One of the great conundrums of being a serious basketball junkie is that it is nearly impossible to watch some of the best hoops in the world -- the Euroleague -- from the U.S.
How about that Rudy Fernandez? (Speaking of Rudy Fernandez.) What about Ricky Rubio?
We're supposed to know about these alleged future NBA stars, but how are you even supposed to see them play?
Today, ESPN is announcing that starting with the upcoming season ESPN360.com will show more than 40 EuroLeague games per year online, and other games will be available by pay-per-view.
I love the internet.
Full press release after the jump.
Euroleague Basketball Comes to ESPN360.com
Deal With InFront AMS Brings Top European Basketball League to U.S. Broadband Sports Net
ESPN360.com, ESPN's signature broadband sports network, and InFront AMS, the Digital Media Company of the InFront Group, announced a new agreement today that will make ESPN360.com the exclusive U.S. home for Euroleague Basketball over the next two seasons. Beginning next October, the broadband network will deliver more than 40 games in each of the next two seasons (2008-2009, 2009-2010). Additionally, ESPN.com will feature video highlights of the Euroleague. Games not carried by ESPN360.com will be available on a pay-per-view basis on Euroleague.tv. For U.S. fans, Euroleague games are available only via ESPN360.com and on a pay-per-view basis on www.euroleague.tv.
"The Euroleague represents some of the highest-level basketball played anywhere in the world, and this deal highlights the programming value and breadth that ESPN360.com can deliver via broadband," said Damon Phillips, vice president, ESPN360.com. "Together with the NBA and more than 900 men's and women's college basketball games, the addition of the Euroleague makes ESPN360.com a must-have for basketball fans."
Added Maurizio Barbieri, Director, InFront AMS, "We are excited to team up with ESPN360.com to expand the reach of Euroleague Basketball to more than 23 millions new households in the United States. Along with the success that InFront AMS has already had around the world with EuroleagueTV since its launch in 2007, reaching this brand new audience will help us attract more fans to the global game of basketball."
The Euroleague is the leading professional basketball league in Europe, with teams from thirteen countries. Its season is contested in four phases, the Regular Season, Top 16, Quarterfinal round and Final Four. The Regular Season features 24 teams, divided into three groups of eight, with each playing two games (home-and-away) against every other team in its group. The Top 16 is contested in a double round-robin format. The Quarterfinal round matches the first-place team from each Top 16 group against a second-place team from another group in a best-of-three series, with home court advantage to the higher-ranked team. The Final Four, held at a predetermined site, features the winners of the four quarterfinal series' in single-elimination. The semifinal losers play for third place; the winners play for the championship. Led by former Duke University star and Eurloeague Finals MVP, Trajan Langdon, CSKA Moscow defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 77-91 in this season's Euroleague Final on Sunday, May 4.
Among the many current and former NBA players that have played in the Euroleague are: Langdon, Victor Alexander, Andrea Bargnani, Bill Bradley, Marcus Brown, Vlade Divac, Tyus Edney, Pau Gasol, Emanuel Ginobli, `arknas Jasikevicius, Andrei Kirilenko, Toni Kukoc, Bob McAdoo, Juan Carlos Navarro, Andres Nocioni, Anthony Parker, Drazen Petrovic, Dino Radja, Zeljko Rebraca, David Rivers, Arvydas Sabonis, Luis Scola, Predrag Stojakovic, Anderson Varejao, Jiri Welsch, Dominique Wilkins and Michael Young.
ESPN360.com is ESPN's signature 24/7 broadband sports network, and the online home for live sports - delivering more than 2,500 live global sports events a year. The service is available at no additional charge to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated service provider, and is currently available in approximately 20 million homes nationwide. It has more than doubled its distribution since November 2006, and is available via more than 20 Internet service providers around the country including AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Insight, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and many more. It is also now available at no cost to approximately 18 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via on-campus educational networks (with a ".edu" domain) and military networks (with a ".mil" domain).
Consumers in the U.S. wanting more information about ESPN360.com, which Internet services currently provide it, and how they can get it should go to www.espn360.com.
