Raycom Sports is a Charlotte, North Carolina –based producer of sports television programs owned by Gray Television .
54-494: It was founded in 1979 by husband and wife, Rick and Dee Ray. In the 1980s, Raycom Sports established a prominent joint venture with Jefferson-Pilot Communications which made them partners on the main Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) college basketball package. Raycom was acquired in 1994 by Ellis Communications. Two years later, Ellis was acquired by a group led by Retirement Systems of Alabama , who renamed
108-524: A package of syndicated ACC telecasts aired by the Bally Sports channels and other regional sports networks , until Bally Sports ended the contract, at which point The CW bought the rights. Via Raycom Sports or related operation Tupelo Raycom, Gray produces NFL preseason games for several teams, including the Atlanta Falcons , Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints . Raycom Sports
162-500: A 1995 Duke-Carolina basketball game that increased the channel's credibility with cable operators. In the 1983 season, Raycom experimented with a cable-oriented ACC service known as ACC Ticket. Raycom had built a large array of broadcasting rights until the 1990s, with rights for ACC, SEC, Pac-10, Metro, Big Eight, Big 12, and Southwest conferences. Raycom sub-licensed ACC games to national broadcasters (including CBS , and ESPN ), regional sports networks , and local stations. However, with
216-484: A backup). Several teams (including defending champion UCLA, Connecticut and North Carolina) declined invites, while Michigan State received an invite. In 1996, the event moved to United Center under a five-year contract. By August 1997, Raycom lost the Pac-10 and Big 12 college football advertising sales rights to Fox Sports Networks . Several executives also left the company, including Steedman. In 2002, Raycom founded
270-643: A condition of the deal, were rebranded under the new on-air title ACC Network in 2010). Additionally, Raycom became responsible for the ACC's digital media operations and sponsorship sales. In addition to the syndication component of the 2010 agreement, Raycom brokered a deal for another package of ACC football and basketball content which was dubbed the ACC Regional Sports Networks (RSN). ACC RSN broadcasts were produced by Raycom Sports production staff as Fox College Football broadcasts out of
324-414: A discussion between ACC commissioner John Swofford and then-ESPN president John Skipper , Swofford acknowledged Raycom's long-standing relationship with the conference, and requested that it continue to be involved in some way. ESPN ultimately negotiated a sub-licensing agreement with Raycom, which would allow it to continue producing a syndicated package of ACC football and basketball broadcasts (which, as
378-399: A hastily created network of five stations across North Carolina. It proved popular enough that it expanded to a full-time package of basketball games the following season. The January 14, 1973 game between NC State @ Maryland was the first Super Bowl Sunday college basketball national telecast. Chelsey would again syndicate an ACC game (Maryland @ NC State) nationally on Super Bowl Sunday
432-643: A profit from the broadcasts. While college basketball remained the TVS Television Network's signature series, they also expanded into tennis, college football bowl games , NASL pro soccer , tennis, and golf. They also televised the NBA–ABA All-Star Game between the rival professional basketball leagues. In 1974 , the network became the official telecaster of the World Football League . (TVS dropped its coverage of
486-464: A radio division, acquiring the rights to the University of Illinois and Purdue University radio networks. In 1980, Raycom made what would prove to be its biggest splash when it teamed up with Jefferson-Pilot Communications to take over production of ACC basketball games. The package had begun in 1957 when Greensboro businessman C. D. Chesley piped North Carolina 's run to the 1957 national title to
540-461: A time when the sport was of no interest to the national networks. Taking advantage of intense regional collegiate rivalries, the network blossomed in the 1960s and developed into a full service sports network. Einhorn proceeded to put together a Saturday afternoon TVS "game of the week" concept that often featured some of the major midwestern independent teams such as Marquette , DePaul , and Notre Dame . These games were widely syndicated at least in
594-546: Is handling production of home games for U.S.-based teams in the Professional Women's Hockey League . Raycom Sports' production department won 34 Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards between 2009 and 2020. The company earned a total of 73 nominations in that span. Winning streaks include: 6 straight wins in "Sports Segment" (2014–'19), 7 wins in "Sports/Live Event" in 8-year span and 5 wins in "Sports Program" in 6-year span. Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in
