Next Level Sports is an American sports-oriented

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

. The network also operates an online presence under the alternate brand For the Fans (FTF).

History

In March 2017, the U.S. international sports channel One World Sports was replaced by

Eleven Sports Network Next Level Sports is an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television channel. The network also operates an online presence under the alternate brand For the Fans (FTF). History In March 2017, the U.S. international sports channel ...

with no advance announcement. One World Sports' staff had been

furlough A furlough (; from nl, verlof, "leave of absence") is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions of a specific employer or in society as a whole. These furloughs may be s ...

ed as a cost-cutting measure in November 2016, and it was reported that the network was exploring a sale. On March 16, 2017, Eleven Sports officially announced that it had acquired "certain distribution assets" of One World Sports. Financial details of the sale were not disclosed. Group Marketing Director Danny Menken explained that Eleven planned to target rights to niche international sports that have fanbases in the United States (as opposed to its business model in other territories, where Eleven targets the top international sports rights in smaller markets). In response to questions surrounding employees and freelancers of One World Sports that had not yet been paid for their work, he emphasized that they had only acquired "certain distribution assets", and that "people that have issues with A-SWhave to contact management, but we have no shares or relationship beyond the acquisition of distribution assets." In March 2018, started to live stream on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...

with select programing called Eleven Sports Prime. It would rebrand to Eleven Sports Next by the end of the year. On March 21, 2019, it was announced Eleven Sports was added on free OTT service

Xumo Xumo ( ) is an American over-the-top internet television service owned by Comcast. Founded in 2011, it offers a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) and advertising video on demand (AVOD) service that primarily offers a selection of pro ...

Pluto TV Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United Sta ...

added Eleven Sports on July 23, 2019. The online feeds do not carry the full Eleven Sports schedule, as several sporting events are blacked out and not allowed to be distributed online; filler programs are substituted during such programs.

Programming

Prior to the 2017 season, Eleven reached deals to broadcast

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

, and

UMass Minutemen The UMass Minutemen are the athletic teams that represent the University of Massachusetts Amherst; strictly speaking, the ''Minutemen'' nickname applies to men's teams and athletes only — women's teams and athletes are known as ...

college football games. The UMass games are simulcast on

NESN New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN , is an American regional sports network, regional sports cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group (which ow ...

and online. Eleven also reached deals to televise 14 UMass men's basketball and hockey games, with the majority airing on either NESN or NESN Plus, and one on

NBC Sports Boston NBC Sports Boston is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports events thr ...

. Eleven Sports lost the rights to UMass sports to

FloSports FloSports is an over-the-top subscription sports broadcaster and streaming service. The company is based in Austin, Texas, United States, and was founded in 2006. FloSports streams live sporting events to audiences around the world. History La ...

in August 2019. Eleven's Big Sky contract includes weekly games in football and men's basketball, as well as some conference tournament games for men's and women's basketball, and women's soccer, volleyball, and softball. Eleven Sports also announced a partnership with

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

to stream 7 of its Ivy League football games during the 2017 season. The network acquired U.S. rights to

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

soccer, and Spain's

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

basketball. On January 9, 2018, Eleven announced a partnership to televise 120

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

games in the 2017–18 season. In March 2021, the cable and satellite channel was rebranded as Next Level Sports; its online presence, which has been branded as For the Fans since 2019, retained that brand.

Broadcasting rights

Basketball

Men

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

Liga Endesa The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

Copa del Rey de Baloncesto The Copa del Rey de Baloncesto (English: '' King's Cup of Basketball'') is an annual cup competition for Spanish basketball teams organized by Spain's top professional league, the Liga ACB. History Originally known as the ''Copa de España de B ...

Women

Football

Men

A7FL The American 7s Football League (A7FL) is a professional league in the United States which plays a seven-man version of gridiron football called American 7s Football. Launched in 2015, its games are played without football helmets or other protec ...

Frontier Conference The Frontier Conference is a List of college athletic conferences in the United States, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference was founded in 1934. Member institut ...

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. It consists of teams based on the East Coast of the United States. Teams' typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, while players are paid $ ...

The Spring League The Spring League was an American football developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's go ...

European League of Football The European League of Football (ELF) is a professional sports#American football, professional American football sports league, league. The league (as of the 2023 season) consists of 17 teams located in Germany, Poland, Spain, Austria, Italy, S ...

Women

Women's Football Alliance The Women's Football Alliance (WFA) is a professional full-contact Women's American football tackle minor league that began play in 2009. It is the largest 11-on-11 football league for women in the world, and the longest running active women's ...

Soccer

K League 1 The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1 ...

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

Baseball

Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization of ...

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

(

NPB or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

)

Ice hockey

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

Rugby

Collegiate Rugby Association of America Collegiate may refer to: * College * Webster's Dictionary, a dictionary with editions referred to as a "Collegiate" * ''Collegiate'' (1926 film), 1926 American silent film directed by Del Andrews * ''Collegiate'' (1936 film), 1936 American musi ...

Division 1-A Rugby Division 1-A Rugby (formerly known as the College Premier Division) is the highest level of college rugby within the United States and is administered by USA Rugby. Division 1-A rugby is modeled after NCAA athletic competitions, with the 67 D1-A ...

*Freetail 7's

Combat sports

* Kings Promotions * Karate Combat * Fite TV * United Fight Alliance * OVW Wrestling

Motorsport

International GT Open The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec car ...

* Formula America *Race Max (30 minute highlights)

Esports

BLAST Pro Series BLAST Pro Series was an international Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. The tournament brought together six teams in a shortened two-day tournament format. The event rotated locations in cities around the world. The Danish esports or ...

* Simulation Football League *

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

Virtual

Others

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

* Billiards * Cornhole * Drones DCL * Sports Unlimited * Hempel Sailing World Cup * Mania * Water Polo *Squash *Planet X

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

* Andrew Gilford (also known as FC TIGHTO)

References

External links

*
Twitch Channel
{{Sports television in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2017 Sports television networks in the United States