Unless you’ve been trapped beneath a rock, you know that ESPN’s SEC Network it set to launch in over 90 million households across America August, 14. The home to all things SEC – the network will feature SEC Now, a show that will discuss all of the SEC news of the day; The Paul Finebaum Show, where the popular radio host brings his show to television in a four-hour program that will take callers and talk all things SEC; and SEC Nation, a weekly pre-game show featuring Tim Tebow and Marcus Spears that will broadcast live from a different SEC campus each week.
During my visit to the network’s headquarters yesterday I encountered a group of people excited about working and eager for the launch of something that they know will be big. From LSU’s Marcus Spears, the self-proclaimed connoisseur of tailgating, talking about what makes for a perfect pregame experience and Maria Taylor, former Georgia volleyball player, letting us know how excited she is about providing commentary during matches this season, to Peter Burns and Kaylee Hartung proudly discussing their Louisiana roots, everyone involved seemed to have a direct or indirect connection to the league that instilled a sense of pride in what they’re doing.
With unparalleled access to the most popular football conference in college sports and exclusive coverage of over 1,000 SEC events in the first year alone, the SEC Network, as a recent announcement said, is poised to be one of the most successful network launches in history.
SEC Network Fun Facts
Carriers include:
AT&T U-Verse, Bright House Networks, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DIRECTV, DISH, Google Fiber, LUS Fiber, NCTC, NRTC, NTTC, PTC Communications, Suddenlink, Time Warner Cable, Wilkes Telephone
The SEC Network Analysts include:
- 2 Heisman Trophy winners
- 6 All-American First Team awards
- 8 All-SEC First Team awards
- 4 National Champions
- 6 SEC Champions
- 5 NFL First-Round picks
- 2 Super Bowl winners
Studio:
The new SEC Network studio’s sets are a combined 2,800 square feet. ESPN’s Charlotte Production Building now houses more than 4,700
cables stretching to a length of 50 miles (more than 880 football fields). It takes approximately 23,400 miles of fiber optic cable (nearly the circumference of the earth) to connect all 14 SEC campuses with the SEC Network.
- 96 newly connected sports venues
- On average, 3.95 miles of cable was laid at each campus.
- 10 newly constructed control rooms
PROGRAMMING:
1,000 exclusive live events planned for year one, including:
- 45 Football Games
- 100 Men’s Basketball Games
- 60 Women’s Basketball Games
- 50 Softball Games
- 75 Baseball Games
- 25 Soccer Games
- 40 Volleyball Games
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