Conference USA Announces Preliminary 2017 Television Schedule

Conference USA announced their preliminary TV schedule for 2017 and it features a few major surprises. While the schedule features all of the expected TV partners (ESPN, CBS Sports, BeIN, and Stadium), it seems that the conference has placed a huge premium on featuring their premier contests on the newly-incorporated Stadium network.

C-USA’s focus on Stadium becomes apparent in the first week of the season as Stadium will broadcast a double-header of two of the conference’s most intriguing home games of the entire season — UTSA’s match up against Major Applewhite’s Houston Cougars and the resurrection of UAB’s football program against Alabama A&M. The Blazers will kick off at 2:30 pm CT on September 2nd while UTSA and Houston gain prime time exposure at 6 pm CT.

Stadium also picks up many other key C-USA contests including this year’s Shula Bowl between FAU and FIU, The Rivalry in Dixie between Southern Miss and Lousiana Tech, and a potential C-USA Championship Game preview between Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky. Stadium will also feature one of Conference USA’s home games against a Power 5 program as it will broadcast Old Dominion’s home game against North Carolina.

The conference’s shift to embracing Stadium and their linear and nonlinear broadcasting options could indicate a shift in thinking about media rights for C-USA as they approach contract negotiations for their next television contract.

Including ESPN3 broadcasts and bowl games, C-USA will be featured on TV networks on 69 occasions as of this publishing, 30 of which will fall on the ESPN family of networks. C-USA will likely add more televised contests after the AAC announces their TV schedule in the coming day.

One game on the schedule is tentatively scheduled as UTSA’s road trip to Louisiana Tech is still marked as “ESPN TBA”. It’s likely that ESPN sees this match up as potentially deciding the Conference USA Western division’s champion. If this head-to-head match up determines the division champion then it will likely be aired on ESPN2. If the division has already been decided by November 25th then the game will likely be broadcast on ESPN3, ESPNU, or ESPN News.

Conference USA avoided weekday games by and large as only eight of the league’s regular season contests will take place on weekdays, a stark contrast to the MAC who will play zero weekend games though the entire month of November. UTEP’s home game against Arizona was moved to Friday, giving the Miners a prime opportunity to display some #Pac12AfterDark action on ESPN.

Another key game of interest will be Middle Tennessee at WKU. This game could likely decide the Eastern division winner and will be broadcast at 7 pm CT on CBS Sports Friday, November 17th. Stay tuned for any potential additional television broadcast announcements as they’re released.