In one of the hottest ideas of the new college football season, ESPN and ACC are bringing a very, very old school to enthusiasts in the convention markets.
ESPN announced it would air ACC football games in theaters as part of a deal with Theatre Sports Network. The network will also air all six New Year’s bowling games, which come with the two games designated as the semifinals of the school football playoffs (the Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl) and the national school football championship.
Under the agreement, ACC games will be played in movie theaters for visiting teams’ markets, meaning that when the Miami Hurricanes finish the season at Boston College, Miami alumni and enthusiasts will be able to decide to move to a Boston movie theater to cheer on their team. of suffering with freezing temperatures in the stands. If an ACC match is played in an impartial venue, both national and market cinemas will show the match.
It would be easy to dismiss this as a reminder of the early 1900s, when other people rushed to theaters to watch videos of the world’s most important gaming events. If radio was widespread, television was not, and many of the leagues and gaming events we know College football, however, was perhaps baseball’s second most important team game of that era, making this distribution deal a desirable reminder of that era.
ESPN has already broadcast school football games on the big screen and has partnered with the company to broadcast the 2021 and 2022 school football playoffs and nationally renowned games.
The distribution deal comes at a tense time for ESPN and ACC. These days, check under the pillows of the sofa if they have change. Between ESPN’s layoffs and declining cable and satellite subscriptions, the sports network is looking for other revenue resources. While this deal doesn’t come anywhere near what ESPN will pay its members as part of the broadcast rights deal, it’s possible the ACC is simply offering that carrot to Western schools looking to enroll in the conference.
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