No doubt you saw on the various outlets that cover this league that CUSA has released its broadcast schedule.
NFL Network has replaced BeIN Sport as the “other” cable partner and they have a nice 10-game inventory featuring 10 different CUSA squads.
It is a nice afternoon slot at a traditional pro-football hour. BeIN typically had their games at the 6pm slot, competing directly with late marquee games on ESPN/ABC/Fox/FS1.
The only numbers we had for the BeIN games were very poor, where seemingly literally no one was watching. I expect NFLN to produce something marginally better.
NFL NETWORK
| Sat 9/7 | Grambling @ La Tech | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 9/14 | Army @ UTSA | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 9/21 | South Alabama @ UAB | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 9/28 | FAU @ Charlotte | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 10/19 | Southern Miss @ La Tech | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 10/26 | FIU @ MTSU | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 11/2 | UTEP @ North Texas | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 11/9 | UAB @ Southern Miss | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 11/23 | North Texas @ Rice | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 11/30 | Southern Miss @ FAU | 3:30 pm ET |
The main partnership still boasts some good matchups and the title game. This agreement also includes the Friday games that bring some attention but are not so great for attendance and well, local HS football.
The biggest game will be Texas at Rice in mid-September. Miami at FIU will also be interesting depending on the quality of both squads.
CBS SPORTS NETWORK
| Fri 8/30 | Rice @ Army | 6:00 pm ET |
| Fri 9/6 | Wake Forest @ Rice | 8:00 pm ET |
| Sat 9/7 | UAB @ Akron | 12:00 pm ET |
| Sat 9/7 | UCF @ Florida Atlantic | 7:00 pm ET |
| Sat 9/14 | Texas vs. Rice (NRG Stadium) | 8:00 pm ET |
| Fri 9/20 | FIU @ Louisiana Tech | 8:00 pm ET |
| Sat 9/21 | Baylor @ Rice | 7:00 pm ET |
| Fri 10/18 | Marshall @ Florida Atlantic | 6:30 pm ET |
| Fri 11/15 | Louisiana Tech @ Marshall | 7:00 pm ET |
| Sat 11/23 | Miami vs. FIU (Marlins Park) | 7:00 pm ET |
| Sat 11/30 | FIU @ Marshall | 12:00 pm ET |
| Sat 12/7 | C-USA Championship | 1:30 pm ET |
CBS produces the better of the two facebook streams. There are three matchups early in the season.
CBSSN on FB
| Sat 9/28 | Cincinnati @ Marshall | 5:00 pm ET |
| Sat 9/28 | Houston @ North Texas | 8:00 pm ET |
| Sat 10/5 | Marshall @ MTSU | 3:30 pm ET |
Stadium is an underrated partner, putting on solid broadcasts that are usually available on local TV as well as online for no subscription fee.
STADIUM
| Sat 8/31 | VMI @ Marshall | 6:30 pm ET |
| Sat 9/14 | Louisville vs. WKU | 4:00 pm ET |
| Sat 10/12 | Army @ WKU | 7:00 pm ET |
| Sat 10/12 | ODU @ Marshall | 2:30 pm ET |
| Sat 10/19 | MTSU @ North Texas | 4:00 pm ET |
| Sat 11/9 | FIU @ FAU | 6:00 pm ET |
| Sat 11/30 | UAB @ North Texas | 4:00 pm ET |
Stadium on FB is less-than-ideal. The broadcast forces a lot of social media interaction into the main broadcast that adds little to nothing to the game. I mean, if we wanted to see what people are saying on facebook about the game I can … go on facebook to see.
STADIUM on Facebook
| Sat 9/14 | Duke @ MTSU | 7:00 pm ET |
| Sat 9/14 | Ohio @ Marshall | 6:30 pm ET |
| Sat 9/21 | UTSA @ North Texas | 7:30 pm ET |
| Sat 10/12 | North Texas @ Southern Miss | 7:00 pm ET |
| Sat 10/26 | WKU @ Marshall | 2:30 pm ET |
| Sat 11/2 | Marshall @ Rice | 3:30 pm ET |
| Sat 11/9 | North Texas @ La Tech | 4:00 pm ET |
| Sat 11/23 | Marshall @ Charlotte | 3:30 pm ET |
ESPN/FSN/Fox will show various non-conference game against the monied-five conferences. UNT vs California will be on Pac-12 Network, for example and Middle at Michigan will be on the BTN.
Middle at Iowa will be on one of the ESPNs and FAU will be on Fox when the open at Ohio State.
ODU and Southern Miss will be on ESPNU in early September.
UTSA and UTEP will be on Fox Sports Net when the play Baylor and Texas Tech respectively.
To save some space here, we won’t list the the ESPN+ games, which comprise the bulk of the broadcast arrangement. The bulk of the league schedule is on Plus and that is a generally good thing. Of the streaming services, it is the most stable and well-done.
What is not on there is on ESPN3.
Click here for the league’s schedule release.
Bonus note: UMass joins unofficial CUSA member Army as teams that seemingly play every CUSA team in the non-conference season. UMass takes on Charlotte, FIU, and Tech.
Army plays Rice, UTSA, and WKU. They played three CUSA squads in 2017 also.
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