NJCAA and ESPN strike multi-year broadcast agreement

Charlotte, NC – ESPN and the NJCAA have announced a multi-year media rights agreement to begin with the 2022-2023 academic year that will include nationally televised championship games for NJCAA Division I Football, Division I Men’s Basketball, and Division I Women’s Basketball that will air on an ESPN linear network, as well as regular season content on ESPN+.

During the regular season, ESPN+ will exclusively stream 13 NJCAA football games, 25 men’s basketball games, 25 women’s basketball games, 20 baseball games, and 20 softball games each year of the agreement. In addition to these, the industry-leading sports streaming service will air the NJCAA Division I Baseball and NJCAA DI Softball Championship final games.

“This opportunity to work with ESPN presents a pivotal moment to maximize exposure and national awareness of the NJCAA,” stated Dr. Christopher Parker, NJCAA President and CEO. “Through ESPN and ESPN+, the NJCAA will be front and center with the leader in college sports programming.”

NJCAA member colleges that stream via the NJCAA Network, the home for the association’s digital content, will be considered for the NJCAA Game of the Week selection that will be featured exclusively on ESPN+. The NJCAA Division I Football Championship game will be nationally televised for the fifth consecutive year with the 2022 national championship game after previously being televised by CBS Sports Network.

“We are excited about our relationship with the NJCAA and the opportunities it will provide for student-athletes of community state and junior colleges,” said Dan Margulis, ESPN Senior Director of Programming and Acquisitions. “We look forward to following the storylines of the NJCAA as we continue to expand our college sports offerings.”

Beginning with the 2022 football season, all NJCAA content appearing on ESPN+ will be available in the Leagues section in the ESPN+ app under NJCAA. A full schedule of NJCAA content on ESPN+ will be available on the NJCAA website, www.njcaa.org.

Collegiate Sports Management Group (CSMG) assisted the NJCAA in reviewing and negotiating the agreement.

“The NJCAA is excited to begin this new era for our association by collaborating with ESPN,” stated Brian Luckett, NJCAA Vice President for External Affairs and Development. “NJCAA student-athletes will now have more visibility than ever on the national stage, with many of them becoming major contributors on the four-year level across all divisions, including the Power Five conferences. Sports fans will be able to witness that opportunities start with the NJCAA.”

About ESPN+

ESPN+ is the industry-leading sports streaming service that offers fans in the U.S. thousands of live sports events, original programming not available on ESPN’s linear TV or digital networks and exclusive editorial content from dozens of ESPN writers and reporters. Launched in April 2018, ESPN+ has grown to more than 22.3 million subscribers.

Fans sign up to ESPN+ for just $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) at ESPN.com, ESPNplus.com or on the ESPN App (mobile and connected devices). It is also available as part of The Disney Bundle that gives subscribers access to Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu for $13.99/month (Hulu w/ads) or $19.99/month (Hulu w/o ads). Subscribers to Hulu + Live TV also receive ESPN+ at no additional cost.

About NJCAA

Since 1938, the NJCAA has served as the nation’s premier governing body for two-year collegiate athletics, providing student-athletes opportunities to PREPARE, COMPETE, SUCCEED and ACHIEVE in their academic and athletic disciplines. The NJCAA is the second-largest national intercollegiate athletic organization in the United States with over 500 member schools in 44 states. Each year over 3,400 teams compete in 28 different sports across multiple divisions in the NJCAA and the organization sponsors 53 national championship events and sanctioned bowl games.

About NJCAA Network

The NJCAA Network is the official digital platform of the NJCAA, the second-largest collegiate athletic association. Launched in August 2020, the platform provides a home for the association’s digital content and streaming of the live games and national championships.