The International Swimming League announced a multi-year media rights agreement with CBS Sports on Thursday. The league will beginning broadcasting competitions across the CBS Television Network, CBS Sports Network, and CBS Sports Digital beginning with the season opener on Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. ET to noon.
CBS Sports will broadcast the entire 2020 season, which will consist of 13 events taking place over a five-week period. There will be more matchups announced at a later date. All of the events will take place at Duna Arena in Budapest, Hungary. In addition, there will be a "strict medical protocol" in place to keep athletes and staff safe.
"We are thrilled with this partnership and the commitment made by CBS to air all ISL events live to its North American audience," ISL Founder and Chairman Konstantin Grigorishin said in a press release. "From the beginning, the team at CBS really impressed us with their understanding of our vision. This partnership will provide a wonderful platform to showcase the world's best swimmers, female and male, challenging each other in the most entertaining competitive format ever created in the sport."
The ISL was founded back in 2019 and will be the only major swimming competition that take place prior to next summer's Tokyo Olympics. The league will feature Olympic gold medalists Sarah Sjöström, Caeleb Dressel, Lilly King and Ryan Murphy.
ISL features 10 teams with five coming from North America and five being of the international variety. The North American teams will be the Cali Condors, DC Trident, NY Breakers, LA Current, and Toronto Titans. The International teams will be the Aqua CEnturions (Rome), Energy Standard Paris, London Roar, Team Iron (Budapest), and Tokyo Frog Kings.
