Campus Clips: Media Rights at Center of Lawsuit Against University of West Virginia; CSM Houston Rolls Out Southland Football Schedule

Compiled by Brandon Costa, Senior Editor, Sports Video Group

…The media company owned by John Raese filed a lawsuit late Wednesday against numerous administrators at West Virginia University and another media company in the latest action involving the university’s athletic media rights. West Virginia Radio Corp. filed a complaint in Monongalia Circuit Court against the WVU board of governors and its chairman, Drew Payne, the WVU Foundation, WVU President Jim Clements, WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck, West Virginia Media Holdings, its owner Bray Cary and others. Raese has maintained West Virginia Media Holdings and WVU illegally colluded to make sure the company received a piece of a lucrative contract for the right to distribute some WVU athletic events. Sources told the Daily Mail in early 2013 that WVU was reportedly ready to enter a 12-year contract worth upwards of $110 million with IMG College, a multimedia company that works with clients across the world to produce television and print content. Cary’s West Virginia Media Holdings was supposedly ready to subcontract with IMG College in the agreement…

…Comcast SportsNet Houston (CSN) announced its Southland Conference football broadcast schedule for the 2013 season. Entering its second football season in partnership with the Southland Conference, CSN will televise five games as part of the 2013 Southland Conference package. Four games take place in Southland Conference stadiums, with an additional contest matching a pair of future Southland foes. CSN starts with three non-conference games, kicking off on Sept. 7 with McNeese State hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The second game of the TV schedule feature Texas Southern at Sam Houston State on Sept. 14. Eastern Washington visits Sam Houston State on Sept. 28 in a rematch of last year’s semifinal game in the NCAA championship, which was won by the Bearkats…

…The Mountain West announced the addition of two football games to its ESPN slate of appearances for the 2013 season. On Thursday, Aug. 29, Fresno State will open the season at home against non-conference opponent Rutgers, with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPNU. Boise State’s home opener on Saturday, Sept. 7 against non-conference foe Tennessee-Martin will be shown on ESPN3, beginning at 1 p.m. MT…

…The new American Athletic Conference will hold its first men’s basketball tournament at the FedEx Forum in Memphis next March. The Associated Press reported that the tournament will be held March 12-15 with all games televised by ESPN’s networks and the championship on ESPN. Commissioner Mike Aresco made the announcement earlier this month after the former Big East lost out on Madison Square Garden…

…The second installment of the Armed Forces Classic will showcase the Georgetown University and the University of Oregon men’s basketball programs on Friday, Nov. 8. The game will take place at a military installation to be determined as part of ESPN’s Veteran’s Week initiative honoring the men and women who are serving and who have served in the United States military, both at home and abroad…

…The Big Ten is adding the Holiday Bowl and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl to its future postseason lineup and will face Pac-12 teams in both games, sources have told ESPN.com. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany will announce the moves during a conference call Monday afternoon with bowl officials and Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, according to sources. The Pac-12 is continuing its agreements with both bowls for the next cycle, which begins in the 2014 season. The Big Ten already has added the Pinstripe Bowl in New York to its future postseason lineup. The league is expected to continue agreements with the Capital One, Outback, Gator and Heart of Dallas bowls and add the Music City Bowl in Nashville to its lineup. The Big Ten is in negotiations with the Detroit Lions to be part of a new bowl game in Detroit, ESPN’s Brett McMurphy reported in May.

…Speaking of the Pinstripe Bowl, the Atlantic Coast Conference has reached an agreement to send a team to the bowl game at Yankee Stadium. The deal announced Monday by the Yankees will begin in 2014. The Pinstripe Bowl announced a similar agreement with the Big Ten earlier this month. ACC Commissioner John Swofford is scheduled to be in New York today for a news conference at Yankee Stadium with team officials. The ACC replaces the American Athletic Conference (formerly the Big East), which helped start the 4-year-old game. This season’s Pinstripe Bowl will be the final one to match a Big 12 team against a team from the American. The Pinstripe Bowl became a good match for the ACC with the additions of Syracuse and Pittsburgh this year.