Drexel, CAA featured heavily in new TV deal

Courtesy: CAA

The Colonial Athletic Association, the conference of the Drexel Dragons, announced that its teams will be featured in 88 televised games currently scheduled this upcoming season. The announcement comes on the heels of the league agreeing with NBC Sports Network and the Comcast SportsNet regional networks on a broadcast deal.

With the deal, there will now be a much bigger national audience for one of Division I’s up and coming conferences. 18 CAA men’s games will be presented on NBC Sports Network, including the semifinals round and the championship game of the conference tournament. The network is available in nearly 80 million homes.

“We are proud to feature CAA men’s basketball games on the NBC Sports Network schedule this year,” Jon Miller, President, Programming, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network said. “The CAA features some of the most exciting college basketball programs in the country. We are pleased the CAA is part of our ever-growing college basketball coverage.”

Also included in the package is an agreement to air 26 men’s regular season games, as well as the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on the syndicated Comcast SportsNet/Comcast Network stations. CSN Philadelphia is part of the family of networks will be carrying these games. Reaching major markets in addition to Philadelphia such as New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Norfolk and Atlanta, a potential total of over 20 million TV households will be reached.

“We’re excited about the tremendous exposure our players and coaches will receive through the national reach of the NBC Sports Network and the regional coverage provided by the Comcast SportsNets ,” CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager said. “In addition, our member schools have continued to enhance their internet broadcast packages, giving fans the opportunity to watch every conference game.”

Drexel, the preseason pick for to win the conference will be featured in more than half of the national regular season broadcasts. The Dragons will be featured to all of the country in these eight games on NBC Sports Network:

Saturday, December 22: Davidson at Drexel, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 12: Drexel at James Madison, 4:00 p.m.
Monday, January 28: Delaware at Drexel, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, January 31: Drexel at George Mason, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 7: Old Dominion at Drexel, 7:00 p.m.
Monday, February 18: Hofstra at Drexel, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 21: Drexel at Delaware, 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 28: Drexel at Old Dominion, 7:00 p.m.

This is in addition to their three scheduled appearances the weekend of Thanksgiving on the ESPN family of networks for the DIRECTV Classic.

It would seem that the big winners of the deal, in addition to the conference and its teams are fans and alumni of the teams. Fans hoping to see Drexel throughout the country can now enjoy many games this season as Drexel looks to make its first NCAA tournament appearance in over 15 years. It’s also very promising to their season that NBC is looking to feature Drexel as much as they are.

The release mentions that eventually the schedule will reach a total of 100 games that will be broadcasted throughout the year, adding on to the current total of 88, so there stands a chance for even more exposure.

Click here for the original release.

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Mike Angelina

Mike Angelina is a producer at 94.1 WIP in Philadelphia and will be covering Drexel for Philahoops.com. A Philadelphia area native, Mike has been both a producer and engineer for the Flyers and 76ers, and is a Phillies production engineer during the baseball season. He contributes columns to CBS Philly's online content, and was a featured columnist on Bleacher Report. Mike also covers a number of other sports at Drexel University, writing for the school's paper, The Triangle. He is entering his third year as a Drexel student, studying in their online program.