The Colorado Springs Gazette final

AFA sports on TV

BY BRENT BRIGGEMAN brent.briggeman@gazette.com THE GAZETTE

Altitude Sports makes deal to broadcast Air Force football, basketball and hockey games over the next two years, beginning with the football home opener.

Air Force athletics will see dozens of games across several sports broadcast on Altitude Sports during the next two years.

The partnership between the academy and the network, announced Wednesday morning and running through the 2023-24 school year, will include up to 10 men’s basketball games, 10 hockey games and at least one women’s basketball game. It also includes football games available after the Mountain West’s national partners — CBS and Fox

— have made their selections.

The new deal will begin with Air Force’s football opener against Northern Iowa at 11 a.m. on Sept. 3.

“This is a very exciting day for Falcon Nation, our partnership with Altitude Sports will bring Air Force fans more and better television broadcast opportunities within our region,” Air Force athletic director Nathan Pine said in a news release.

The financials of the deal were not released, but whatever the terms are it will be money that goes directly into the Air Force coffers and not be shared with conference partners.

The Mountain West splits the revenue from the media rights deals negotiated with the national networks, and that covers any home game for a conference team. So, even though Air Force will play three times this season on CBS, it won’t see any additional revenue as two of those — home vs. Colorado and Navy — are games with rights held by the Mountain West that are part of the conference’s collective shared pot. The other, vs. Army in Arlington, Texas, is

an Army home game.

But for “tier three” games that are passed on by those networks, schools are now granted back the broadcast rights from the conference and can negotiate a deal and keep the funds.

The inventory of football and basketball games Air Force can offer Altitude will therefore be limited to those passed upon by the networks, which was the case with the football opener as it was the only one of the Falcons’ 12 games without a network attached.

For the Falcons, however, this was more about reach and broadening

the availability of broadcasts than revenue.

Some of its games — those on CBS, for example — are available only over the air, while others can be found online-only. Altitude offers both.

“The exposure and cross-promotional opportunities are critical

for our brand as we continue to raise the profile of Air Force Athletics both regionally and nationally,” Pine said.

Altitude — home to Nuggets and Avalanche television broadcasts among others — possesses a reach listed at 2.5 million homes in a 10-state region that stretches from New Mexico to Montana and Kansas to Utah. It is not currently available to Comcast customers amid an ongoing negotiation standoff.

“We are very proud to be associated with the Air Force Academy,” said Matthew Krol, vice president and general manager of Altitude Sports, in a press release. “Adding a top-notch NCAA Division One program to our broadcast schedule will allow fans in our region to see more Falcons games and learn more about what the service academy provides to its cadets.

“Air Force competes at a high level every year, and we look forward to bringing some great Mountain West, Atlantic Hockey, and national matchups to our network.”

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2022-08-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-11T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/282089165547627

The Gazette, Colorado Springs