ESPN becomes new home for basketball in Australia with exclusive coverage of FIBA World Cups in 2022 and 2023
MIES (Switzerland) - ESPN will become the new broadcast home of international basketball for the next four years in Australia, with an exclusive partnership with FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, to broadcast FIBA's international events.
ESPN will broadcast the upcoming FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022, taking place from September 22 to October 1 in Sydney, across all 38 games in the tournament – including all Australian Opals games, live and exclusive. The Opals will take on France in their opening game on September 22.
ESPN is also the broadcast home for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, to be jointly hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, along with all FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers and FIBA's Continental Cups.
Commencing in November last year, 80 national sides are in the middle of playing home and away games across six qualifying windows to secure their places in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. The Qualifiers are being played over four regions of Africa, Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe in the lead up to FIBA's flagship men's event.
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 tips off on August 25, 2023 and will be played for the first time across three host nations - the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Australia vs Chinese Taipei, FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers, Window 2
The Boomers are currently first in their Group for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers and are set to play on home soil on June 30 against China, July 1 against Japan and China again on July 3.
Kylie Watson-Wheeler, Senior Vice President & Managing Director of The Walt Disney Company in Australia & New Zealand and Head of ESPN/National Geographic, APAC said: "We're thrilled to be adding the Australian Opals and Boomers games to our comprehensive basketball line-up, which already includes the NBA, NBL, WNBA and NCAA.
"This broadcast partnership with FIBA further extends ESPN's leading position as 'The Home for Hoops'. It comes at an exciting time for local basketball fans, with the Boomers fresh from taking their first medal at the Tokyo Olympics and our iconic Australian Opals readying to compete in the Women's World Cup on home soil in September. It’s terrific to see these incredible female athletes front and centre for our ESPN viewers."
Frank Leenders FIBA Media and Marketing Services Director General said: "This is excellent news for sports fans in Australia. With Women in Basketball being a strategic priority for FIBA, and specifically, the goal of increasing the number of fans consuming women's basketball, this partnership with ESPN brings with it new synergies that will make basketball more accessible and enjoyable for Australian fans leading up to our flagship women's event in Sydney this September."
Haydn Arndt, ESPN General Manager said: "Basketball has seen terrific growth over the last few years, thanks to the Boomers and Opals recent success and the NBL achieving record crowds and viewership this season.
"Having the Opals feature in a home World Cup is really exciting and we can’t wait to deliver our viewers a tournament to remember, showcasing the best female basketball talent from around the world."
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About FIBA
FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball, is an independent association formed by 212 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognized as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
For further information about FIBA, visit fiba.basketball or follow FIBA on facebook.com/fiba, twitter.com/fiba, instagram.com/fiba and youtube.com/fiba.
About ESPN
ESPN is the world’s leading sports entertainment company and is renowned for delivering sports with personality and authority.
In Australia and New Zealand ESPN operates the ESPN and ESPN2 sports television networks, distributed on the Foxtel, Fetch, Kayo Sports and Sky platforms. We deliver over 10,000 hours of live events and studio programming each year, with a broadcast rights portfolio that includes NBA, NFL, UFC, US Open, NBL, MLB and NHL, and much more. In addition, the ESPNews, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Networks are available to stream via the ESPN App.
ESPN networks feature some of the most respected and recognizable sports anchors and reporters on the globe, with names like Scott Van Pelt, Stephen A Smith, Doris Burke, Adrian Wojnarowski, Jeff Van Gundy and Jalen Rose.