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#1732797817286648-847: The Alan King Tennis Classic at Caesars Palace ; Arm Wrestling at the Imperial Palace , Fun Moments in Sports at Bally's ; Bowling from Sam's Town and the Showboat ; The Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour (LPBT), and One Club Golf from the Desert Inn . By 1973, Einhorn sold his interest in the network to the Corinthian Broadcasting Corporation for $ 5 million and later on became the head of CBS Sports , and later became an owner of
702-550: The ACC Network branding was changed back to Raycom Sports to avoid confusion with the ESPN-run ACC Network. Raycom's final syndicated ACC telecast was the 2019 ACC men's basketball tournament final. On June 25, 2018, Albany, Georgia-based media group Gray Television announced it would be purchasing Raycom Media (Raycom Sports' parent) for $ 3.65 billion. The FCC approved the sale on December 20, 2018, and it
756-565: The AT&;T Long Lines usage rates. Eddie Einhorn had begun broadcasting radio coverage of college basketball and built a network of radio stations that covered the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament games. He later moved into television coverage of college basketball games. Founded by Einhorn on December 27, 1968, and operated through TVS, Inc., the network originally telecast college basketball games to regional networks at
810-517: The Raycom Sports banner as of January 1, 2008. TVS Television Network The Television Sports Television Network , or TVS Television Network for short (commonly referred to as just TVS ), was a syndicator of American sports programming. It was one of several "occasional" national television networks that sprang up in the 1960s to take advantage of the establishment of independent (mostly UHF ) television stations and relaxation of
864-751: The Southeastern Conference , and co-produced Atlantic Coast Conference sporting events with Raycom Sports . It also produced telecasts of pre-season games of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League , and in the 1980s, syndicated coverage of the NASCAR Winston Cup races at Charlotte Motor Speedway . On November 12, 2007, Lincoln Financial Group announced the sale of this division to Raycom Media . The group would later operate under
918-645: The east and midwest . On January 20, 1968, TVS put together the "Game of the Century" (see below) between the UCLA Bruins and Houston Cougars basketball teams at the Houston Astrodome. This was the game that made college basketball a television broadcast commodity. Six years later (January 19, 1974), TVS televised another historic basketball game as the Bruins fell to Notre Dame, 71-70, breaking
972-482: The ACC and SEC. In 2008, Raycom lost its SEC rights to ESPN , who reached a 15-year deal to become its main media rightsholder alongside CBS . ESPN continued to provide a syndicated package of games in a similar manner to Raycom, produced via its own syndication division under the on-air branding SEC Network until the launch of an SEC cable network under the same name in 2014. In 2010, ESPN also acquired rights to ACC football and basketball, replacing Raycom. In
1026-473: The ACC rights at the time) wanted NBC to televise some ACC conference games as part of its national package as it had the previous few years. However, NBC wanted to feature intersectional games. This offended Chesley, who proceeded to sell the rights to the ACC tournament final to ABC , which explains the absence of ACC home games on NBC's 1977–78 schedule. Chesley retained the rights to ACC games until 1981, when
1080-470: The ACC" (Alex Farmartino) Sports Segment – " Toomer's Corner : The Final Roll" (Richard Brooke) Sports Promo Spot – "Duke/North Carolina: Making of a Masterpiece" (Jeremy Williams, Boris Rogers, Josh Hairston, Richard Brooke) Lincoln Financial Media Lincoln Financial Media was a subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation that owned radio stations in the United States . The division
1134-442: The Bruins' 88-game winning streak. TVS proceeded to syndicate a few games nationally each year, often involving UCLA in the middle of their run of 10 national championships in a 12-year span. TVS often used late night time slots for its nationally syndicated games which were played on the west coast. In addition to these individual games, TVS was a pioneer in bringing college basketball to a national scope-first by their own efforts in
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#17327978172861188-1013: The CBS affiliate in Charleston, South Carolina and WWBT , the NBC affiliate in Richmond, Virginia . All three of the aforementioned TV stations are now owned by a successor company Gray Television . The media company began in 1945 as Jefferson Standard Broadcasting Company, Inc., which became Jefferson-Pilot Communications in 1968. The company was a media-centered division of the Jefferson Standard Insurance Company of Greensboro , North Carolina , which later merged with Pilot Life Insurance Company to form Jefferson-Pilot. Jefferson-Pilot owned WBT-AM - FM and WBTV , all of which are based in Charlotte, North Carolina . In 1962,
