games during Conference Championship Week. WestwoodOne Sports' other properties include Men's and Women's College World Series, NCAA Frozen Four, the Masters, the Olympics and others.