MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Sunshine State Conference announces a rights agreement for live tournament coverage on ESPN3 set to begin with the 2015 SSC men's and women's basketball championships, which will be held on Sunday, March 8th at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida.

This agreement is part of the Sunshine State Conference's strategic approach to content distribution.  In addition to live exclusive events on ESPN3, additional tournament broadcasts will be accessible via the Sunshine State Conference website.

"This collaboration benefits our member institutions, student-athletes, and fans both in Florida and throughout the world," commented Sunshine State Conference Commissioner Ed Pasque. "Delivering our basketball championship games on ESPN3 is the first step in what hopes to be a long, multi-faceted relationship between the SSC and the worldwide leader in sports."
 
This season, Florida Southern College and Barry University represent the Sunshine State Conference as Top-5 men's basketball programs. Rollins College, Florida Institute of Technology, and Nova Southeastern University rank within the Top-25 women's basketball teams in the country.

Barry's head men's coach Butch Estes is no stranger to playing on the big stage, having coached in NCAA Division I and leading the Bucs against Top-10 programs Florida and Louisville in the preseason this year.

"I think it's great," Estes said. "It's a step toward returning our league to get the exposure we once had and that we deserve as one of the top circuits in the country."

Women's head coach Bill Sullivan concurs. "We are very pleased to hear that ESPN3 will be broadcasting our championship games this year," Sullivan said. "ESPN is the premier leader in sports broadcasting, so to be a part of their network is a progressive step for our conference.  It's good to know that parents, alumni and fans in the USA and around the world will be able to watch our championship games live."

Coverage of Sunshine State Conference basketball tournament championship games will begin on Thursday, March 5th at Noon. Tournament championship games will be carried on ESPN3, with the women's championship game at 1 p.m. and the men's game at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 8th.

About the Sunshine State Conference
Founded in 1975, the Sunshine State Conference has risen from a single sport organization to the Division II "Conference of National Champions." Since its inception, the conference has grown steadily in sports played, membership and national prominence. Members have won a total of 89 NCAA national championships across 11 sports. The SSC consists of nine member institutions, all within the state of Florida: Barry University (Miami Shores), Eckerd College (St. Petersburg), Florida Institute of Technology (Melbourne), Florida Southern College (Lakeland), Lynn University (Boca Raton), Nova Southeastern University (Ft. Lauderdale), Rollins College (Winter Park), Saint Leo University (Saint Leo), and the University of Tampa.
 
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 95 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.