Live on national television. Well, sort of.

The Tournament of Champions has always been at the forefront of media exposure. It was not the first squash tournament to be on TV (that was the 1959 U.S. Open in Pittsburgh) but it was at the ToC in 1991 when squash went national for the first time, when the Prime Network broadcast a ninety-minute edited show on the finals. (The ToC, at the Winter Garden in lower Manhattan, was also a $75,000 event that year, sponsored by Mutual Benefit.)

Five years ago the ToC was the first pro tournament in the world to be streamed live on the Internet.

This year, the ToC was not only streamed live, by the ever-better PSA SquashTV folks, but also at the same time by ESPN3—both last night’s semis and tonight’s finals. 

Streaming live on the Internet is no longer something new, but getting in lockstep with the world’s leading sports broadcaster is fantastic for squash. ESPN3 used to be ESPN360, the live broadband network they launched on the web in 2005. Many of us watched the World Cup last summer via ESPN3. More than a billion people now have access to ESPN3—in North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East and even a few flood-stricken Aussies down in Oz. And it is free, as opposed to the $6 a day or $80 a year for the PSA service.

It is a step in the right direction. How cool was it last night to toggle at ESPN3 between the Bryan bros. in the Australian Open and St. John’s v. Georgetown in basketball and Nick and Amr going at it in a spectacular overtime in the fifth tussle?  

For tonight’s match: http://espn.go.com/espn3/#