ESPN will televise the Conference USA football championship game as part of a settlement reached in the network’s lawsuit against the conference.
ESPN has settled its lawsuit against Conference USA, it was announced Tuesday. Fox Sports will continue to hold Conference USA television rights, but ESPN2 will televise the league’s football conference championship game each year through 2015.
The lawsuit was filed earlier this year after Conference USA signed a five-year television deal with Fox Sports Media Group, replacing incumbent rights holder ESPN.
ESPN alleged that it had reached an agreement with C-USA on a less lucrative five-year extension before the Fox Sports deal was signed. In addition, ESPN accused the conference of not giving ESPN a “final offer to consider before beginning negotiations with another network,” a violation of their previous contract (Orlando Sentinel, 8/16).
In the suit, ESPN sought to void the Fox Sports deal.
This year’s Conference USA Championship Game will air on ESPN2 December 3 (12 PM ET). Previously, the game was to air on FOX, FSN or FX.
(Information from Orlando Sentinel)
