The CW Network, which you probably don’t watch, but could, if you wanted to, has purchased broadcast rights to 200 ACC football and basketball games over the next four years from Raycom Sports, which, if you’re a long-time ACC fan, you’ve at least heard of.
The first ACC game to air on The CW, which, again, you could watch if you wanted to, and you might, actually, if you’re big into, for instance, “Nancy Drew,” will be the Pitt-Cincinnati football game on Saturday, Sept. 9.
The game broadcasts – 13 annually in football, 28 in men’s basketball, and nine in women’s basketball – will be produced by Raycom, the long-time broadcast partner of the ACC.
“The CW is going to be a terrific partner for the legendary ACC,” said Hunter Nickell, CEO of the Charlotte-based Raycom Sports, in a statement included in a press release sent out to the media on Thursday announcing this news.
“The longest-running television relationship in college sports belongs to the ACC and Raycom Sports. Now The CW brings national broadcast network coverage to the great fans of these 15 famous schools,” Nickell said.
Raycom’s role in this broadcast arrangement is that it sublicenses the 50 games a year that it gets to work on from ESPN, which owns the ACC’s broadcast rights through the 2035-2036 season.
Because of that arrangement, this new deal to get those games on The CW, which is also known, if you can say that, for its hit shows like “Riverdale” and “Walker,” doesn’t make the ACC any more money, so, no, the ACC getting exposure on The CW, such as it is, isn’t going to catch us up to the SEC or Big Ten money-wise.
But it’s not nothing, given that The CW, fortuitously for its owners, is available in 100 percent of U.S. TV homes, which means, you know, it’s everywhere, even if you have to look it up to find out where it is on your dial.
“We are committed to making The CW a destination for live, appointment-viewing sporting events,” said Dennis Miller, president of The CW Network.
No, not that Dennis Miller, the one from “Saturday Night Live” who went all MAGA on us.
This is, you know, a different one, with decades of experience in the backrooms of the entertainment business.
Making money off the creative work of others, and the rest.
“The ACC is home to some of the most decorated college football and basketball teams in the country, and we look forward to welcoming these avid sports fans to the network as we continue to broaden our audience,” said this other Dennis Miller.
His other big move this year toward making The CW a destination for live, appointment-viewing sporting events was making a deal with the Saudi Arabia-owned, MAGA-friendly LIV Golf Tour.
Maybe there’s more in common between the two Dennis Millers than we’d thought.
Give this one credit, though. LIV Golf will get eyeballs, and so will second- and third-tier ACC games, which came available on the open market because of the implosion of the Diamond Sports-owned Bally Sports RSNs earlier this year.
Raycom had been broadcasting its ACC games on the Bally channels, but that arrangement came to an end prior to Diamond’s bankruptcy filing in March.
The advantage to the ACC here is that The CW gets significantly more run than those Bally channels, not only with its cable, satellite and streaming penetration, but also through its app, which we’re told has more than 96 million downloads.
More people like shows like “Greatest Geek Year Ever! 1982” than I thought, apparently.
It takes all kinds.
“We are thrilled to be adding The CW to our weekly television lineup for ACC football and basketball games,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said. “The CW’s national distribution will directly benefit our student-athletes, teams, alumni and fans. We appreciate ESPN and Raycom working together and look forward to the partnership with The CW.”
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Chris Graham