1242-1038: The Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte. It continues to operate the game, which later changed its name to the Meineke Car Care Bowl until 2011, when it became the Belk Bowl . Starting in 2004, the Raycom/JP partnership took over production of syndicated ACC football games; Jefferson-Pilot had produced ACC football alone since September 1984. In 2007, Raycom began broadcasting the ACC men's basketball tournament in HDTV and broadcast 4 ACC men's basketball regular season games in HD in 2008. In 2006, in accordance with Lincoln National Corporation 's acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot, Jefferson-Pilot Communications
1296-478: The Great Eight, televised by ESPN, which aimed to feature two nights of doubleheaders between regional finalists from the previous season's NCAA tournament (with the highest-ranked team eliminated before the regional finals serving as a backup if a team declined an invitation). The inaugural edition featured Boston College, Duke, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Purdue, Villanova, and UConn (which replaced Arkansas as
1350-643: The January 14, 1973 contest between SW Louisiana and Oral Roberts ), Al Michaels and Tom Hawkins (who called the January 26, 1974, contest between Notre Dame and UCLA), Max Falkenstein and Paul Deweese ( Big Eight Conference ) and Jay Randolph and Billy Packer (who called the November 17, 1979 contest between Duke and Kentucky, November 22, 1980 contest between DePaul and Louisville ) and November 21, 1981 contest between BYU and Virginia ). The game that really popularized televised college basketball
1404-595: The January 7, 1973, contest between Kansas and Notre Dame), other broadcast teams for TVS' college basketball coverage included John Ferguson and Joe Dean (who called the February 21, 1970 contest between Kentucky and LSU ), Monte Moore and Ed Macauley (who called the January 2, 1971 contest between Dayton and UCLA), Charlie Jones and Elgin Baylor (who called the January 26, 1972 contest between Providence and USC ), Ray Scott and Bill O'Donnell (who called
1458-535: The Lincoln Financial Sports division (which was folded into Raycom Sports , then into Gray Television ) for $ 583 million. The acquisition was completed in April 2008. On December 8, 2014, Entercom (rebranded Audacy, Inc. as of March 30, 2021) announced its intent to acquire the remainder of Lincoln Financial Media for $ 110 million and working capital . To comply with ownership limits, Entercom
1512-548: The South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams) Sports Segment – "Big Dawg" (Alex Farmartino) Magazine Special – "ACC Road Trip" (Tommy Kane, Alex Farmartino, Jeremy Williams) Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in the South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams & Chris Duzan) Sports Live Event Game – "ACC Basketball: Duke vs North Carolina" (Rob Reichley, Billy McCoy) Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in
1566-475: The South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams, Chris Duzan, Maxwell Brooke & Richard Brooke) Sports Live Event Game – "ACC Football: NC State vs North Carolina" (Rob Reichley, Roy Alfers) Sports Segment – "Rodney Rogers: The Durham Bull" (Jeremy Williams, Rob Reichley, Maxwell Brooke) Sports Live Event Game – "ACC Basketball: NC State vs North Carolina" (Dave Barringer, Billy McCoy) Documentary/Topical – "Head Impact Research in
1620-521: The South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams, Lance Stewart & Beverly Rumley) Sports Segment – " Cameron Crazies " (Jeremy Williams) Editor/Short Form – "SEC football open featuring Rascal Flatts " (Dave Barringer. Jeremy Williams, Chris Stevens) Director/Short Form – "SEC football open featuring Rascal Flatts " (Dave Barringer) Magazine Special – "ACC Road Trip" (Tommy Kane, Alex Farmartino, Jeremy Williams, Dave Barringer) Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in
1674-409: The South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams, Lance Stewart, & Beverly Rumley) Sports Segment – " Skipper " (Alex Farmartino) Editor/Short Form – "ACC football open featuring Chris Daughtry " (Dave Barringer) Photography/Short Form – "ACC football open featuring Chris Daughtry " (Dave Barringer & Jeremy Williams) Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in
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1728-476: The Storm . On July 21, 2016, ESPN announced a 20-year extension of its contract with the ACC, and the launch of an ACC Network cable channel in 2019. ESPN also acquired the secondary ACC rights previously held by Raycom. However, Raycom Sports will continue to serve as the ACC's RSN and digital partner, and be subcontracted by ESPN to produce event coverage for the new ACC Network. During the 2018–19 academic year,
1782-517: The WFL prior to 1975, contributing to the league's already imminent demise; the league had no national television contract for their shortened second season.) TVS also aired World Championship Tennis . In the 1970s, TVS began producing entertainment programming, including Sinatra: The Main Event for ABC in 1974. For many years, TVS produced sports and entertainment programming from Las Vegas including
