New-Look Conference USA Agrees to Broadcast Deal with ESPN, CBSSN

The conference will play primarily on Tuesdays and Wednesdays next season, along with some games on Thursdays and Fridays.

Conference USA signed a five-year media rights deal with ESPN and CBS beginning next year, as first reported by Sports Business Journal on Wednesday.

The biggest change for the growing conference is that the entirety of its October football games will instead be played at night midweek, mostly on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a few games on Thursday and Friday, too.

The midweek games will give the C-USA teams more of a national platform on television, although it might make it more difficult for fans to attend the games in person.

The conference’s current media deal is with streaming service Stadium, so the jump to ESPN and CBS could increase viewership.

Conference USA will see a lot of change in the next two years after three schools left the conference last year, and six more will leave the conference next year. College Sports’ realignment hit the conference hard, and in the next two years it will add Liberty, New Mexico State, Sam Houston, Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State to bring the total back up to 10 schools.