Let’s call the ACC Network “egalitarian TV.”
Recruiting, especially for Olympic sports, was one of the reasons the ACC Network was formed. Ever since the Big Ten Network signed on in 2007, coaches from the so-called non-revenue sports around the rest of the country felt like they were at an extreme disadvantage. The typical question for all those coaches from families of recruits was “how many games will your team be on TV this season?”
For the first 10 years of the BTN, their coaches could answer definitively because they had the schedule. And, oftentimes, “three or four times” was a better answer than any other conference could give.
Did the ACC have occasional TV for men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, women’s basketball or baseball games and lacrosse matches, not to mention volleyball, tennis and softball?
Sometimes those games were on the old Raycom network, then Fox Sports South and maybe ESPNU. But there weren’t many, and those recruits whose families lived more than a drive away often chose the Big Ten schools because of more TV, plain and simple.
The ACC Network was in the works, and when it finally launched two years ago, it had a smattering of Olympics Sports broadcasts. The schedules have grown, and today they look more like political programming than giving any school a recruiting advantage.
The games are split up pretty evenly among ACC members, with those featuring higher preseason-ranked teams getting a slight nod. For example, UNC had its first women’s soccer match on the full network Sunday, the Tar Heels’ 1-0 win over Arkansas in overtime on Sam Meza’s bullet shot from 15 yards out. Their opening win against Washington was on ACCNX, which is the network’s streaming service.
In all, Carolina has four women’s soccer games on the full ACC Network, while the other top 10 contenders like Florida State, Virginia and Duke have three each.
In the Big Ten, where Penn State has been picked to finish first for the last 18 years but is ranked below five ACC women’s soccer teams, the Nittany Lions are on 10 times. Good for only them.
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