On Thursday, Conference USA officially announced its new media deal, confirming and adding additional details to the reports that came out Wednesday regarding the news.
“We’re really excited about the Conference USA television agreement,” Liberty Director of Athletics Ian McCaw stated on Thursday. “This is the culmination of a lot of work and negotiation that spanned over six months. We are really excited about the outcome to be able to consolidate our rights among the two largest college sports broadcasters, CBS and ESPN, that’s a great outcome for Conference USA and Liberty.
Alongside Liberty, three other members will join CUSA in 2023 – Jacksonville State, New Mexico State, and Sam Houston State. Current ASUN member Kennesaw State will join the conference in 2024. They will join with the remaining CUSA members – FIU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, and UTEP – to form the 10-team league.
According to the Sports Business Journal, CUSA member schools will be making around $750,000 per year as part of this media deal. The prior CUSA media deal divided games across four media partners, including Facebook and NFL Network. Now, all the games will be on CBS and ESPN networks.
“Some of the revenue from this contract I think will be invested into television production facilities that I think will elevate the entire conference in terms of broadcast capabilities and the quality of content that the fans will get to see,” said McCaw.
The new agreement between Conference USA with ESPN and CBS is for five years and will begin with the 2023-24 athletic calendar. The multi-year agreement positions CBS Sports Network with tier one selection status for C-USA football (18 games annually) and men’s basketball (18 games annually) over the length of the partnership, while also televising the football championship, men’s basketball semifinal and championship games, the women’s basketball championship game, and baseball and softball championship games.
This is a significant upgrade for the Flames as Liberty’s current deal with ESPN as a Football Independent and through the ASUN, only calls for one linear game per football season while the rest of the school’s sports, including men’s basketball, are not guaranteed any linear games.
“This agreement will offer Liberty dramatically enhanced exposure,” McCaw stated. “This is really unprecedented exposure for us, and, then, there’s also significant revenue, as well, that comes along with that. It’s a great outcome for us.”
C-USA membership approved a linear television-friendly scheduling format for football that sees all October league matchups played on midweek evenings. The broadcast partners will share C-USA’s October weeknight football games on linear television across CBS Sports Network, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. These games will be played between the days of Tuesday and Friday night, with each CUSA member expected to have two home and two road games played during the midweek during October each season.
For 2023, Liberty has already announced it’s non-conference schedule which includes home games on Sept. 2 against Bowling Green, Sept. 30 against Old Dominion, and on Nov. 18 against UMass. The remaining non-conference game is on Sept. 16 at Buffalo. Add in four home CUSA games and four away conference games, and the Flames will have seven home dates in 2023. Of these seven, five are expected to be on Saturday with two during the midweek.
“I think Group of Five schools, your chance for exposure on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday night is probably a bit greater than on a Saturday when you are sandwiched in between all these Power Five games that have implications for the playoffs,” said Liberty head football coach Hugh Freeze.
The full conference schedule is expected to be announced soon. There is also a possibility for several CUSA teams to play conference games during Week Zero, according to McCaw.
ESPN linear networks will carry eight midweek football games per season via the October midweek scheduling. In addition, ESPN+ or ESPN3 will carry all additional regular season football games, while also serving as the exclusive digital home for all of Conference USA’s Olympic sports (soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, etc.), including all C-USA tournament games aside from the title games for baseball and softball, which will air on CBS Sports Network. Consolidating all digital inventory with ESPN provides a much more streamlined process for C-USA fans under one banner. Over 450 live sporting events will be available and streaming on ESPN+/ESPN3.
ESPN linear networks will also broadcast a minimum of five regular season men’s basketball games and one regular season women’s basketball game on its linear networks, while holding digital rights to all additional women’s regular season basketball games and all men’s basketball regular season games beyond CBS Sports Network’s selections.
“I know there are a few drawbacks to fans, but I think our students here will be incredible on a weeknight,” said Freeze. “I think it gives us great exposure. I’m all for it. I think it’s a good idea for the climate of college football right now. For us in Conference USA, it was the right move. It will get us more exposure. I’m excited about it.”
