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“This is a great opportunity for USA Rugby to build a partnership with ESPN, the world’s leader in sports programming,” said USA Rugby’s VP of business development David Voth.
“Our goal at USA Rugby is to ‘Inspire America to fall in love with Rugby’, and our new partnership with ESPN will certainly play a big part in achieving this goal.”
ESPN, Inc., the worldwide leader in sports, is the leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring the broadest portfolio of multimedia sports assets with over 50 business entities, including ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com among a number of other sports media assets.
While ESPNU was designed as a 24-hour college sports network, its previous partnership with USA Rugby proved that its programming schedule is diverse in the content it offers. In fact, ESPNU televises nearly 500 live events and offers comprehensive studio programming, replays of ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN regional television games, specials and much more.
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The expanded schedule for ESPNU features a one-hour highlight show taken from footage shot at the college playoffs in Albuquerque. This show will be televised on Friday, May 16, at 11pm ET.
ESPNU will then air a tape delayed telecast of the men’s and women’s college championships on May 21 and 22, at 10pm ET. Additionally, the boys and girls high school championships will also be televised on ESPNU; a first for USA Rugby. Those shows are scheduled for Tuesday, June 3, and Wednesday, June 4, at 8pm ET.
“We are thrilled to offer more USA Rugby on ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com,” said Rosalyn Durant, vice president and general manager ESPNU. “Showcasing the best US athletes in their respective sport category has become a mainstay for the ESPN networks.”
ESPN Classic is a 24-hour, all-sports network reaching 63 million homes and is devoted to highlighting and celebrating the timeless events, personalities, moments and stories comprising the heritage of sports.
As a curator of sports history, ESPN Classic connects the past with the present-day sports landscape, providing sports fans with perspective, context and relevancy and includes a combination of live and classic sporting events; original entertainment series.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to have our international matches and the Rugby Super League finals air live on ESPN Classic,” Voth added, “and to expand the coverage of all of our rugby properties including the high school national championships, college championship series and the national club championships via the ESPN extended family, ESPN Classic, ESPNU and ESPN 360.com.”
The broadcast schedule for ESPN Classic includes live coverage of the Super League final from Infinity Park in Glendale, CO, on May 31, 8pm ET, the US v Clermont Auvergne match on August 9 in Charleston, SC, aired at 7pm ET, and the US v Munster match on August 22 in Boston aired at 8pm ET.
In addition, ESPN360.com will deliver live online coverage from the boys and girls high school championship finals, the USA Select XV’s match against England Counties, the women’s club championships, and men’s All-Star championships.