1836-551: The broadcast rights on TVS. Altogether, Einhorn signed up 120 stations, many of whom were network affiliates that dropped or time-shifted their regular programming to show the game. Houston won, 71–69, in front of a then-record crowd of 52,693, and the contest was soon dubbed " The Game of the Century ". The "Game of the Century" showed that regular-season college basketball action was a viable nationwide product; previously, only NCAA post-season games were broadcast on national TV, but only on evidence that broadcasters were going to make
1890-531: The broadcast, but paid stations for the airtime. While this was a risky strategy at first, Raycom reaped a huge windfall since ACC games frequently garnered ratings in the 20s and 30s. The ACC's regional territory happened to include several fast-growing markets such as Charlotte , the Piedmont Triad , the Triangle , Hampton Roads , Richmond , Baltimore , and Washington, D.C. In 1994, Raycom Sports
1944-523: The companies were merged to form the subsidiary Tupelo Raycom. Haines retired as president at the end of 2015. Hunter Nickell, a former Speed Channel executive, replaced Haines as CEO in May 2016. In January 2018, Raycom Sports announced a partnership with Blizzard Entertainment to produce a weekly television program chronicling Heroes of the Dorm —the official collegiate tournament of its video game Heroes of
1998-522: The company conceived Jefferson Productions (later Jefferson Pilot Teleproductions, later Jefferson Pilot Sports ), a production arm that produced television programs and commercials, but later chose to produce syndicated sports programming only by the 1980s. It was originally intended to produce promos and local television shows for WBTV but had since grown to produce nationally syndicated talk shows and variety shows; and mainly commercials for major companies that aired nationwide. For further information, see
2052-499: The conference bought him out and sold the rights to Metrosports of Rockville, Maryland . Some ACC games were telecast by Raycom alone in 1980 through four or five television stations in North Carolina , including WCCB. For the 1981–82 season, the two companies formed a joint venture, Raycom/JP Sports, that won the package after the ACC turned down Metrosports' bid to renew its contract. Raycom also assisted ESPN2 by selling
2106-546: The early 1970s, primarily with Dick Enberg and Rod Hundley (sometimes Enberg and Hundley would call a Pac-8 game on a Friday night, fly to the midwest for the TVS game of the week on Saturday afternoon, and then head back to the west coast to call a Pac-8 game on Saturday night), then in 1975, teaming with NBC Sports in a cooperative effort to regionalize NBC's coverage on Saturday afternoons (NBC/local talent, TVS production crews). This partnership lasted through 1983, though it
2160-653: The entire company Raycom Media to build upon the awareness of Raycom Sports. The company would be acquired by Gray in 2019. Raycom Sports was well known for its tenure with the ACC, and also had former relationships with the SEC , Big Eight , and Big Ten conferences, as well as the now-defunct Southwest Conference . In the 2010s, Raycom lost both its ACC and SEC rights to ESPN (a network which had, in its early years, picked up Raycom-distributed ACC basketball games for national broadcasts), which transferred these rights to in-house cable networks. Raycom Sports continued to produce
2214-469: The following year. The ACC title game was often syndicated outside of the ACC region (such as New York) in these years. The commentators that Chesley used included Jim Thacker, Ray Scott , Billy Packer , and Dick Enberg (on the UCLA at Maryland contest on December 28, 1974, and Notre Dame at Maryland contest on January 4, 1975, both which were co-productions with TVS ). In 1978, Chesley (who controlled
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2268-452: The network. The first game of the CW era aired on September 9, 2023, as Pitt played Cincinnati in a non-conference football game. Some of these CW stations were former Raycom/ACC Network affiliates, thus, these stations resumed ACC coverage for the first time since 2019. The CW had started its first sports deal with LIV Golf in early 2023. In collaboration with Dome Productions, Raycom Sports
2322-498: The rise of cable and regional sports networks, Raycom began to lose many of its college rights to competitors. In 1987, Raycom Sports set up an entertainment division, Raycom Entertainment, with an hour special Elvis' Graceland , fronted by Priscilla Presley , that aired on Showtime originally. The new Raycom Entertainment division was led by Peter G. Lenz, who previously ran The Television Program Source . Unlike other sports syndicators, Raycom controlled nearly all advertising for
2376-731: The section " Lincoln Financial Sports " at the end of this article. In April 2006, the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation merged with the Lincoln National Corporation ; taking the media and sports broadcasting division with it, Jefferson-Pilot Communications became Lincoln Financial Media. In June 2007, the company publicly announced it would explore a sale of this division, and hired Merrill Lynch to assess its strategic options. On November 12, 2007, Raycom Media announced that it would acquire Lincoln Financial Media's three television stations, along with
