Army football signs multi-year TV deal

By Bob Beretta, Army Athletic CommunicationsJuly 23, 2009

Army football signs multi-year TV deal
Pictured is the home of Army Football, Michie Stadium at West Point, N.Y. July 22, CBS College Sports Network and the Army Athletic Association reached an exclusive five-year agreement, guaranteeing live, high-definition television coverage of every ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CBS College Sports Network becomes home of Service Academy football with Army, Navy, Air Force on roster

CBS College Sports Network and the Army Athletic Association have reached an exclusive five-year agreement, guaranteeing live, high-definition television coverage of every Army home football game and select neutral site games in which Army is the home team, on CBS College Sports Network, beginning with the 2010 season and continuing through 2014.

The deal was announced by Sean McManus, president, CBS News and Sports, and Kevin Anderson, director of Athletics at West Point, at a press conference at Yankee Stadium, Wednesday.

A major component of the agreement assures that all Army home football games will be played on Saturday afternoons beginning at either noon or 3:30 p.m., with all kickoff times to be set by May 1 each year.

Additionally, a live web stream of all Army's home broadcasts will be made available free of charge to Soldiers and military personnel around the world via CBS College Sports Network XXL, the network's multi-media streaming platform.

"We are proud to partner with West Point and look forward to showcasing Army football," McManus said. "The great tradition of Army Football will be a cornerstone of the CBS College Sports Network schedule which also features Navy and Air Force. With this agreement, CBS College Sports Network becomes the home base for fans of the teams from the U.S. service academies."

While the new deal between Army and CBS College Sports Network begins in 2010, the Army Athletic Association, CBS College Sports Network and Army's current broadcast partner, ESPN, have worked out an agreement for this fall that will permit CBS College Sports Network to broadcast all of the Black Knights' home games with the exception of Army's home date with Rutgers.

Three of Army's games will be televised live on CBS College Sports Network and two will air on a tape delayed basis. All five of the contests will begin at noon.

As part of the pact, Army's home game with Rutgers will remain at 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 23 and be televised by ESPN2.

"We couldn't be more excited to announce this new partnership with CBS College Sports Network," Army Director of Athletics Kevin Anderson said. "The thoughts and feelings of our fans is vitally important to us. We have listened to their feedback the last four years and their greatest desires were centered around playing games on Saturday afternoons and having established kickoff times. This new agreement with CBS College Sports Network achieves both of those goals. There is no place in the country like Michie Stadium on Saturday afternoons in the fall. We are pleased to guarantee that our fans will be able to enjoy the game day experience at West Point to its fullest for each of our home football games the next six years."

"It is also very important that our Soldiers around the world have an opportunity to watch their team via the internet free of charge. This agreement allows us to maximize the exposure of our product and make our broadcasts available to the greatest number of our fans, graduates and Soldiers possible. I'd like to thank the leadership at ESPN for all they've done for us the past four years and certainly Sean McManus, Mike Aresco, Steve Herbst and the rest of the CBS Family for making this new deal possible. We look forward to growing our relationship with CBS in the years ahead."

In concert with Wednesday's earlier announcement chronicling the relationship between Army and the New York Yankees, at least three of the Black Knights' games that will be played at Yankee Stadium over the next several years will be televised by CBS College Sports Network. Those include games against Rutgers in 2011, Air Force in 2012 and Boston College in 2014.

In addition to being the home of all Army home games, CBS College Sports Network also is the exclusive football television partner for all Navy home football games.

Through its partnership with the Mountain West Conference, the network showcases a myriad of Air Force sporting events, including football and men's and women's basketball and is now positioned as the home of our nation's service academy football teams.

No fewer than eight Army games are slated for national television coverage this season. In addition to Army's home game broadcast schedule, the Black Knights' service academy clash at Air Force Nov. 7, will be televised by CBS College Sports Network and Army's year-ending battle with arch-rival Navy in Philadelphia will be broadcast to a worldwide audience by CBS Sports.