College sports rights and licensing company Learfield has launched “The Varsity Network” app offering streaming access to the 200 colleges and universities that the company holds the broadcast rights to.
The Varsity Network will also include exclusive college sports programming including “College Sports Now”, “College Football Blitz”, and “College Football Saturday Night” hosted by former ESPN Radio morning co-host Mike Golic and former KNBR and KGMZ San Francisco host Kate Scott. T
College sports fans – the most loyal, ardent fans in all of sports – now have access to an app called The Varsity Network. The Varsity Network conveniently brings together free live gameday broadcasts for hundreds of schools during various sports seasons, original content and national college programming such as College Sports Now, College Football Blitz and the new College Football Saturday Night with Mike Golic and Kate Scott. It is built and powered by LEARFIELD, the preeminent player in college multimedia rights, licensing, technology and data.
Fans can download the app for iPhone or Android use for instant access to free gameday audio streams and receive push notifications to remind them of games starting or upcoming audio broadcasts.
“Our app is a free, convenient way for college sports fans all across the country to consume LEARFIELD-driven gameday audio streams through one home base – The Varsity Network,” said LEARFIELD EVP/Managing Director-Media & Partnerships Group Rick Barakat. “College sports fans represent the largest fanbase in the U.S., and we’re thrilled to make this available as the 2021-22 season kicks off. It’s ideal for our school partners, and it’s a seamless connection point for fans everywhere, on gameday or any day, wherever they live.”
LEARFIELD works with more than 1,000 intercollegiate athletic programs, conferences, alumni associations and arenas across the nation, and provides numerous solutions to college athletic departments, performing arts centers and event organizers. The company is the athletics multimedia rightsholder to nearly 200 schools in which the live gameday broadcasts will originate. Any audio broadcast produced by LEARFIELD for its school partners will be accessible to fans through The Varsity Network.
“Fans now have a one-stop hub where they can find, favorite and listen to any of our gameday audio streams, original content and podcasts for their alma mater or any other college colors they bleed,” added Barakat.
The Varsity Network app was developed by SIDEARM Sports, a LEARFIELD company and the nation’s leading digital provider powering more than 1,400 official college athletic websites and mobile apps.
“College sports fans are incredibly passionate about following their favorite teams. Our signature app is a perfect complement to the overall plans we have for The Varsity Network,” said SIDEARM Sports CEO and Founder Jeff Rubin. “We’re delivering to fans exactly the type of content we know they want through the app, as step one in our debut of The Varsity Network, a multi-faceted platform.”
