Well, it's been widely reported that ESPN will be showing some Pac-10 football games starting in 2007. So, one might think, basketball will soon follow suit. Not exactly, at least according to this article in the Seattle Times. The relevant passage:

Unfortunately for Pac-10 basketball fans and coaches, who also have long wished to be regularly featured on ESPN, the deal is for football only.

The Pac-10 is also negotiating to renew its basketball TV deal, and it is expected that FSN will remain the primary carrier with ESPN likely not involved.

"There's just not a lot of opportunity nor interest from ESPN's standpoint for West Coast basketball," Turner said. "There's some interest, but it's limited."

Turner said ESPN might be interested in "eight to 10" Pac-10 basketball games a season whereas the FSN deal calls for 40 or more. FSN does farm out some basketball games to ABC and CBS, such as the Pac-10 Conference tournament title game, which gives the Pac-10 some national exposure. (emphasis mine)

Sports Business Journal says FSN's nine-year deal for basketball, which expires after next season, pays the Pac-10 $52.5 million.

On one hand, I definitely feel like our current TV agreement is severely limiting our national exposure. On the other hand, there is no way we should sell our soul (i.e. agree to less money or have 9 or 10 pm PT start times) just to get on ESPN. I have written about this before.

I suppose this is the ultimate question: how much is UCLA hurt by not being on ESPN? When it comes to recruiting, yes, we have our tradition, our geographic location, and our academic reputation. But on the flip side, recruits also are concerned with exposure (we have no ESPN), the brand of gear we wear (which happens to be adidas, not Nike), and the condition of our facilities (compared with most other arenas, Pauley is quite outdated). I'm fairly certain every other school in the conference wears Nike, which means we are the only major program in the nation with no affiliation with either ESPN or Nike. I know, a winning program is more important than these other factors, and I believe Ben Howland has us on the right track, but addressing some of these negatives would help the program continue to move forward, move forward quickly, and then remain at a high level. Why should we unnecessarily hold ourselves back?

Anyway, regardless of which network eventually agrees to show our games, i hope our new deal puts us in front of more eyes in more places more often.