CHARLOTTE, NC – With still a little over a year to go until its official launch in August 2019, the anticipation building for the ACC Network was one of the hot topics discussed by conference commissioner John Swofford during his yearly press conference at ACC Kickoff Wednesday. Two years ago at the annual event, Swofford announced plans for the future cable network in conjunction with ESPN — which will be similar to the SEC Network — and on Wednesday he provided an update on its progress heading into the 2018-19 season.
“Bottom line, whether it’s production, distribution, scheduling or anything else related to the network,” Swofford said, “I am pleased to be able to tell you that we are right on schedule.”
The commissioner, now in his 21st year at the helm, revealed the network’s brand mark on Wednesday and provided a glimpse into what’s been going on behind the scenes as the network inches its way toward the much-anticipated launch date.
“There are several important initiatives on our collective to-do lists as we lead up to next August,” said Swofford. “These items over the next year will intensify each month, as will the level of excitement and anticipation of bringing this project to fruition.”
As Swofford pointed out, each member school has its own production team that has been pulling double duty in preparation for the launch of the network, coming up with plans for next year while also working on the previous and upcoming seasons.
“I really want to acknowledge the work done by our schools, their production directors, the decisions that have been made on our campuses for the buildouts that will be necessary for us to have the channel. We’re in great shape with that,” said Swofford. “And the production directors and others have been tremendously dedicated on our campuses. They’ve done an excellent job in preparing for the ACC linear productions, while simultaneously producing over 1,000 games last year for ACC Network Extra, well beyond the 600 which we initially anticipated.”
A two-day summit between the schools’ production directors and ESPN concluded in Charlotte on Tuesday, and the commish talked about exactly how much grunt work will be needed in the months ahead to get everything up and running.
“As you can imagine,” he said, “with over 1,400 events on the schedule between the Network and Network Extra, there’s a lot of planning and a lot of coordinating required over the next year.”
Swofford says that the new network “remains a top business priority” for the folks at ESPN, adding that the relationship between the conference and the worldwide leader has never been stronger.
In addition, Swofford touched on the importance of celebrating the upcoming final year of Raycom Sports’ syndicated coverage of ACC Football, a bond that began in 1984.
“Our partnership with Raycom has lasted over three decades. During that time, it only grew. It flourished,” admitted Swofford. “In today’s world, those kinds of long-term relationships just don’t happen very often. I don’t know that anybody has ever had a syndicated relationship that has lasted as long as the ACC’s relationship with Raycom. So we’re going to celebrate a little more than normal this year during football season and during basketball season, because [Raycom] deserves it.
This season, fans will still be able to watch any and all conference contests via Raycom, ESPN/ABC and FOX Sports Regional Network. And in the future, Swofford says, Raycom will still have involvement in broadcasting ACC sporting events.
“Our business relationship with Raycom will continue, but it will be in a different vein, and Raycom will be doing some things with ESPN as well.”