ACC on Regional Sports Networks

For the package of ACC games broadcast on The CW, see ACC on The CW.

ACC RSN

Country	United States
Availability	Regional
Broadcast area	United States
Owner	Raycom Sports
Parent	Gray Television
Key people	Ken Haines (President & CEO, Raycom Sports) John Swofford (Commissioner of the ACC) John Skipper (President, ESPN Inc.)
Launch date	2011
Dissolved	June 2023
Official website	www.theacc.com www.raycomsports.com

The ACC on Regional Sports Networks (also known as simply ACC RSN) was a package of telecasts produced by Raycom Sports, in cooperation with Bally Sports, previously the Fox Sports Networks, featuring Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) college sports. The package was syndicated primarily to regional sports networks.

History

The practice of distributing ACC sports telecasts to regional networks began with the original Jefferson-Pilot syndication package for football and Raycom/JP package for basketball in the 1980s. At that time Raycom and JP would distribute ACC telecasts through AT&T network lines to local over the air affiliates. ^[1] Raycom Sports would continue to distribute ACC telecasts, mostly football and men's basketball under what became the ACC Network, to over the air affiliates until the 2019 ACC men's basketball tournament, when ESPN acquired Raycom Sports' previous package of games for its new ACC Network cable channel. ^[2]

The practice of distributing ACC sports to regional sports networks started in 2011 after the signing of a new 12-year agreement between the ACC, ESPN and Raycom Sports. The agreement gave Raycom Sports the ability to syndicate a select number of football, basketball and Olympic sports on regional sports networks. ^[3]

As the majority of the ACC's RSN affiliates were part of Fox Sports Networks, these events were initially billed as Fox Sports telecasts (with football and basketball using the standard Fox College Football and Fox College Hoops branding respectively). With the acquisition of FSN by Sinclair Broadcast Group and their rebranding in late-March 2021, the telecasts transitioned to using Bally Sports' on-air presentation.

In August 2022, Bally and Raycom agreed to move 11 women’s basketball tournament early-round games and 12 baseball tournament early-round games, which previously aired as part of the package, to the ACC Network. ^[4]

In June 2023, as part of the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, Bally dropped the ACC RSN package. ^[5] A month later, Raycom announced an agreement with The CW to carry a sub-license package of ACC telecasts produced by Raycom, which will include 13 football games, 28 men's basketball games, and 9 women's basketball games per-season. ^{[6] [7]}

Telecasts

The ACC on Regional Sports Networks consisted of football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, and a limited number of soccer, field hockey, and volleyball matches. The package contains around 16 football games per year, around 40 men's basketball games, and 25 women's basketball games. ^{[8] [9]}

It previously aired early-round coverage of the ACC women's basketball tournament and ACC baseball tournament until 2022, when ESPN reached an agreement with Raycom Sports and Bally Sports to move coverage of these two events to ACC Network. ^[4]

On air staff

• Mike Gminski: color commentar
• Tom Werme: play-by-play
• Cory Alexander: color commentator
• James Bates: color commentator
• Evan Lepler: play-by-play
• Charles Arbuckle: color commentator
• Treavor Scales: sideline reporter
• Bob Rathbun: play-by-play
• Brian Jordan: color commentator
• Tabitha Turner: sideline reporter
• Eric Collins: play-by-play
• Dan Bonner: color commentator

See also

• MVC Network, a similar package of telecasts on regional sports networks for the Missouri Valley Conference
• The CW Sports

References

1. Record, Brant Wilkerson-New Greensboro News &. "Signing off: Raycom Sports will air its final ACC tournament this week". Richmond Times-Dispatch.
2. Luke DeCock (March 11, 2019). "The pilot sails no more: After four decades, ACC's longtime TV partner signs off". Raleigh News & Observer. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
3. "Details of ESPN and ACC Exclusive 12 Year Agreement" (PDF). Retrieved June 25, 2021.
4. Bucholtz, Andrew (2022-08-17). "ACC Network adds more WBB and baseball tournament games". Awful Announcing. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
5. Frankel, Daniel (2023-06-15). "Bally Sports Kicks Another Asset to the Curb: ACC Football and Basketball Games". NextTV. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
6. Lucia, Joe (2023-07-15). "The CW has added the 50 Raycom-produced ACC basketball and football games". Awful Announcing. Retrieved 2023-07-17.
7. Petski, Denise (July 13, 2023). "The CW Lands Rights To Atlantic Coast Conference College Football & Basketball Games Through 2026-27". Deadline. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
8. "Matt's College Sports Media Blog". mattsarzsports.blogspot.com.
9. "ACC Women's Basketball Announces Composite Schedule with Television Designations". theacc.com.