May 13, 2009
CHICAGO - The Big Ten's spring championships season is underway and the Big Ten Network will have complete coverage of six championships during the next two weeks, as well as coverage of Penn State's last two regular season baseball games this weekend.
The Nittany Lions host Big Ten leader Minnesota on Thursday (6:35 p.m.), Friday (6:35 p.m.) and Saturday (2:00 p.m.) at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, looking to earn a berth into the Big Ten Tournament. The contests on Friday and Saturday will air live on the Big Ten Network. At 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Penn State's 11 seniors will be recognized prior to their final home game. Tickets are available for as little as $2.00 for Penn State baseball games.
The 2009 Big Ten Championships and Tournaments in the sports of baseball, men's and women's golf, rowing, and men's and women's outdoor track and field will receive television coverage from May 17-24. All of these championship events will be produced in stunning high definition.
At 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 17, the Big Ten Network will show the Big Ten Women's Golf Championships, hosted by Purdue. Immediately after, at 3 p.m. ET, the Big Ten Rowing Championships will be televised for the first time.
Another conference first will take place as the Big Ten Network televises every game of the conference baseball tournament live. The event will take place May 20-23, with a game on May 24 if necessary, at the new Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio. The event will mark the Big Ten's first neutral-site baseball tournament since 1994. Coverage begins with two opening-round games at noon ET on Wed., May 20.
At 3:00 p.m. ET on May 24, the network will have coverage of the Big Ten Men's Golf Championships, which were hosted by Penn State. The Big Ten Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships, from the campus of Ohio State, will air at 5 p.m. ET on May 24.
Broadcast coverage of the Big Ten Men's and Women's Tennis Tournaments took place earlier this month.
For more information on these events, go to www.bigten.org.
About the Big Ten Conference: The Big Ten Conference is an association of 11 world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in student-athletes' lives and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. Big Ten universities provide more than $100 million in direct financial aid to more than 8,500 men and women student-athletes who compete for 25 championships, 12 for men and 13 for women. Conference institutions sponsor broad-based athletic programs with more than 270 teams. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.
About the Big Ten Network: The Big Ten Network is the first nationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With approximately 350 live events, and nearly all of them in HD, the network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. The network operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, showcasing a wide array of classic-to-current sports and televising more Olympic sporting events and women's sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation's finest universities. Each year, the network offers approximately 35 football games, 105 regular season men's basketball games; 55 women's basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Championship events; Big Ten Tonight, a nightly studio show; coaches' shows; and classic games. Available to all cable and satellite providers nationwide, the network currently has agreements with more than 250 affiliates, including AT&T U-Verse, Charter, Comcast, Cox (Cleveland), DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight, Mediacom, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS. For updated information on the Big Ten Network, go to BigTenNetwork.com.