The CW Network has acquired a stake in Power 5 sports media rights with a recent deal announced on Thursday. The network has reached an agreement with the ACC to broadcast 50 football and basketball games annually until the 2026-2027 season. In the upcoming season, the CW will air 13 football games, 28 men’s basketball games, and nine women’s basketball games.
These games are expected to be those that would not have been featured on ESPN’s national networks but would have been broadcast on local networks such as Bally Sports and Fox Sports. Raycom Sports, which sublicenses these games to local broadcasters, will produce the games for the CW, allowing the network to enter into this partnership.
This collaboration signifies a shift for the ACC away from local broadcasting companies amidst the ongoing turmoil in the local TV industry. The conference aims to safeguard its media rights revenue, considering it is bound by a contract with ESPN until 2036.
While the contract provides stability, there have been concerns that the ACC may fall behind other Power 5 conferences, which will have multiple opportunities to renegotiate their media packages before the ACC can do so. Currently, the ACC distributes conference revenue checks in the mid-$30 million range to each school, with a significant portion coming from media rights revenue, as per tax filings.
The partnership is mutually beneficial for The CW as well. The network has recently secured deals with LIV Golf and “Inside the NFL,” and there have been rumors of its interest in acquiring sports media rights, including those of the Pac-12.
Dennis Miller, President of The CW Network, expressed the network’s commitment to becoming a destination for live, appointment-viewing sporting events in a statement regarding the deal.
In the Kansas City broadcast area, the CW Network’s affiliate is KCWE Channel 29, owned by Hearst Television along with ABC affiliate KMBC-TV Channel 9.
