broadcast television production sales & marketing syndication distribution event management founded june 19 1979 1979 06 19 headquarters charlotte north carolina area served united states nationwide key people ken haines president & ceo products acc basketball acc football acc properties etc. owner raycom media website www.raycomsports.com raycom sports is an american syndicator of sports television programs . it is headquartered in charlotte north carolina and owned and operated by raycom media . it was founded in 1979 by husband and wife rick and dee ray . since its inception it has produced and distributed football and basketball games from the atlantic coast conference acc of the ncaa . it was also a distributor of games from the southeastern big eight and big ten conferences as well as the now defunct southwest conference . in august of 2019 raycom sports will officially stop syndicated broadcasts of the 2019 acc college football and basketball season as the conference and the acc will launch the acc espn cable network . contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 partnership with jefferson pilot communications 1.2.1 purchase of lincoln financial sports 1.3 merger with ellis communications 1.4 acc network 2 personalities 2.1 college basketball 2.2 college football 2.3 college baseball 3 other programming 3.1 current taped programming 4 availability 5 references 6 external links history edit founding edit rick ray was a program manager at wccb in charlotte when he proposed that wccb produce more basketball games . ray thought that they would be very profitable for wccb given north carolina s reputation as a college basketball hotbed . however station management turned him down . not long after setting up shop ray put together an early season basketball tournament which became the great alaska shootout . partnership with jefferson pilot communications edit two years later raycom made what would prove to be its biggest splash when it teamed up with jefferson pilot communications to take over production of acc basketball games . the package had begun in 1957 when greensboro businessman c. d. chesley piped north carolina s run to the 1957 national title to a hastily created network of five stations across north carolina . it proved popular enough that it expanded to a full time package of basketball games the following season . chesley retained the rights to acc games until 1980 when the conference bought him out and sold the rights to metrosports of rockville maryland . some acc games were telecast by raycom alone in 1980 through four or five television stations in north carolina including wccb . 1 for the 1980 81 season the two companies formed a joint venture raycom jp sports that won the package after the acc turned down metrosports bid to renew its contract . from 1983 to 1986 raycom and jp offered a pay per view package called season ticket . in 2006 the name of raycom s partnership changed to raycom lf sports the lf is lincoln financial the marketing name of lincoln national corporation which purchased the jefferson pilot corporation that year . as a result of the purchase jefferson pilot communications was renamed lincoln financial media . starting in 2004 the same partnership took over production of syndicated acc football games ; jefferson pilot had produced acc football alone since september 1984 . in 2007 raycom began broadcasting the acc men s basketball tournament in hdtv and broadcast 4 acc men s basketball regular season games in hd in 2008 . in 2002 raycom also founded the continental tire bowl in charlotte . it continued to operate the game which later changed its name to the meineke car care bowl until 2011 when it became the belk bowl . unlike other sports syndicators raycom controlled nearly all advertising for the broadcast but paid stations for the airtime . while this was a risky strategy at first raycom reaped a huge windfall since acc games frequently garnered ratings in the 20s and 30s . by a happy coincidence the acc s regional territory included several fast growing markets such as charlotte the piedmont triad the triangle hampton roads richmond baltimore and washington d.c. purchase of lincoln financial sports edit main article lincoln financial media jefferson pilot sports later lincoln financial sports produced syndicated southeastern conference basketball games from 1987 to 2006 and sec football games from 1992 to 2006 . the rights also included parts if not all of the sec men s basketball tournament . 2 3 in addition jefferson pilot also produced some olympic programming in the wake of the 1996 summer olympics 4 5 on november 30 2007 raycom purchased lincoln financial sports and took over as syndicator for sec football and basketball before losing the rights to espn regional television in 2009 . 6 7 raycom is the sole owner of the broadcast rights for acc men s basketball and syndicated acc football through 2010 2011 . merger with ellis communications edit in 1994 raycom sports merged with ellis communications but remained autonomous with its own headquarters in charlotte . when an investment group led by retirement systems of alabama bought ellis in 1996 the raycom name was so well respected that it chose to rename the entire broadcast group raycom media . acc network edit main article acc network starting in 2010 raycom sports has branded its acc football and basketball games as the acc network . 8 in 2012 the acc network started showing college hockey games mainly involving boston college previously the only acc school with a hockey team until notre dame s 2013 entrance . in 2014 the acc network coverage was expanded to cover 84 % of all households in the united states . 