SBJ College: ACC Network, Dish Make Late Deal

I was jealous taking in the sights and smells from Clemson’s tailgating spaces this afternoon. Few places do it better than the Tigers.

Here’s what's cooking on campus:

DISH REACHES LAST-MINUTE DEAL FOR ACC NETWORK

Rosalyn Durant gives John Swofford a fist bump after Dish Network agreed to carry ACC Network

• ACC Commissioner John Swofford and ESPN Senior VP/College Networks Rosalyn Durant shared a fist bump followed by a hug on the field 30 minutes before the ACC Network’s first football game kicked off. The reason for the celebration: Durant had just told the commissioner that Dish Network and its Sling TV service agreed to carry the new channel in time for tonight’s Georgia Tech-Clemson game. Word of the deal marks a big win for the conference and ESPN, and adds millions of subscribers for the week-old channel. “That’s a big one,” a beaming Swofford told SBJ’s John Ourand. “That helps build momentum for other deals.”
  
  
• The Dish pact comes as a bit of a surprise. While a contract hasn’t been finalized, the two sides agreed to a deal in principle. A formal announcement should come in the next few days, and it likely will include the Disney-owned NatGeo and FX channels, which were negotiating with Dish at the same time. Dish will carry ACC Network will be available on America’s Top 120+ tier and multi-sport pack. Sling will carry it in Sling Orange Sports Extra.
  
  
• There were no last-minute distribution deals with Comcast or Cox, meaning cable subscribers in Georgia Tech’s home market of Atlanta had to turn to a pay service like Hulu to see the game or switch their service to DirecTV. This is probably how it’s going to be for this season unless enough customers dump Comcast or Cox. Georgia Tech's Todd Stansbury, Miami's Blake James, Virginia Tech's Whit Babcock and Virginia's Carla Williams are among the ACC ADs who have tried to increase the volume on Twitter around the network with a variety of anti-Comcast tweets.

BEHIND THE SCENES AT ACC NET'S FIRST FOOTBALL GAME

• The sidelines prior to kickoff were full of high-ranking execs from ESPN, owners and operators of ACC Network -- including Rosalyn Durant, Exec VP/Event & Studio Production Stephanie Druley and VP/Production Lee Fitting. But the exec with the shortest drive to Death Valley was ESPN Senior VP/Programming & Acquisitions Rob Temple, who makes his home in Travelers Rest, S.C., about half an hour from Clemson. Temple, who is transitioning out of sports marketing into rights acquisitions, works out of Bristol and Manhattan, but returns to a 70-acre spread in South Carolina on weekends.
  
  
• More than five hours before the game, ACC Net’s crew hunkered down in a makeshift HQ at the Courtside Club inside Littlejohn Coliseum, just a few hundred yards from Memorial Stadium. The space was perfect for the team to get ready for tonight’s broadcast, except for one thing -- a fresh coat of varnish had just been applied to the basketball court. The smell from the floor permeated the work space. One enterprising staffer finally figured out that he could close the doors to the Courtside Club to keep the varnish smell out.
  
  
• Tonight’s game was a few hundred tickets short of a sellout. There were some gaps in the corners of the upper deck, but probably not that surprising given the Thursday night kickoff. The next three home games are sold out for the 81,500-seat venue.
   

SPEED READS

• The weather hasn’t been cooperating with Boise State football -- now comes the cancellation of a second straight game for the Broncos. The team’s matchup with Boston College in last season’s Servpro First Responder Bowl in Dallas became the first bowl to be called off due to weather. Now, Hurricane Dorian has forced Boise State's Saturday matchup with FloridaState -- originally scheduled to be played in Jacksonville -- to relocate to Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.
  
  

• Syracuse AD John Wildhack didn’t exactly give a ringing endorsement to Carrier on the latest Syracuse Sports Podcast. The school reduced the number of references to the Carrier Domefrom 64 in its 2018 media guide to zero this year, and Wildhack is comfortable with the move amid the naming-rights debate. "The name’s on the building, so it’s the Carrier Dome. In terms of the media guides … I’ve been coming to The Dome forever, and I’ve always called it 'The Dome.' That’s no disrespect to whether it be Carrier or anybody else. It’s a change that has obviously received some notoriety, but Carrier’s name is on the building.”
   
• UConn is searching for a TV partner as it prepares to exit the AAC next season, and it sounds like SNY is ready to put Huskies’ football games on its airwaves. SNY President Steve Raabtold the Hartford Courant: “It’s still UConn in the state of Connecticut, and it’s still football at the highest level. … It’s still meaningful and relevant to this region and to the state.”
  
  
• Troy Univ. is taking on a unique new deal -- presenting sponsorship of the Sun Belt’s conference baseball tournament in Montgomery, Ala. Troy is a member of the Sun Belt. The school hopes to get some regional brand recognition with the five-year pact.
  
  
• Yahoo Sports’ Pat Forde got his hands on the Popeyes chicken sandwich before the item sold out this week, and he ranked it ahead of rival Chick-fil-A on the latest Yahoo College Football podcast. What’s the secret sauce? “Spicy as heck. The pickles are very good, the bun was very good. Across the board just a nudge better. Chick-fil-A is out, Popeyes is in, especially if I can get one on Sundays.”

THROWBACK THURSDAY

• This week two years ago, the NCAA issued an RFP for help in evaluating its possible role in esports, an open process that eventually was won by Chicago-based Intersport. The document advised bidding agencies to be prepared to “provide options for the NCAA to activate within the esports landscape in a manner that aligns with the organization’s values." The 18-month study came to an end this past April when the NCAA board of governors voted unanimously to table the topic for an indefinite period.

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