Oklahoma Announces Multi-Year Broadcasting Partnership with ESPN+
Sooner fans rejoice, the years of purchasing a pay-per-view game at the beginning of the season to watch Oklahoma hang 76 on Western Carolina are over.
On Thursday morning, Oklahoma announced a new broadcasting partnership with ESPN+ for the Sooners’ third-tier media rights.
SoonerVision on ESPN+ will broadcast live events, game replays, and other broadcasts surrounding Oklahoma sporting events. Notably, this new deal will include one football game per season being broadcast on ESPN+, replacing the yearly pay-per-view game, and will also include the Sooners’ annual spring game.
Broadcasts for softball, men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics, and other Olympic sports are also included in conjunction with the new deal.
“Given the overwhelming size and passion of the Sooners fan base, we are thrilled that ESPN+ is partnering with Oklahoma to create SoonerVision on ESPN+, the most expansive agreement ESPN+ has with an individual university athletics program,” OU Athletics Director Joe Castiglione said in a press release. “SoonerVision on ESPN+ builds upon our previous media successes by offering over 1,000 hours annually of live OU sports events and other programming to ESPN+’s growing subscriber base of more than 21.3 million.
“As a result, OU fans will now have an easily accessible year-round media home on all their screens.”
Exclusive Oklahoma content will be available on SoonerVision on ESPN+ in August, with live sporting events being broadcast in Fall 2022.
As of now, Oklahoma is still in an agreement with Bally Sports, however, that deal expires on June 30.
“The University of Oklahoma is home to one of the premier athletic departments in the country and we look forward to presenting a wide variety of men’s and women’s sports on SoonerVision on ESPN+ to fans across the country,” Nick Dawson, Vice President of Programming & Acquisitions at ESPN, said in the release. “From live events to historic games and studio programming, Sooners fans will be able to access all of the content they love via their favorite connected devices.”
