By Nick Place
The Hofstra men’s basketball team’s 68-60 road win over George Mason was the Pride’s highest-profile regular season television broadcast of any sporting event in the school’s history.
While appearances on regional networks such as the Madison Square Garden network and Sports Net New York are nothing new for the Hofstra team, Saturday’s game was a national showcase of the highest magnitude.
The ESPN cable network broadcast Saturday’s game from the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, as part of the channel’s annual Rivalry Week promotion. The week of games showcases nationally recognized, traditional rivalry games such as Duke vs. North Carolina, Kansas vs. Missouri, and now Hofstra vs. George Mason. According to ESPN’s website, Saturday’s game could potentially be seen in over 90 million homes.
While the ESPN appearance was first for Hofstra, Colonial Athletic Association teams have been appearing on the network during Rivalry Week for “several years now,” according to Ron Bertovich, the Colonial Athletic Association’s Deputy Commissioner for Basketball.
The network made their selection for this year’s CAA match-up during Rivalry Week based on the heated contests between George Mason and Hofstra last year, as well as George Mason’s selection to and unexpected run through the NCAA tournament last year.
While Saturday’s game was certainly an important one for both the CAA and Hofstra, Bertovich is quick to point out the importance of regional networks such as Sports Net New York and Comcast that carry CAA games. “It’s important to pay attention to the regional as much as the national, because that’s where your alumni, students, and fans are,” he said.
Hofstra has an advantage over other CAA teams in the regional broadcast department. In addition to SNY and Comcast games, Hofstra has a contract with MSG to show certain men’s and women’s basketball, lacrosse, and football games throughout the year.
Television schedules for CAA men’s basketball are worked out in summer meetings that last into October. Participating in these meetings are the league’s athletic directors, (including Hayes), representatives from broadcasters, Bertovich, and CAA commissioner Thomas Yeager. Networks assign certain “windows” for CAA contests to be broadcast. The games that fill those windows are selected during these meetings.
Specific games are selected based on the strength of the match-up and entertainment value, a process Bertovich says would be much easier with the benefit of foresight based on the ups and downs the season holds.
As for the possibility of a Hofstra home game ending up on ESPN, Hayes says he has little control over what the network decides to show, but he’ll take what he can get. “Anytime you can play and win on national TV, it’s a great opportunity.”