2430-491: The studios of flagship Fox Sports South and distributed across the cable sports networks of Fox and others, mainly throughout the eastern United States. Wes Durham served as the lead play-by-play voice of both football and basketball RSN packages from 2013 to 2019. In 2012, Raycom Media acquired Tupelo-Honey, a producer of sports and entertainment programming. Three years later, it also acquired WebStream Sports, an Indianapolis-based producer of sports programming. In late-2016,
2484-478: Was a prime time Saturday night broadcast on January 20, 1968 between two powerhouse teams that had met in the 1967 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament . The undefeated, second-ranked Houston Cougars hosted the equally unbeaten, top-ranked UCLA Bruins at the Houston Astrodome . The Bruins were the defending national champions and riding a 47-game winning streak. Eddie Einhorn paid $ 27,000 for
2538-588: Was completed on January 2, 2019, making Raycom Sports a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gray. In July 2021, Raycom launched the streaming-only Origin Sports Network which rebroadcasts games featuring famous athletes. The network also has select original programming. On July 13, 2023, The CW signed a deal with Raycom lasting until 2027 to broadcast 13 college football games and 37 basketball games each season. The rights to these games were previously held by Bally Sports . Raycom Sports would produce all games for
2592-533: Was formed in 2006 following the company's acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot's television and radio operations, which were renamed Lincoln Financial Media. The group, at the time of its closure, owned 14 radio stations in Miami, Florida , San Diego, California , Denver, Colorado , and Atlanta, Georgia . It also owned WBT, WBT-FM, and WLNK (FM) in Charlotte, North Carolina and WBTV , the CBS affiliate in Charlotte; WCSC-TV ,
2646-479: Was hampered in later years by NBC losing the rights to the NCAA Division I Men's College Basketball Tournament to CBS Sports in 1982. After the NBC partnership ended and college sports telecasts underwent a court-ordered decentralization in 1984, TVS went back to regionalizing games on their own—a forerunner to the regionalization often seen today. Besides Dick Enberg and Rod Hundley (who worked with Merle Harmon on
2700-457: Was renamed Lincoln Financial Media , and the venture was renamed Raycom/LF Sports . On November 12, 2007, Raycom Media announced its intention to acquire some of the television broadcasting properties of Lincoln Financial Media—including three television stations, plus Lincoln Financial Sports—for $ 583 million. Lincoln Financial Sports was merged into Raycom Sports later that year, giving it full control over basketball and football rights for both
2754-454: Was sold to Ellis Communications, but remained autonomous, with its own headquarters in Charlotte. Dee Ray left in 1994 while Rick Ray left in 1995. When an investment group led by Retirement Systems of Alabama bought Ellis in 1996, the Raycom name was so well respected that it chose to rename the entire broadcast group Raycom Media . In 1994, Raycom first organized a pre-season event known as
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#17327978172862808-466: Was started in July 1979 by Rick and Dee Ray in Charlotte. Rick Ray was a program manager at WCCB in Charlotte when he proposed that WCCB, which had become an independent station a year earlier after losing its ABC affiliation, produce more basketball games. Ray thought that they would be very profitable for WCCB, given North Carolina's reputation as a college basketball hotbed. The company's first event
2862-592: Was the Great Alaska Shootout . Ken Haines was one of the first hired for Raycom Sports. In its first year, it also acquired rights to basketball games from the Atlantic Coast Conference : some of them were syndicated to a newly launched cable sports channel, ESPN . In 1988, Raycom added Big Ten Conference games to its portfolio after acquiring Rasmussen Communications. The company also extended its contract through 1995 to gain rights to all non-network conference games. The following year, Raycom established
2916-767: Was to divest one of its existing stations in Denver. Later, Entercom announced it would swap four of its stations in Denver to Bonneville International in exchange for KSWD in Los Angeles. The merger was completed on July 17 and Bonneville and Entercom began operating their new clusters under time-brokerage agreements that same day. This list also contains stations that were owned by Lincoln Financial Media's predecessor Jefferson-Pilot Communications, before its merger in 2006. Note: Lincoln Financial Sports, originally Jefferson-Pilot Teleproductions (later Jefferson Pilot Sports ), produced and syndicated college sports events of
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