ESPN Regional Television and Mid-American Conference Announce College Football Syndication Package

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the second straight season, ESPN Regional Television, Inc. (ERT), and the Mid-American Conference (MAC) have announced a six-week regionally syndicated football package that will air in 34 television markets, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids and Buffalo during the 2008 season. The package will consist of six weeks and eight games of MAC conference and non-conference matchups, beginning Saturday, Sept. 13.

“We are again pleased to provide our viewers with a consistent window for Mid-American Conference football,” said Pete Derzis, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN Regional Television. “With ESPN’s multimedia platforms, we anticipate MAC football will again touch a significant base of college football fans.” 

All games will begin at noon ET, with the telecast window extending to 3:30 p.m. The games will be distributed nationally via the ESPN GamePlan pay-per-view package, which is available to fans via cable, DirecTV and Dish Network. 

“We are excited to build upon the success of last year’s inaugural package with another strong schedule of games and a fantastic lineup of stations,” said Rick Chryst, commissioner of the Mid-American Conference.

The six-week package will begin with a Sept. 13 telecast featuring Temple at Buffalo. The schedule will feature split windows Sept. 27 (Kent State at Ball State and Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan) and Oct. 18 (Western Michigan at Central Michigan and Miami-Ohio at Bowling Green) along with single games Oct. 4 (Akron at Kent State) and Oct. 25 (Central Michigan at Toledo). The schedule will conclude Nov. 8 with either Illinois vs. Western Michigan at Ford Field or Bowling Green at Ohio. The list of games can be found below.

The 34 markets that will air the package represent more than 24 million television households, or 22 percent of the U.S. Those markets and affiliates include: Chicago (WPWR – MyTV); Philadelphia (WPHL – MyTV); Detroit (WXYZ – ABC); Cleveland (WEWS – ABC);  St. Louis (Charter Cable); Indianapolis (WTTV – CW); Columbus (WWHO – CW); Cincinnati (WKRC – CBS); Milwaukee (WDJT – CBS); Grand Rapids (WZZM – ABC);  and Buffalo (WNGS – Independent). A full listing can be found below.

Michael Reghi will host the action with Doug Chapman serving as the analyst. 

MAC Football

The 2008 football campaign marks the 62nd season of MAC football and the 12^th with a championship game culminating at Ford Field in Detroit on Friday, Dec. 5 on ESPN2. With three MAC schools participating in bowl games last season, the league has now produced bowl teams from10 conference schools in the past four years. In addition, the competitiveness of the league has resulted in six schools representing their respective divisions in the last four championship games.

All three MAC quarterbacks will return for 2008 after leading their respective schools to bowl games in 2007 – CMU’s Dan LeFevour, the MAC’s 2007 Offensive Player of the Year; Ball State’s Nate Davis; and Bowling Green’s Tyler Sheehan.

The number of MAC players in the NFL continues to grow, as 83 former student-athletes were on active NFL rosters as of June 2008, including Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (Miami), who is the youngest signal-caller to guide his squad to the coveted Lombardi Trophy. Seven former MAC players participated in last year’s Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., including three members of the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

The 2008 NFL Draft included the selection of nine MAC players, which ranks as the second-highest total in conference history. The MAC had 11 players taken in the 2005 NFL Draft and a record two (2) first-round selections in the 2004 Draft – Roethlisberger (#11/Pittsburgh Steelers) and Western Michigan’s Jason Babin (#27/Houston Texans).

2008 MAC ‘Game of the Week’ Schedule  (All Times Noon ET)

MAC Football Affiliate List

City/DMA Size             Station                        Affiliation        

Chicago  (3)                   WPWR              My Network TV

Philadelphia (4)              WPHL                My Network TV

Detroit (11)                    WXYZ                ABC

Cleveland (17)               WEWS              ABC

Indianapolis (26)            WTTV               CW                              

Columbus, OH (32)         WWHO              CW

Cincinnati (33)               WKRC               CBS

Milwaukee (34)              WDJT                CBS

Grand Rapids, MI (39)     WZZM               ABC

Harrisburg, PA (41)        WHP                 CBS

Las Vegas (43)               KEGS                 RTN

Buffalo (50)                   WNGS               RTN

Little Rock, AR (57)         KWBF                My Network TV

Dayton, OH (62) WKEF                ABC

Charleston, WV  (65)     WSAZ-DT          NBC

Flint, MI (66)                 WNEM               CBS

Roanoke, VA (67)           WDRL                Independent

Green Bay, WI (70)         WACY               My Network TV

Toledo, OH (72)             WTVG               ABC

Springfield, MO (74)       KWBM               My Network TV

Spokane, WA (77)          KQUP                RTN

Madison, WI (85)           ETVW               PBS

Cedar Rapids, IA (87)     KWWF               RTN     

South Bend, IN (89)        WCWW            

Davenport, IA (96)          KBQD                My Network TV

Fort Smith, AR (102)      KPBI                  My Network TV

Youngstown, OH (106)    WYTV               ABC

Fort Wayne, IN (107)      WISE                NBC

Lansing , MI (112)          WHTV               My Network TV

Peoria, IL (117)              WAOE               My Network TV

LaCrosse, WI (127)        KQEG                Family Net

Rockford, IL (132)          WTVO-DT2        ABC

Wheeling, WV (159)       WTRF               CBS

Marquette, MI (179)       WMQF               My Network TV

ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership

The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 900 sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, WAC).

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including collegiate football events: the St Petersburg Bowl; the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl; the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge; and The Home Depot College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the Anaheim Classic (Calif.); the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); the Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; the Charleston Classic (S.C.); the O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City); and the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit www.espnplus.com.

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