ACC men’s basketball moving to 20-game conference schedule
Courtesy of the ACC
Syracuse director of athletics John Wildhack helped the Atlantic Coast Conference nail a deal involving the basketball conference schedule.
The Atlantic Coast Conference will go from 18 to 20 league men’s basketball games in 2019 with the launch of the the ACC Network — which is backed by ESPN — commissioner John Swofford announced at the ACC Kickoff on Thursday.
The partnership between ESPN and the ACC was officially announced by Swofford. It includes the launch of the ACC Network, a cable channel, and the ACC Network Extra, which will stream online and run from 2019 through 2035-36.
The ACC Network will broadcast 450 live events annually, including 40 football games, more than 150 men’s and women’s basketball games and more than 250 others, Swofford said. The ACC Network Extra will show 600 live games in its first year — this year — and grow to 900 events by 2019.
ESPN president John Skipper thanked newly-hired Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack for his help in getting the deal done. It has been in the works for the last two years, Swofford said.
“My story is, he likes this deal so much that he decided to join the conference,” Swofford joked about Wildhack.
Published on July 21, 2016 at 5:21 pm
Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus
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