Coming to a television set near you.
You’re going to be seeing a lot more Atlantic 10 Conference basketball in the future.
The league announced Tuesday it has signed a new eight-year television pact (which runs from 2013-14 through 2020-21) with ESPN, NBC Sports and CBS Sports that calls for as many as 71 men’s basketball and 23 women’s basketball games to be broadcast on national television. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the conference’s official press release said the deal, “Provides a significant increase in the Conference’s television rights.”
According to the A-10, this means nearly twice as many men’s contests and 77 percent more women’s games will be shown nationally than in previous years.
It’s great news for VCU, which moved to the A-10 from the Colonial Athletic Association this summer. Had the Rams remained in the CAA, they would be subject to a TV deal that called for a minimum of 12 league games to be carried on NBC Sports Network, but not much more than that. I’m not trying to be critical of the CAA, which was great for VCU for 17 years, but that’s an enormous difference.
AROUND THE HORNS 