Sports TV News

ESPN Provides HBCU Football With a Mainstream Platform

The four letter network will continue putting HBCU football on its platform as next week they’ll air the April 3rd game between Jackson State Alabama-A&M on ESPN.

Published

1 year ago

March 26, 2021

Eduardo Razo

ESPN is known for its college football coverage; however, the sports network will be jumping on board in helping broadcast HBCU football games.

This month, ESPN flexed the Jackson State-Mississippi Valley State from ESPN3 to ESPN2. Furthermore, last weekend’s Alabama State-Jackson State game also saw the jump to ESPN 2.

Over the next few weeks, ESPN will be putting HBCU football games on its main channel. With the increase of HBCU games on ESPN, the Black Chronicle spoke to Sports Business Journal managing editor for digital Austin Karp, discussing what this exposure means for HBCU football now and in the future.

“I think it’s actually a win for both sides, right, because you’re getting exposure on the Southern game and the Alabama A&M game that head to the main ESPN channel. To have that big platform for your football game that’s something you’re never going to get in the fall. And so that’s the win on the side for ESPN — they’re getting live content,”

“Football content, in particular at a time of year when they don’t really have a lot going on. So they’re looking for whatever live content. And if you put football on, people watch it. So I think it’s a big win, and they will probably promote it, or maybe they have Deion come on SportsCenter or something like that, but I just think it’s a boon for all sides,”

The four letter network will continue putting HBCU football on its platform as next week they’ll air the April 3rd game between Jackson State Alabama-A&M on ESPN.

This game is the first of many HBCU games that ESPN will broadcast. The Delaware-Delaware State game on April 10th is another they’ll air on the main channel after initially being slated for ESPN 2.

Eduardo Razo

Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.

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