According to the release: “The CW will air 14 regular season football games, 30 men’s basketball games, and 10 women’s basketball games each season.”
Seems like a good deal for the ACC. More games airing on OTA TV that’s seen increasing viewership year-over-year, and should help out some schools in securing more revenue.
Some key notes that I think are pretty common among a lot of ACC and P5 schools that don’t have a massive basketball budget:
— Syracuse is playing two neutral-site games this year (against Indiana in Indianapolis and against Providence in Boston), and they’re trying to lock down one more big game at MSG. The neutral-site games will make the Orange significant guaranteed money from promoters who will make sponsorship deals.
— Syracuse will play a few exhibition games, but none in the JMA Dome due to costs. Something I didn’t know: the team has to pay the university to use the Dome, and because of low attendance for the preseason games, it’s not a financially sound decision.
— Guarantee games on home court could require the program to spend anywhere from $85K-120K to lock down. Syracuse is targeting teams within a 4-5 hour radius from campus who would travel by bus, rather than flights, to cut down on guarantee costs. So that’s why you’ll see the Orange play teams like Cornell, Colgate and Albany in the Dome next season.