On Aug. 22, the ACC Network launched on several different cable networks, and in its first two and a half weeks has not looked back. For many years, Raycom Sports delivered ACC fans across the country weekly football and basketball coverage. However, Raycom ceased broadcasting at the end of the 2018-2019 basketball season, ahead of the new ACC Network coming at the end of the summer.
The ACC Network broadcasts at ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. The ACC was one of two Power Five conferences that did not have its own 24-hour network, with the other being the Big 12, before the ACC Network launched.
This was a huge get for the ACC if it wanted to stay competitive with other Power Five conferences such as the SEC, which has had its own network since 2014. In 2017, the ACC ranked fourth out of the five Power Five conferences in total revenue. The network will do a lot in trying to change that.
One of the cool things about the ACC Network is that many college campuses have their own unique studios. The ACC Network studio for NC State is located at the Murphy Center at Carter-Finley Stadium.
So far, the ACC Network has been a big success. The network hired unique on-air personalities for football season such as former college coaches Mark Richt and Dave O’Brien, former Boston College quarterback Tim Hasslebeck, and Jac Collinsworth to name a few.
“All-ACC” is serving as the daily program, similar to ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” while it also has “The Huddle,” a pregame show for football games airing on Friday evenings and Saturdays during football season.
On Thursday, Aug. 29, the ACC Network aired its first football game, a primetime showdown between Georgia Tech and the defending national champion, Clemson. In the much-anticipated matchup with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit on the call, the ACC Network opened up its football coverage with a bang. In week one, the ACC Network also covered the ECU vs NC State game.
The ACC Network doesn’t only make it easy to watch football, but every men’s and women’s sport is accessible. Throughout the whole year, the ACC Network is scheduled to televise over 1,300 sporting events.
If you have the ACC Network in your cable package, you will have access to online sporting events on WatchESPN on all of the lower-revenue sports. For NC State women’s soccer fanatics, you can watch almost all of the games of the nationally-ranked Wolfpack online via the ACC Network Extra.
The ACC Network has already made a positive impact on college basketball a few months before the season has even begun. As a result of the ACC Network enhancing television coverage of the conference, teams will now play a 20-game conference schedule rather than an 18-game schedule.
This is great news, especially for NC State fans. The extended number of conference games gives the Wolfpack two more chances to pick up quality wins, which in all likelihood would be games against small schools if the schedule had not been changed.
These two games could’ve been useful for NC State men’s basketball head coach Kevin Keatts and his team this past season, as the Wolfpack was ranked No. 126 in strength of schedule, according to CBS Sports.
To look ahead into basketball season, the ACC Network is hosting a slate of games, including NC State vs. Georgia Tech at PNC Arena on Nov. 5 to open up the 2019-20 season. This will be a great way to open up the season, rather than the usual game against a smaller school.
ACC fans across the country had to wait three years after ESPN announced the launch of the network in July of 2016, but early signs show that the wait was worth it.
To see if your cable package has the ACC Network, visit https://getaccn.com
