The CW Network will be broadcasting Power Five-level college football and basketball starting this fall, though it’s not for a conference that had previously been linked with the network.
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced Thursday that the CW Network will broadcast 50 ACC college football and basketball games each season through 2026-27.
The CW procured the rights to these ACC football and basketball games in an agreement with Raycom Sports, which sublicenses the rights from ESPN, according to the ACC.
Raycom will produce the broadcasts for the CW, per the league.
“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 news release. “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.”
How does the ACC’s deal with the CW Network impact the Pac-12?
In April, The Athletic reported that the Pac-12 Conference and the CW had been in discussions, with the network showing interest in acquiring live sports rights, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Nothing has come to fruition on the Pac-12/CW front since those reports.
The Pac-12 is working on finalizing a new media rights deal for the conference, a process that has been going on for over a year now. The league’s current deal expires in 2024.
On Thursday, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini said that the CW’s deal with the ACC doesn’t necessarily mean an agreement between the Pac-12 and the CW won’t happen.
“The Pac-12 is trying to final a financial number similar to that of the Big 12, in order to keep schools from bolting for the Big 12. This deal with the ACC could mean the conference took opportunities that were available for the Pac-12, or it could mean the CW is trying to be a real player in college football and might add the Pac-12 as well,” Vannini wrote.
“If that happens, it could be helpful that the ACC took the first CW deal, making it more acceptable for Pac-12 schools and fans.”
What the ACC is getting from its deal with the CW Network
The CW, meanwhile, found a college sports broadcasting partner in the ACC.
“We are committed to making the CW a destination for live, appointment-viewing sporting events,” CW Network president Dennis Miller said in a news release. “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.”
Front Office Sports reported that the ACC games the CW will broadcast “will likely be those that wouldn’t have made it to ESPN’s national networks, and instead were featured on local networks including Bally Sports and Fox Sports.”
The network will broadcast its first ACC football game on Saturday, Sept. 9, when Pittsburgh hosts new Big 12 member Cincinnati.
The CW will broadcast 13 football games, airing games each Saturday during the afternoon and primetime, per the conference.
The network will also broadcast 28 men’s basketball games and nine women’s basketball games each season from December through February each winter, the league announced, with men’s basketball doubleheaders on Saturday afternoons and women’s games on Sunday afternoons.
“It was important for the ACC not to risk any lost media rights revenue, as it’s locked into a media rights contract with ESPN until 2036. While the contract provides stability, there has been concern that it would fall woefully behind other Power Five conferences — which will renegotiate their media packages multiple times before the ACC can,” Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich wrote.
“The league currently sends checks in the mid-$30 million range to each school in conference distributions, according to tax filings — most of which comes from media rights revenue.”