AUGUSTA

The Maine Principals’ Association is pleased to announce that there will be continuity in the way that high school basketball fans in Maine and around the world receive their MPA tournament broadcasts.

The MPA and the Maine Public Broadcasting Network have entered a three-year agreement for 2017, 2018 and 2019 that stipulates that all five classes of MPA State Championship boys and girls basketball games will be carried live on MPBN TV.

MPA executive director Dick Durost said, “This agreement continues the decades-long relationship between the MPA and MPBN. We are pleased to continue to meet the state championship needs of Maine high school basketball fans everywhere for another three years.”

“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 and we thank them for this opportunity. Offering basketball coverage to communities across Maine is very important to us,” stated Mark Vogelzang, MPBN’s CEO. “Last year’s ‘Championship Weekend’ covering the games on Friday and Saturday followed by rebroadcasting those games on Sunday was well received. We repeatedly heard from viewers that the chance to watch games they had missed earlier in the weekend on that Sunday was really appreciated.”

The MPA has also reached a three-year agreement with the Northeast Sports Network (NSN) to continue the highly successful relationship regarding the streaming of all North and South regional semifinal and final basketball championships.

Eric Berry, CEO of NSN said, “We are excited to once again be working with the MPA and the great student athletes of Maine in bringing regional semifinals and finals to the web. We look forward to our partnership with CN Brown and the MPA for the next three years and hopefully beyond.”

“The quality of the regional semifinal and final webcasts from all three sites (Bangor, Augusta and Portland) will continue in the capable hands of the NSN crew. We are especially thankful to the partnership with CN Brown that makes this agreement possible,” added Durost.

As in the last three years, all regional quarterfinal games will continue to be streamed by the NFHS Network. The MPA presently has a 10-year agreement with the network through the 2023 basketball tournament.

The MPA is a professional association representing Maine’s K-12 principals, assistant principals, and career and technology center directors. The association dates back to 1921 and focuses its work on promoting the principalship, supporting principals as educational leaders, and promoting and administering interscholastic activities in grades 9-12.