WIU Broadcasting, Athletics Games to be Carried on ESPN3

Expanded partnership begins with Thursday’s football game

LINK TO ESPN3

MACOMB, Ill. – Western Illinois Athletics and the Department of Broadcasting will expand their coverage reach with a new collaboration that will feature live Leatherneck sporting events on ESPN3.

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With the ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, all five Leatherneck home football games will be delivered on ESPN3, in addition to two volleyball matches, most men's and women's home basketball games, and select baseball and softball games during the 2015-16 season.

The new arrangement allows Leatherneck fans nationwide to log in and watch events live on ESPN3, a part of the ESPN family of networks. Fans can watch the events online at WatchESPN.com on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app or stream on televisions through connected devices. Western Illinois sporting events will now reach more than 100 million people nationally (99 million households, 21 million U.S. colleges/universities and U.S. based military personnel), and have the look of an ESPN broadcast.

"The airing of Leatherneck Athletics events on ESPN3 will feature our talented student-athletes on a national platform and enable a wider audience to follow the success of our sports programs," said interim director of athletics Matt Tanney. "It's also another example of the valued partnership between the Athletics department and the university's Sports Broadcasting program."

Leatherneck Athletics has worked with the Sports Broadcasting department for several years airing games on radio and television. All video streamed events on GoLeathernecks.com (through SIDEARM Sports) are a broadcasting department production.

According to William T. Clow, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications, "The opportunity for our Sports Broadcasting students to produce events that will be carried on ESPN3 and for our student-athletes to be seen on a national stage is a truly great one. This has been a joint effort and shows the professionalism and collaboration with which both programs operate here at Western Illinois University."

About ESPN3
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The network is currently available to more than 99 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.

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