The Maine Principals’ Association has reached an agreement with Maine Public Broadcasting Network to televise state championship games in all five boys’ and girls’ basketball classes for the next three years.

The agreement, announced on Wednesday, runs through 2019. Dick Durost, executive director of the MPA, said MPBN paid $10,000 for each of those years – the same price the two had negotiated for last year’s broadcasts.

“We are very excited to partner with the MPA for the next three years and continue the tradition of covering high school basketball in Maine,” said Mark Vogelzang, CEO of MPBN. “Offering basketball coverage to communities across Maine is very important to us.”

And having the championship games on MPBN was important to the MPA as well. “It’s what people have become used to over the years,” said Durost.

The MPA also reached a three-year agreement with the Northeast Sports Network to live-stream all North and South regional semifinal and final basketball games. All regional quarterfinal games will continue to be live-steamed by the NFHSNetwork. The MPA has a 10-year agreement with the NFHSNetwork that extends through the 2023 basketball tournament.

“These agreements solidify the MPA’s desire to make all postseason basketball tournament games available to anyone, anywhere, who cannot make it to the three tournament sites,” said Durost.

He added that it was nice to get the negotiations done this summer.

“The continuity is important, for people to know where they can find the quarterfinals, the semifinals, the regional finals, the state championships,” he said. “I know it’s bouncing around to several places, but people know where they are.”

Basketball tournament games are played in Bangor, Augusta and Portland.


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