One benefit of being the last conference to launch a network is that the ACC can learn from SEC, Big 10 and Pac 12 and avoid some of their pitfalls. Jon Wilner covers the Pac 12, and he’s one of the best in the business. He recently tweeted this in an article he wrote.
Schools urge Pac-12 Networks execs to place a greater emphasis on football, and Pac-12 Networks execs listen:https://t.co/Ik2vOLlFzr
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) August 6, 2018
Executives seemed determine keep football in check, lest the beast swallow whole the conference’s beloved Olympic sports.
In 2018, however, we’ll see the beginnings of a revamped approach fueled by the campuses themselves and implemented by a new management team.
“The universities and the athletic directors have told us they want to emphasize football,” networks president Mark Shuken told the Hotline.
Since I don’t have the Pac 12 network, nor follow what’s being televised on a daily basis there I found this really odd. There’s not a TV exec or football administrator that won’t tell you football drives the the Television viewing and revenue bus.
The Pac 12 Network even missed live covering the December 2017 Football signing day. That’s inexcusable. The ACC cannot make these kinds of obvious mistakes. I’m not suggesting we should have football replays during basketball season, but if anything football related is live, it probably should trump any Olympic sport. I have nothing against the Olympic sports either. I watch a lot of them, but it is just the nature of the business.
Now that the ACC is established as one of the premier football conferences, the programming certainly needs to reflect that. In the end just as we learned in the past where football drove the television contracts, and football helped establish the ACC Network – the Olympic sports will in the end benefit with better ACC Network distribution if football is emphasized. The ACC Network is still going to going to increase exposure for the Olympic sports, it just can’t go the route of the Pac 12 Network.
This means ACC Network coverage on signing days, NFL draft day, football coaches shows even from time to time during the off-season, and following former ACC players in the NFL.
