ESPN Extends Multi-Year Agreement with Southern Conference

ESPN has announced a multi-year extension with the Southern Conference, extending through the 2031-32 academic year.

What's Happening:

• ESPN has announced a multi-year extension of their media rights agreement with the Southern Conference (SoCon).
• This agreement continues a longstanding relationship that will provide unprecedented national linear and digital exposure for SoCon athletics across ESPN’s networks through the 2031-32 academic year.
• The extended agreement represents an expanded commitment by ESPN, anchored by a robust slate of regular-season and championship broadcasts across ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU, along with comprehensive digital distribution through ESPN’s direct-to-consumer services.
  Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, the SoCon will feature a record number of national regular-season and conference championship events on ESPN’s linear networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU.
• Men’s basketball coverage will see notable expansion under the agreement. The Ingles Southern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship game will be telecast on ESPN for multiple years of the deal, with the semifinal contests presented across ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. For the first time, the league is also guaranteed regular-season men’s basketball games on ESPN or ESPN2 and the Ingles Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship is assured to air on ESPNU annually.
• Beyond linear coverage, the agreement ensures a minimum of 750 live SoCon events annually across ESPN digital platforms. In addition to all SoCon football and basketball home games, ESPN platforms will continue to stream hundreds of contests in major Olympic sports, including championship coverage for men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, indoor and outdoor track and field, wrestling, softball, and baseball, as well as early rounds of the men’s and women’s basketball championships.
• The extension reinforces ESPN+ as the primary digital home for SoCon regular-season and championship content, offering fans consistent, centralized access to live events throughout the academic year.
• Through the ESPN App, fans can access SoCon events alongside features such as personalized content feeds, multiview viewing options, real-time statistics, and on-demand replays, further modernizing the college sports viewing experience.
• For SoCon fans, the extension ensures a familiar and reliable home for conference athletics events while expanding how, where, and when games can be consumed as ESPN continues to invest in fan-focused innovation. This structure ensures conference content can be found in one familiar place, with flexible options for any choice of how to watch.

What They're Saying:

• SoCon Commissioner Michael Cross: “This six-year extension with ESPN enhances national exposure opportunities for our member institutions, reinforcing ESPN’s confidence in Southern Conference athletics and our commitment to excellence. The enhanced agreement ensures our student-athletes are featured on ESPN’s industry leading digital and linear networks, offering SoCon athletics a national home where ‘It’s All Here.’ We are grateful to Mallory Kenny and Nick Dawson at ESPN for their continued support and vision, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration into the next decade.”
• Mallory Kenny, ESPN Director of Programming & Acquisitions: “ESPN is pleased to extend our long‑standing relationship with the Southern Conference. This updated agreement reaffirms ESPN’s commitment to highlighting the achievements of SoCon student‑athletes and its member institutions, and to ensuring their stories continue to reach a broad audience across our networks. For more than two decades, we have worked closely with the conference and we look forward to building on that history in the years ahead.”

The Conference:

• The SoCon is one of the oldest conferences in NCAA Division I, primarily competing in the FCS level for football and mid-major level in basketball. Its media visibility today is heavily tied to their long-running partnership with ESPN, which broadcasts and streams most of the league’s events.
• The Southern Conference, headquartered in Spartanburg, S.C., includes ten member institutions across six states: The Citadel, East Tennessee State University, Furman University, Mercer University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Samford University, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Virginia Military Institute, Western Carolina University, and Wofford College. Tennessee Tech University will join the SoCon as a full member July 1, 2027.
• For ESPN, they get high volume content for all of their platforms, but the agreement is equally beneficial for the SoCon, which now gets national distribution without running their own network (like SEC or BIG 10) and recruiting and visibility benefits.