CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The America East Conference and ESPN jointly announced Wednesday that the league’s 2012 America East Women’s Lacrosse Championship Game will be carried live on ESPN3, ESPN’s 24/7 live multi-screen sports network. The game, which will take place Saturday, May 5, will be the first women’s lacrosse tournament game in league history delivered to a national audience.
The women’s lacrosse championship game is an addition to the most extensive broadcast schedule America East has ever produced. Earlier this year, the league entered into a new multi-year deal with ESPN, which has already given the league 31 appearances on ESPN networks in 2011-12 with another 27 yet to come, including both lacrosse title games. Of those appearances, 52 are exclusive to ESPN3, available through an affiliated internet or video provider online via WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and through ESPN on Xbox LIVE.
“The addition of our women’s lacrosse championship game to our ESPN package will showcase our top-flight women’s lacrosse programs for the first time to a national audience,” said America East Commissioner Amy Huchthausen. “Through just a few months of our new endeavor with ESPN, we have reached more fans than ever before and exposed new ones to America East. We are excited to add our nationally competitive women’s lacrosse to the lineup.”
The 2012 title game promises to be a good one. America East women’s lacrosse teams are off to a strong start in 2012 as Albany, which reached the NCAA quarterfinals last year as the last unbeaten team in the nation, won its season opener and is ranked 16th nationally. Stony Brook is off to a 3-0 start and is slotted 20th in Inside Lacrosse’s power rankings. The league has had three different teams make the NCAAs since 2008, with both Albany (2011) and Boston U. (2008) reaching the quarterfinals. New Hampshire received an at-large berth in 2008 and fell to the Terriers in the first round.
“With more appearances on ESPN networks than ever before, America East fans from coast to coast will have more access to our games than in any previous season,” said Huchthausen in November when the ESPN deal was announced. “The availability of these games on several platforms, including ESPN3, the WatchESPN app and ESPN on Xbox LIVE will give fans several viewing options as well as help us reach and create a new generation of
America East fans.”
ESPN3 is available in approximately 70 million homes at no cost to fans who receive a high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated provider. Major cable providers within the America East footprint that provide ESPN3 access are Burlington Telecom, Comcast, Cox, RCN, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS TV. The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.
Games on ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU are also accessible through WatchESPN, ESPN’s authenticated networks service. The networks are currently available to Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and Bright House Networks subscribers online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app. Once users visit WatchESPN, they will receive instructions to enter the appropriate cable subscriber credentials to begin accessing ESPN content from their PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet devices.