Media deal hopes to bring exposure to Athletics

On Aug. 24, the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and ESPN announced a new multi-year and multi-platform media rights agreement that will see over 500 annual events on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN’s Linear networks. 

The new agreement is a five-year deal, from now until the end of Spring 2026, according to Jonah Goldberg, senior associate director for communications for the UTRGV Department of Intercollegiate  Athletics. 

Goldberg told The Rider that approximately 80 UTRGV home and WAC games will be televised or live streamed on ESPN and its linear channels. The sports that will be shown are baseball, volleyball, and men’s and women’s basketball and soccer.  

Chasse Conque, vice president and director of Athletics, told The Rider this new deal is exciting for the department and the institution. 

“To be able to engage in a new deal, a multi-year deal, and one that’s going to give expanded coverage to all of our membership, all of our institutions, it’s a great thing for our conference,” he said. “But also, at the end of the day, UTRGV wins as well.” 

Conque said a benefit to this new media rights agreement is the ease of access to watch games for the campus community and the parents and families of student athletes. 

ESPN+ is $6.99 a month or $69.99 per year. 

UTRGV Baseball Head Coach Derek Matlock told The Rider he is excited for their baseball games to be on such a big platform like ESPN. 

“We know ESPN+ is a big brand,” he said. “We know it’s going to give us a lot more people watching and tuning in, so, it’s exciting for more people to see our brand of baseball. And it’s really fun when you start talking about ESPN because everybody’s got the app and everybody can watch it.” 

He said with many of the team’s baseball players from all over the country, this gives a lot of their families an opportunity to see them play. 

“It’s exciting for [the] families and [the players],” Matlock said. “If [players’] parents could see them play, then that excites us and it brings us a great comfort in knowing that we got a lot of support behind us.” 

Marek Nelson, graduate basketball forward, told The Rider one of the benefits of this media deal is having more opportunities for family and friends to watch their games. 

“Our basketball team, as well, has a lot of foreign guys and guys from all over the country,” Nelson said. “So, I think the ability for their families and all those people to be able to tune into our games and support, even if they’re not able to attend in person, is really  important, so, it’s an exciting time, and I’m looking forward to it.” 

He said another benefit that he sees from the new deal with ESPN, is being able to get their ‘brand’ out there. 

“I think with the new additions with the [name, image and likeness] with the student athletes, I think it’s important that we get our brand out there and what we do out there,” Nelson said. “And I think that this is a great opportunity to promote that, you know, as a whole.” 

Asked if this will promote endorsement deals for him and the team, he replied, “I think it definitely has that opportunity.”

Conque said he also thinks the new deal will bring more awareness and attention to UTRGV student athletes and help their opportunities with their NIL’s. 

Asked if having more access to games throughout the season will affect in-person attendance, Conque replied, “I don’t think it will.” 

“I think it heightens awareness for us,” he said. “It helps engage new fans and there’s nothing like being in our venue. There’s nothing like coming to a game at the Fieldhouse or the baseball stadium or soccer games.” 

Conque understands people cannot make every game so this new media deal allows fans to be able to keep up with all sports programs that will be on the platforms. 

“We know, we’ve got 30 something home basketball games every year between men’s and women’s basketball [and] 30 plus in baseball,” he said. “If you can’t make it out to the park, you know that you can tune in and use your iPhone to keep up with the Vaqueros.”