What is Marquee?
Marquee Sports Network is a Chicagoland-specific sports television network that launched in 2020. The network has been home to the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Sky, Chicago Red Stars and the Chicago Bears. Each team offers an exclusive, inside look into their respective franchises.
Marquee Sports Network is available on more than 65 cable and streaming providers within the Chicago Cubs TV territory. That territory includes five states, mainly Illinois (except southern Illinois), most of Iowa, eastern Nebraska, all of Indiana except parts near the Ohio river, and Kenosha County, Wisconsin.
Where does DePaul come in?
Last August, DePaul Athletics and Marquee Sports Network reached an agreement to televise and live stream DePaul’s fall sporting events. That deal came at an opportune time: a month prior, Marquee launched their direct-to-consumer subscription package. The main objective was to elevate a few programs and gain viewership and visibility in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.
The partnership between DePaul Athletics and Marquee Sports Network was expanded this August in preparation for the fall sports season. With its continued growth, DePaul saw and envisioned this partnership as a strategic opportunity to bolster their brand and support admissions throughout the Midwest.
DePaul’s other TV provider, FloSports, will continue streaming most games while DePaul will add select Marquee games on linear television throughout the Midwest.
“Last year, we saw tremendous success in our partnership with Marquee Sports Network,” Vice President and Athletic Director DeWayne Peevy said in a statement. “Marquee shares our commitment to elevating women’s sports and viewership reach, allowing Blue Demon games to reach homes throughout the Chicagoland market and across the Midwest.”
Ten live events are slated to air on Marquee Sports Network this fall: three women’s soccer matches, two men’s soccer matches and five volleyball matches. An additional slate of games are expected to air on the network for winter and spring season sports.
Why is this significant?
This partnership is a continued investment in building the DePaul brand back to prominence. One way is making a series of investments and strategic partnerships in streaming, enabling more accessible viewership across the Chicagoland area.
“This partnership, in alignment with the Big East Conference’s new media rights agreement, will allow DePaul to ensure we maintain our position as one of the most televised college athletics programs,” DePaul Executive Associate Athletics Director Taylor Stapleton said. “That’s critical to elevate the university’s brand reputation, and self-generated revenues through sponsorships, admissions and other auxiliary revenues.”
The network will also be airing exclusive DePaul programming, most notably The Blue Demon Room podcast hosted by Kacy Standohar, a sideline sports reporter for Fox Sports and ESPN+. The podcast provides fans stories of the student-athletes, coaches and alumni of DePaul Athletics.
What’s next?
The investment and partnership with Marquee helps with the present, but the athletic department has been intentional on investing in the future of media and communications.
A new dynamic broadcast department has been in development for the past couple of years. New camera angles for soccer, volleyball and softball will give unprecedented shots of the field of play. With that, there will be more streaming access to sports like track and field and tennis, which usually do not get the same spotlight as DePaul’s traditional sports.
“The expansion of DePaul’s athletic facilities includes a state-of-the-art broadcast production control room within the footprint of these facilities,” Stapleton said. “The next phase of our work will be developing a robust, interdisciplinary partnership with the Jarvis College of Communication and Digital Media and the College of Communication to allow students to produce each of DePaul’s broadcasts in-house.”
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