9 personalities edit college basketball edit mike gminski analyst 2003 present dan bonner analyst 1983 present tim brant play by play 1990 present steve martin play by play 1991 present college football edit dave archer analyst 2010 present tommy bowden analyst 2011 present tim brant play by play 2008 present steve martin play by play 1991 present college baseball edit aaron boone analyst 2011 present tommy hutton analyst 2012 present other programming edit raycom has also produced specials on elvis presley and other non sports subjects . it was to have produced team racing auto circuit auto racing in 2003 ; however the league folded before an event could be run . in addition to college sports raycom had also produced preseason football showcasing various nfl teams including the dallas cowboys the houston tennessee oilers now tennessee titans 10 the kansas city chiefs and currently handles production of carolina panthers preseason football . in the 2015 season raycom sports also acquired rights to produce the new orleans saints preseason games . raycom media operates the team s flagship station wvue which is owned by a group led by saints owner tom benson . 11 current taped programming edit havoline football saturdays in the south kings of the court availability edit raycom sports games are often part of the out of market sports packages espn gameplan and espn full court which are available on espn3 . references edit channel 18 keeps games pdf . the charlotte observer . january 9 1980 . retrieved july 6 2015 . jefferson pilot sports sec syndication package promotional brochure http raycomsports.com wp content uploads 2013 10 jpfinancial1.pdf company history raycom sports jp logos.pdf raycom sports . raycom merger complete . the charlotte observer december 2 2007 . spranberg eric august 25 2008 . raycom loses southeastern conference . charlotte business journal . retrieved april 7 2014 . acc network raycom football schedule & tv listings press release . acc network has expanded national reach pdf . raycom sports . july 1 2014 . retrieved july 1 2014 . raycom sports to broadcast tennessee oilers preseason games press release july 23 1997 . archived from the original on may 29 1998 . retrieved april 9 2015 . new orleans saints raycom media announce partnership . new orleans saints . retrieved 24 december 2015 . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message external links edit official website raycom sports on twitter preceded by lincoln financial sports syndication rightsholder to southeastern conference football and men s basketball 2008 2009 succeeded by espn plus under sec tv branding preceded by metrosports inc. syndication rightsholder to atlantic coast conference men s basketball 1982 present co produced with jefferson pilot sports lincoln financial sports 1982 2007 succeeded by incumbent under acc network branding since 2010 preceded by jefferson pilot sports syndication rightsholder to atlantic coast conference football 2005 present produced in association with lincoln financial sports 2006 2007 succeeded by incumbent under acc network branding since 2010 preceded by lorimar sports network syndication rights holder to metro conference basketball 1985 1995 succeeded by none metro conference merged with great midwest conference to create conference usa preceded by lorimar sports network syndication rightsholder to big 10 conference men s basketball 1989 1995 succeeded by espn plus v t e sports television in the united states broadcast divisions english american sports network cbs sports espn on abc fox sports nbc sports spanish azteca am rica mundomax nbc deportes telemundo nbc universo univision deportes national channels english bein sports cbs sports network espn espn2 fox sports 1 fox sports 2 nbcsn spanish bein sports en espa ol espn deportes fox deportes univision deportes network specialty channels college big ten network espnu fox college sports longhorn network pac 12 network sec network single sport cricket ticketo espn college extra espn goal line buzzer beaterp fox soccer plusp gol tv golf channel in demandp mlb network mlb extra inningso mlb strike zonep mls direct kicko nba league passo nba tv nfl network nfl redzonep nfl sunday ticketo nhl network nhl center iceo tennis channel tvg tvg2 willow outdoors frost great outdoors outdoor channel pursuit channel sportsman channel other espn classic espnews espn ppvp mavtv one world sports occasional broadcasts axs tv byutv cnbc comet geb america hbo ion television lesea world harvest mtv2 nbc universo pbs pop showtime spike syfy turner sports tbs tnt trutv universal hd usa network wgn sports wgn tv wgn america syndicators acc network raycom sports big 12 network espn events wfn broadband services espn3 fox sports go mlb.tv ufc fight pass wwe network video on demand only services the ski channel surf channel regional sports networks v t e regional sports television networks in the united states fox sports networks arizona detroit florida sun midwest indiana kansas city north ohio sportstime ohio southeast south 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sportschannel america sports network universal sports network regional carolinas se cox sports empire hawkvision mountainwest pass sports prime prism royals sports sportschannel la sportsvision sports time victory out of market espn full court espn gameplan mega march madness o. out of market sports packages p. premium channel v t e raycom media abc network affiliates kaitnbc kltv kswo kxxv krhd cd ktre wloxcbs wtvm cbs network affiliates