By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Goodbye to Raycom Sports. We’re turning the page in college basketball this week as the Raycom Network will be absorbed into the ACC Network. For the past 39 years, the network has been the home for the ACC tournament and weekend football games.
Initially, Raycom also featured other conferences like the SEC, Big-8, Big-10 and the then-Southwest Conference. Jefferson Pilot came on board a short time later, and both became the known network to find the ACC.
But all that is a-changing.
As of August 22, 2019, the ACC Network will officially launch and broadcast all sports along the growing list of ESPN channels. Staff and programming will be based out of Charlotte, North Carolina.
The conference joins the Big 10, Pac-12 and South Eastern Conference in broadcasting their own athletic competition. ESPN has announced a 20-year contract with the ACC and is expected to carry 1,300 events per-year.
In its first year of existence, the SEC network listed television revenue at $100 million. The ACC is hoping for a similar return.
Also, ESPN needs to straighten out their announcers. I am tired of hearing Virginia Tech athletics being called VAW-Tech. It is Virginia Tech or Tech or VPI. I think Dick Vitale and Lee Corso are to blame. They started the whole wrong name thing. So, please guys correct yourself so the rest of the world knows who resides in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Blacksburg’s Josh Norris is coming home with some major hardware. Norris finished fourth overall in Special Olympics runners in the World Games’ marathon this past week. He was also seventh overall out of 326 runners.
The 2019 basketball season is not even over, and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is already looking to next season.
The ACC announced today its slate of season-opening conference games that will tip-off the 2019-20 basketball season. The two-day opening schedule will broadcast games on ACC Network (ACCN), ESPN2 and ESPNU. In all, the ACC will open up with seven conference games to start the season.
Virginia Tech will open the 2019-20 season at Clemson on Tuesday, Nov. 5 on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. Game time will be determined at a later date.
“Next year begins our move to a 20-game conference schedule, and to be able to open the season with a round of conference games makes it truly unique,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “We believe it will be a great way to tip-off another outstanding season of ACC basketball for our coaches, student-athletes and fans. In addition, we’re pleased to have a terrific partner in ESPN to televise these games on the new ACC Network and its other channels.”
In a press conference at the 2019 New York Life ACC Tournament, ESPN announced four games will be broadcast on the ACC Network, the new 24/7 national platform that will launch on August 22, 2019. The exclusive early-season basketball broadcasts include: Louisville at Miami and Georgia Tech at NC State (November 5); Notre Dame at North Carolina and Virginia at Syracuse (November 6).
Three additional conference games will be aired on ESPN2 or ESPNU including Virginia Tech at Clemson (November 5), Wake Forest at Boston College (November 6), and Florida State at Pitt (November 6).
Former Christiansburg High School football player Xavier Kane is headed to Campbell play college football. He made the announcement Friday after spending the past two years at Blue Ridge School near Harrisonburg.
Radford High School downed East Rockingham last month to claim another state basketball title, but it might have been the New River Valley that earned a little extra shortly before the game.
East Rockingham running back J’Wan Evans (5-10, 175) announced he will attend Virginia Tech as a preferred walk-on. He rushed for over 1,500 yards this past season, including 236 yards and two touchdowns in his team’s 2B region championship 44-29 win over Central this past month.
A Former Radford University men’s basketball player received some special recognition.
Catawba junior guard Devin Cooper, a 21-year-old point guard who had two basketball seasons abruptly ended by knee injuries, finally was in the right place at the right time on Sunday. He was named MVP of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament after Catawba beat Lenoir-Rhyne 71-67 in a championship game. He had been a starter for RU until a major knee injury knocked him out the lineup in 2017.
