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Somerset, NJ -- The Northeast Conference (NEC) today unveiled its 2016-17 basketball television schedule, a 33-game package featuring the most in-depth national coverage in the league’s 36-year history.

Every telecast in the NEC’s TV slate will be distributed nationally in some form, and the conference will maintain its traditionally strong presence on regional television.

Among the highlights:

    • The NEC will receive a combined eight national exposures on ESPN linear networks and CBS Sports Network, a new league record. Likewise, four men’s games will air
       on CBSSN this season, a record-high for the conference.

    • Including ESPN3 games, the NEC will receive 23 national exposures on ESPN/CBS platforms.

    • Fox College Sports (FCS), a national outlet that appears on digital cable systems and DirecTV, will pick up all NEC regional games.

    • The TV schedule includes 11 women’s games, matching the most in NEC history.

    • The final week of the season will feature a men’s wildcard game on CBSSN and a women’s wildcard contest on ESPN3.

    • Longtime NEC regional partner MSG will broadcast 10 games, including four NEC men’s tournament contests.

    • Eight NEC Tournament games will be televised, equaling the most in conference annals.
 

“We are incredibly excited to announce this year’s record breaking basketball television package,” said Noreen Morris, NEC Commissioner. “The enhanced national and regional exposure demonstrates the NEC’s continued commitment to highlighting our men’s and women’s programs across multiple platforms including ESPN, CBS Sports Network, MSG and Fox College Sports. And of course, NEC fans can enjoy all other broadcasts on NEC Front Row, the league’s state-of-the-art digital network available free of charge for all live and archived events.”

In total, 19 games will be broadcast on ESPN platforms, culminating with the NEC men’s and women’s championship games in March. ESPNU will televise a pair of marquee regular season men’s contests in a three-day span in early February. If history is any indication, there will be a typically raucous Knott Arena crowd when Mount St. Mary’s hosts Bryant in a battle of potential NEC contenders on February 2 at 7 pm. It doesn’t get any bigger than the next one on the U, a rematch of the 2016 NEC men’s title game pitting preseason favorite Fairleigh Dickinson at preseason #2 Wagner on February 4 at 11:00 am.

The NEC will team up with ESPN3 to deliver 15 men’s and women’s games to ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network, one that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Kindle Fire, PS4, Roku and Xbox One. ESPN3 will once again be the exclusive home to NEC women’s basketball this winter with 10 games on the docket, matching the record number for the Conference.  The women’s package opens on January 14 with the annual Battle of Brooklyn as neighborhood rivals LIU Brooklyn and St. Francis Brooklyn square off at noon at the Steinberg Wellness Center. The most highly anticipated matchup on the women’s side takes could have regular season title ramifications when preseason NEC favorite Sacred Heart visits Robert Morris on February 25 in a noon start. The defending NEC champion Colonials were tabbed second in the coaches’ poll. On February 27, the final day of the regular season, ESPN3 will carry a women’s wildcard game.

CBSSN, the 24-hour home of CBS Sports, will tipoff the NEC package in early January with the first of four games to air on the network this season. All eyes will be on the FDU-Wagner game in Staten Island on January 5 as the two NEC preseason favorites meet up for the first time since tangling in the conference title tilt last March. CBSSN will also televise Robert Morris at Mount St. Mary’s on January 26 and the men’s Battle of Brooklyn game between LIU Brooklyn and St. Francis Brooklyn on February 15 in a special Wednesday prime time matchup. As the regular season winds down, CBSSN is set to air a men’s wildcard game on February 23.

For the 14th straight year, the NEC will team up with Fox College Sports (FCS) to broadcast 10 games nationally on its Atlantic, Central or Pacific regional channels. DirecTV typically carries FCS games as well.

The 2016-17 NEC-TV lineup features 10 regionally produced games. Longtime partner Madison Square Garden Network (MSG) will serve as the NEC’s flagship network, with select games airing via delay on Root Sports (Pittsburgh). Other local and regional carriers may be added to the syndication list in the coming weeks.

Come the postseason, MSG and FCS will be the home to a pair of men’s quarterfinal games on March 1 and both semifinal contests on March 4. The NEC women’s semifinals will be carried on ESPN3 on March 8.

As part of the network’s Championship Week coverage, the NEC men’s title game runs will be televised by ESPN or ESPN2 for the 30th straight year on Tuesday, March 7th at 7:00 pm.  For the tenth year in a row, ESPNU will televise the NEC Women’s Championship game. This year’s final is scheduled for Sunday, March 12th at 2:00 pm.  

Now in his 17th season, Dave Popkin will serve as the primary play-by-play announcer on men’s broadcasts, with Paul Dottino (18th year) filling in. Tim Capstraw (18th year), Terry O’Connor (15th year) and Joe DeSantis (tenth year) will split color analyst duties. Dottino and John Schmeelk (sixth year) are the NEC’s primary sideline reporters.

Dottino and Craig D’Amico will once again serve as the play-by-play voice of women’s telecasts. Pam Roecker is back for her 15th year as color analyst.

PS Wolf Media returns as the packager for CBSSN and NEC regional telecasts, with Eric Singer back in the fold as the longtime producer of NEC basketball. Pack Network will handle production duties for the league’s ESPN3 package.

About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 36th year, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to four of the largest markets in the United States - New York (#1), Pittsburgh (#22), Baltimore (#26), and Hartford/New Haven (#30).  Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 22 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 14 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions include Bryant, Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, Mount St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Google+, all @NECsports.