The ACC, in partnership with ESPN, joined the major college sports arms race in 2016 with the announcement of the ACC Network.
With a bit more than a month remaining before the actual launch date of Aug. 22, there’s plenty of reflection about the long road that brought the league here.
This is what expansion was all about, realigning the ACC for the future as television revenues went through the ceiling in the early 2000s.
In ACC Commissioner John Swofford’s State of the ACC address here Wednesday to open the 2019 ACC Football Kickoff, there were plenty of accolades handed out regarding how the league had reached the point where it is today – with a new source of income that stands to change the league significantly within the next several years.
But maybe more important than what Swofford boasted about was what he sort of skated around, the uncertainty with a little over a month away before going live regarding what the initial footprint of the network going to be.
“To say this is an exciting time in the ACC is a bit of an understatement,” said Swofford in his opening remarks to the gathered media.
Swofford covered critical milestones the conference has achieved over the years, multiple expansions expanding the geographic footprint of the ACC, multiple national championships from member schools.
“It’s the perfect time to launch the network,” proclaimed the commish.
With the current ACC footprint, the league has the largest population and most television sets of any conference at their level.
Perfect right? Not yet.
ESPN, the league’s longtime TV partner, was expected to flex its muscles mightily in talks with cable outlets, satellite companies and other outlets to make sure all those people, all those TV sets, would actually have access to the new all-sports network.
A little more than a month before launch, the ACC Network has secured rights with DIRECTTV, Fios, Hulu, Playstation Vue, and Optium Cable.
Major cable and satellite providers like Xfinity, Cox and Time Warner are still free agents, leaving a huge hole in the footprint.
Remember, the ACC Network is not an over-the-air venue. The days of tuning to your local television station to watch a game is as much history as “sail with the pilot” in the early days of ACC television.
As much as it may seem that the ACC is behind the 8-ball, David Glenn, contributing writer for The Athletic, says he believes the conference is in good position as the launch date approaches.
“The league’s done their homework. They know where other conferences were at this stage, and they have done a great job of self-promoting,” noted Glenn, who is also editor the ACCjournal.com.
UNC basketball coach Roy Williams as well as Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski have served as pitchmen recently in encouraging fans to contact their TV provider to add the ACC Network.
With the league’s two highest-profile coaches pleading for support, it all seems to be going as planned in the league’s Greensboro headquarters.
But, might there be more to the story?
Column by Scott German
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