Mountain West Conference football will return to ESPN this year under a sublicensing agreement with CBS Sports Network. In other news, the NBA Draft Lottery is moving to Times Square, and the Las Vegas Bowl is getting an earlier start.
- ESPN to Air Mountain West Football Games: Mountain West Conference rightsholder CBS Sports Network will sublicense fourteen college football conference games to NBC Sports Network (10) and ESPN/ESPN2 (4) this season. The four MWC games on ESPN will be the first on the family of networks since losing rights in 2005. (MWC and ESPN press releases via Fang’s Bites)
- Draft Lottery Moves to Times Square: The 2012 NBA Draft Lottery will move from NBA Entertainment Studios in Secaucus (NJ) to Disney’s Times Square Studios in New York. The move was necessitated after the league shut down its television studio in Secaucus. (NBA.com)
- Las Vegas Bowl Gets Afternoon Start: The 2012 Las Vegas Bowl is scheduled for December 22 at 3:30 PM ET on ESPN, the earliest start for the game since 2002. The other six ESPN-owned college football bowls also had their dates and times released this week, including the New Mexico Bowl (12/15, 1 PM ET, ESPN), the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl (12/21, 7:30 PM ET, ESPN), the Hawaii Bowl (12/24, 8 PM ET, ESPN), the Texas Bowl (12/28, 9 PM ET, ESPN), the Armed Forces Bowl (12/29, 11:45 AM, ESPN), and the BBVA Compass Bowl (1/5, 1 PM ET, ESPN) (lvbowl.com; ESPN Media Zone)
