Murray State University Athletics
MVC Clears Men’s Basketball Package on Bally Sports, NBC Sports Chicago and The Valley on ESPN
10/7/2022 7:35:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Missouri Valley Conference will distribute a men's basketball telecast package on Bally Sports Networks and NBC Sports Chicago in 2022-23, Commissioner Jeff Jackson announced today.
The Valley, with Kansas City-based LTN Global Communications serving as its production company, has worked in conjunction with Bally Sports Midwest -- along with its sister regional outlets Bally Sports Indiana, Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast -- 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 networks' combined 13-state footprint -- Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Telecasts shown within the regional sports networks' distribution area will be streamed on the Bally Sports app and available at BallySports.com.
The league telecast schedule tips off with two pre-Christmas productions, as Indiana State plays host to Drake (Nov. 30) and new MVC member Belmont travels to Illinois State (Dec. 4).
Prior to the first of the year, Valley play resumes, with Belmont entertaining Bradley (Dec. 28) and new MVC member UIC traveling to Bradley (Dec. 31).
Coverage of the 2023 portion of the schedule begins on Jan. 7, as the Conference utilizes the Wildcard Selection process for the first of four times to determine telecasts on its network.
As part of the Wildcard Selection process, the league will choose and announce its telecast selection 14 days from competition. The remaining Wildcard Selection dates are Jan. 14, Jan. 21 and Feb. 26.
Pre-determined January telecasts include Missouri State at Drake (Jan. 18), Illinois State at Bradley (Jan. 25) and Missouri State at Murray State (Jan. 28).
The February pre-determined schedule features Northern Iowa at Drake (Feb. 1), Missouri State at Southern Illinois (Feb. 5), Belmont at Missouri State (Feb. 8), Drake at Northern Iowa (Feb. 15) and Bradley at Valparaiso (Feb. 22).
The league will also have four non-MVC appearances on Bally Sports Midwest with road games at Saint Louis University -- Murray State (Nov. 7), Evansville (Nov. 12), SIU (Dec. 3) and Drake (Dec 17).
The 2023 State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship -- the league's 33rd-consecutive event in St. Louis -- on March 2-5 will feature 11 games with the first eight contests being shown on Bally Sports and NBC Sports Chicago.
All four opening-round games on March 2 and the four quarterfinal tilts on March 3 will air on Bally Sports Midwest-Indiana-Kansas City-South-Southeast, NBC Sports Chicago and ESPN+ outside the league's six-state footprint of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.
The semifinals on March 4 will be on CBS Sports Network, and the title contest on March 5 will air at 1 p.m. Central on CBS Sports for an 18th-straight 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 2023 event will mark the 27th-straight year that Bally Sports Midwest has distributed Arch Madness telecasts and the 19th-consecutive year that NBC Sports Chicago has carried tournament action. This will be the first time that tourney games have aired on Bally Sports South and Southeast.
