Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Camera: | Multi-camera |
Runtime: | 210 minutes or until game ends |
Company: | CW Sports Raycom Sports |
Network: | The CW |
Last Aired: | present |
Related: | ACC on Regional Sports Networks |
The ACC on The CW is a presentation of Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) college athletics broadcast by The CW, and produced by Raycom Sports.
After Nexstar Media Group acquired a majority stake in The CW, the company began efforts to broaden the network's programming. The network planned to broaden its demographics to encompass older viewers within the key demographic and linear television viewership, citing preferences towards streaming platforms by younger viewers. This would include an increased focus on imported programs from other countries, and sports programming. The network began to establish a sports division in 2023, initially with the acquisition of U.S. rights to the LIV Golf League.[1]
Raycom Sports has had a long-standing relationship with the Atlantic Coast Conference, having syndicated ACC basketball games, and later football, since 1982. Raycom maintained the rights to this package after ESPN acquired the conference's media rights in 2010. The broadcast television package ended after the 2018–19 season, when ESPN acquired its inventory for its new ACC Network cable channel.[2] [3] [4]
As an aspect of this agreement, Raycom also held rights to syndicate a separate package of ACC telecasts to regional sports networks. In June 2023, Bally Sports—the package's primary rightsholder—announced that it would drop the ACC RSN package, amid the bankruptcy of parent company Diamond Sports Group.[5] The following month, Raycom announced that it had sold the package to The CW, consisting of 13 football games, 28 men's basketball games, and 9 women's basketball games per-season.[6] [7] The CW aired its first ACC broadcast on September 9, 2023, featuring Cincinnati at Pittsburgh.
On September 27, 2023, The CW announced its inaugural ACC men's and women's college basketball schedule. Men's games will air on Saturdays, while women's games will air on Sundays. The first game, between Notre Dame and Miami, aired on December 2, 2023.[8]
Notably, the games are not available on streaming-specific services like The CW app but are available through streaming TV providers.[9]
With the limited turnaround time between the announcement and the start of the 2023 ACC football season, Raycom and The CW subcontracted resources from other broadcasters for its initial season of college football broadcasts, including ESPN (the conference's main rightsholder) temporarily allowing use of the ESPN College Football on-air graphics (pending the development of a dedicated The CW Sports graphics package in time for basketball season), and its first game at Pitt sharing resources with Fox Sports (which was already at Acrisure Stadium for an NFL broadcast the following afternoon).[10]
On November 30, 2023, The CW and Barstool Sports announced a partnership to televise the Arizona Bowl, which was previously exclusive to Barstool’s social media platforms since 2021.[19]
On March 26, 2024, it was reported by sports columnist John Canzano that CW Sports was nearing an agreement with Oregon State University and Washington State University to broadcast their games in the 2024 season; they are the final remaining members of the Pac-12 conference, as its remaining members are leaving for the ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12.[20] The deal was officially announced on May 14, under which The CW will air 11 broadcasts between the two teams (the remaining two will be aired by Fox College Football). The broadcasts, as well as the new studio show CW Football Saturday with Mike Yam, are being produced by the conference's in-house media department (which consists of the remainder of Pac-12 Network's staff).[21] [22]