Having been freed of its contract with bankrupt Bally Sports, the ACC is taking some of its football and basketball games to the network home of Superman & Lois, The Flash and Riverdale.
The league announced Thursday a new deal with The CW Network to carry a package of select football and men’s and women’s basketball games beginning in September.
It includes weekly Saturday football telecasts in addition to Saturday men’s basketball doubleheaders in December, January and February and weekly women’s basketball games on Sundays. Raycom Sports will continue to produce the games for The CW just as it had for Bally Sports.
“We are thrilled to be adding The CW to our weekly television lineup for ACC football and basketball games,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. “The CW’s national distribution will directly benefit our student-athletes, teams, alumni and fans.”
In recent years as Bally Sports’ parent company, Diamond Sports Group, became embroiled in carriage and distribution disputes with television providers, the ACC’s games controlled by Raycom, and thus not televised by an ESPN channel, became increasingly difficult for viewers to find.
In March, Diamond Sports filed for bankruptcy. In June, Diamond’s lawyers asked a federal judge to void its contract with Raycom that included the ACC games. Last Friday, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christoper Lopez issued an order ending the agreement, according to a court document.
“The CW is going to be a terrific partner for the legendary ACC,” Hunter Nickell, Raycom Sports’ chief operating officer, said in a statement. “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.”
The CW Network has a nationwide string of local over-the-air affiliates, like WLFL in the Triangle, WCWG in the Piedmont Triad and Charlotte’s WCCB in North Carolina alone. Major cable providers like Charter Spectrum and Comcast/Xfinity carry the CW Network, as do popular satellite providers DirecTV and AT&T Uverse.
Cord-cutters who get their television via streaming services can access the games for free by downloading the CW Network app. While YouTubeTV streams live CW Network programming, it is only available on Hulu Live TV in certain markets.
The CW will show 13 college football games this season, beginning with Cincinnati at Pittsburgh on Sept. 9. A total of 28 men’s basketball and nine women’s basketball games are slated for the network.
“We are committed to making The CW a destination for live, appointment-viewing sporting events,” Dennis Miller, The CW Network president, said in a statement. “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.”
