Colorado State University Athletics
MWC Announces 2005 Football Television Schedule
6/9/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. ? The Mountain West Conference released its projected football television schedule for the 2005 season today. The schedule currently features a minimum of 28 national or regional televised games. The Conference expects to add several more telecasts in the coming months and will release a full television schedule at its annual football media day July 18 in San Diego.
The MWC will figure prominently in the inaugural season of Division I-A college football on College Sports Television (CSTV). Two games will feature match-ups against Conference USA opponents and Air Force will face Navy in the annual service academy showdown. ESPN/ESPN2 are currently scheduled to air 10 games involving Mountain West Conference teams in 2005, while ABC will broadcast five contests. There are also eight syndicated ?Mountain West Game of the Week? telecasts scheduled on ESPN Regional Television.
The Mountain West Conference season kicks off with a record weekend highlighted by eight of the nine institutions? games being televised. The opening slate features four nationally- and four regionally-televised contests, beginning with two-time defending MWC champion Utah hosting Arizona Friday night, Sept. 2 on ESPN.
MWC newcomer TCU travels to Oklahoma in one of three ABC Regional telecasts on Saturday, Sept. 3. The other two ABC games feature Air Force facing Washington at Qwest Field in Seattle and BYU hosting Boston College. The annual Rocky Mountain Showdown between Colorado State and Colorado will be played in Boulder this season and televised nationally on TBS. The final game Saturday night pits UCLA against San Diego State in an ESPN2 telecast from Qualcomm Stadium.
UNLV and New Mexico open the conference schedule in Albuquerque with a Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 5) broadcast on ESPN2.
The Mountain West Conference will embark on a groundbreaking new television agreement with CSTV beginning in the fall of 2006. The 2005 season marks the final year of a seven-year contract with television partners ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN Regional Television.
Through it first six years, 80 percent of the football games involving teams from the Mountain West Conference have been televised, including 116 national telecasts. Even greater levels of exposure are anticipated in future seasons.
