CW secures broadcast rights to 50 ACC football, basketball games

By David Ubben, Chris Vannini and Brendan Marks

The CW Network announced on Thursday that it has secured the rights to 50 ACC football and basketball games each season through 2026-27. Here’s what you need to know:

• The first ACC football game that will air on The CW on Sept. 9 will feature Pittsburgh in a nonconference game against Cincinnati.
• The CW will broadcast 13 football games, 28 men’s basketball games and nine women’s basketball games.
• The basketball games will be broadcast in December, January and February with men’s basketball doubleheaders each Saturday and women’s basketball games on Sundays.

The CW Network has secured exclusive broadcast rights to 50 ACC college football and basketball games each season through 2026-27.@TheCW acquired the rights to these live games from Raycom Sports who sublicenses the rights from ESPN.

𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘: https://t.co/B1wBQSR9I8 pic.twitter.com/oAZWpwL1f4

— The ACC (@theACC) July 13, 2023

What did the ACC say about the deal?

“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.”

What does this mean for the ACC?

Putting games on The CW is sure to spawn snickers and groans, but in time, the broadcast network won’t matter. The only thing that matters when it comes to broadcast rights is distribution. If fans have access — and with CW most should — people will get used to it in time.

Granted, The CW also collecting money from LIV Golf to broadcast that tour hasn’t helped its perception, but still. Any time a new network enters into a sport — remember, once upon a time, TBS broadcast Big 12 football games — people are bound to bristle, but on Saturdays, so long as fans are looking to watch games, they want and can find them on the guide, no one will care what network is broadcasting it after a few weeks so long as the broadcast quality is up to snuff.

Fans certainly would prefer this over being forced to download yet another app or enroll in another subscription just to see the games they want to see on Saturdays. — Ubben

What does this mean for The CW and college football?

Nexstar Media Group bought a controlling share in The CW in 2022 and made sports a priority, as the network moved away from scripted programming. That work in sports began with a deal in January to broadcast LIV Golf. This Raycom deal should bring a larger potential audience to ACC games, as The CW is actually a network broadcast station, like NBC or CBS, and some Raycom games were broadcast on The CW affiliates already.

Does this ACC deal impact the Pac-12? It has been reported The CW was a potential partner on the Pac-12’s media negotiations that have dragged on months longer than anyone anticipated. 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. 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. — Vannini

Is this move good for the ACC?

Some fans will get their jokes off — The CW, now playing the role of RSN in “What channel is that?” — but on the whole, this deal looks like a win for the ACC. At the end of the day, more distribution equals more dollars, and this appears to be a better setup for fans than the disastrous Bally Sports setup of the past few seasons. That’s definitely true just in terms of access. Per the ACC’s release, the CW is available in 100 percent of households via local broadcast channels, and the network’s app has more than 96 million downloads. That last part, especially, is worth noting; most major streaming services, like YouTube TV, do carry the network, meaning those subscribers will get these games. And as for the product itself, with Raycom set to produce the games, you’re essentially talking about distributing the same tried-and-true broadcast to a larger audience. Doesn’t seem so bad.

Now, is this deal especially sexy, or is it going to single-handedly close the ACC’s revenue gap with the SEC and Big Ten? Absolutely not, on both fronts. But give the league some credit for backing up its word and exploring additional revenue streams in the face of that gap, which this deal does represent. Plus, with the Pac-12’s new, hypothetical media deal still blowing in the wind, this is a nice boost for the ACC in terms of avoiding any more slippage in the conference arms race. — Marks

(Photo: Lee Coleman / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)