2017 Tennis Program

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2017 MAAC TENNIS
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@MAACSPORTS
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THE MAAC AND THE WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT ESPN WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS PARTNERSHIP
The MAAC will support 24 sports and championships during
the 2016-17 academic year, which almost all have NCAA
Championship Access through automatic bids or regional
qualifying systems. Highlighting the MAAC’s commitment to
providing a first rate experience for its fans and student-athletes
are those championships held at the Walt Disney World Resort
ESPN Wide World of Sports.
The 2016-17 academic year represents the MAAC’s 18th year of
hosting championships at the complex where the league hosts
3 events each year. These include one fall championship each
year with all 11 member schools participating. The sports that
rotate include men’s soccer, men’s & women’s cross country,
women’s soccer, and volleyball. In the fall of 2016, cross country
will return to the complex for its championship. The championship
operation at Disney allows the MAAC to provide its participating
student-athletes and their families and fans a world-class sports
championship experience. The access to the playing facilities,
on-site hotels, theme parks, including an after-hours awards
banquet, are designed to provide lasting memories for the
student-athletes.
The MAAC and ESPN have an agreement with Disney through the
2018 season, which includes ESPN live broadcasting elements
for all the championships. ESPN’s state-of-the-art studios
broadcast highlights of MAAC on-site tournaments throughout
all Disney World Resort hotel properties as well as on ESPN3
and All MAAC contests for Volleyball, Men’s and
Women’s Soccer, Men’s and Women’s Cross Country, and Men’s
and Women’s Golf are broadcast by ESPN’s on-site studios. This
year’s men’s and women’s cross country will have both races
broadcasted live on ESPN3 to a national audience available for
viewing in 86 million homes on high speed internet networks. The
men are scheduled to race on Saturday October 29th at 8:00am
and the women are schedule to race at 9:00am.
The MAAC has also co-hosted with ESPN since 2006 the
Advocare Invitational (previously the Old Spice Classic) at the
ESPNWWS complex. This 8-team tournament is held over
Thanksgiving weekend continues to draw elite men’s basketball
teams to compete. One MAAC school is included in the field each
year and this Thanksgiving Quinnipiac University will compete in
this premier event.
The MAAC also hosts its Men’s & Women’s Golf Championships
at the Disney complex. The men’s and women’s golf teams
compete at PGA-caliber courses during the spring and rotate
between Palm and Magnolia (2017) at the Arnold Palmer
managed courses. The golf hosting agreement at Disney was
recently extended through 2018 championships.
As noted before, ESPN studios in Orlando is an important
element of MAAC broadcasting efforts. It also serves as the
production site for the annual MAAC Pre-Season Coaches Show
and develops in-season features, commercials and promotional
elements for the MAAC ESPN broadcasts and for
During the 2012-13 season, both the Cross Country and Golf
Championships saw live coverage on ESPN3 for the first time in
MAAC history because of the valuable partnership between the
MAAC and the Walt Disney World Resort. In lieu of the annual
MAAC SAAC forum where student-athlete leaders from all
MAAC schools participate in a live issues forum on ESPN3, two
MAAC SAAC commercials will be produced in the ESPN studios
to be used during 2017-18 MAAC produced school produced
broadcasts.