SNY reaches agreement with Fox Sports to broadcast select UConn women’s basketball games

As the UConn women’s basketball team cruised to a 105-58 win over Cincinnati on Wednesday, SNY announced mid-broadcast that they have reached a multi-year sublicensing agreement with Fox Sports to broadcast UConn women’s basketball games for years to come.

The Huskies’ move to the Big East means that a majority of their games will be broadcast on Fox Sports, which has a TV deal with the conference. SNY and Fox Sports’ deal means that SNY will be able to televise up to 18 women’s games per year and the network will continue to produce exclusive pre and post game shows. No men’s basketball games or other sports are included in this agreement.

SNY also announced that additional programming and streaming coverage for the 2020-21 women’s basketball season will be announced later on.

Since outbidding Connecticut Public Television for the UConn women’s basketball broadcasting rights eight years ago, SNY has produced all sorts of content for UConn men’s and women’s games, ranging from pregame shows to postgame shows, exclusive interviews with women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma and documentaries.

“We are thrilled to continue to serve UConn’s passionate fans on SNY through this agreement with FOX Sports,” Steve Raab, President of SNY, said in a statement. “SNY could not be prouder of its partnership with Geno and the UConn women’s basketball program. For eight seasons, SNY has provided unprecedented coverage of the University’s women’s basketball program, helping grow UConn’s record-setting audience in the region and across the country.”

Unsurprisingly, UConn athletic director David Benedict was thrilled with the deal that allows SNY to remain in the fold.

Benedict and former UConn president Susan Herbst were two of the most vocal critics of the new American Athletic Conference TV deal with ESPN, which could have led to UConn having to forfeit its deal with SNY while more games moved to the streaming service ESPN+ before the school announced it would leaving the AAC to join the Big East.

“I am excited to hear that FOX and SNY have reached an agreement that will allow our fans to continue to watch UConn women’s basketball on SNY,” Benedict said in a statement. “Our women’s basketball team has set an unmatched standard of excellence over the years and so many people at SNY have worked extremely hard to deliver an outstanding product to our fans around the country. I know our fans will be thrilled that this special partnership will continue for years to come.”

All in all, the new SNY agreement is really the icing on the cake for the Huskies’ move to the Big East. UConn fans will continue to have 18 games and potentially hours more of coverage and programming from a network that views the women’s basketball team as one of its crown jewels. It also ensures that fans in the greater New York/New Jersey area will be able to watch games that may not be high profile enough for major networks like ESPN, ESPN2 or Fox Sports 1.

It also can’t hurt in regards to finding a TV home for UConn football. SNY has always been a logical landing spot for those games, and while nothing is concrete, it certainly helps that these two sides still have a solid relationship.