May 1, 2007
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The University of Iowa football team will open the 2007 Big Ten Conference season in primetime. ABC-TV will televise the Hawkeyes’ Sept. 22 contest at Wisconsin at 7 p.m. to kick off the Big Ten schedule. The announcement was made Tuesday by the Big Ten Conference.
The game in Madison will mark Iowa’s second night game of the 2007 season and the second time in two seasons Iowa has been selected by ABC for a primetime telecast. Iowa’s home opener, Sept. 8 versus Syracuse, will also have a 7 p.m. kickoff and will be aired on the Big Ten Network.
A year ago, Iowa’s home contest against top-ranked Ohio State was televised throughout the nation by ABC in primetime. The Ohio State game also included a visit to the Iowa campus by ESPN’s “Game Day” crew, as thousands of Iowa fans flooded Hubbard Park Friday afternoon and Saturday morning for the airing of that show.
As was the case with the 2006 OSU-Iowa game, a second Big Ten Conference game (Purdue at Minnesota, 8 p.m., ESPN2) will be aired during the evening window on Sept. 22.
“Having a primetime telecast on ABC-TV will only add to the excitement of the start of the conference season,” said UI Director of Athletics Gary Barta. “As is the case with the primetime event we are hosting versus Syracuse, this will provide great exposure on a national scale to both our football program and the University of Iowa.”
Iowa and Wisconsin will be meeting for the 83rd time when the two teams open conference action, with the series knotted at 40-40-2. The 2007 contest will mark the first ever between the two teams in September. Iowa had won four straight meetings, including wins in Madison in both 2003 and 2005, before Wisconsin’s 24-21 win in Kinnick Stadium a year ago. The Hawkeyes hold a 2-1 advantage in the battle for the Heartland Trophy.
The game at Wisconsin also marks the eighth time in the last nine seasons the Hawkeyes will open Big Ten Conference action with a road game.
As in the past, ABC-TV and the family of ESPN networks will also provide weekly live television coverage of Big Ten Conference football games. The broadcast schedule for those games will be announced at a later date.
Iowa’s contest at Wisconsin is one of seven primetime games announced by the Big Ten involving league teams that will be aired on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. The seven games are the following:
Date Team Time NetworkSept. 8 Notre Dame at Penn State 6 p.m. ET ESPNSept. 22 Iowa at Wisconsin 7 p.m. CT ABCSept. 22 Purdue at Minnesota 8 p.m. CT ESPN2Sept. 29 Ohio State at Minnesota 7 p.m. CT TBAOct. 6 Ohio State at Purdue 8 p.m. ET TBAOct. 20 Michigan at Illinois 7 p.m. CT TBAOct. 27 Ohio State at Penn State 8 p.m. ET TBA
In addition to Iowa’s home game versus Syracuse, the Big Ten Network will televise four additional conference games in primetime during the upcoming season, along with weekly coverage of other league games. The additional four primetime games on the Big Ten Network include Indiana State at Indiana (Sept. 1, 8 p.m. ET), Duke at Northwestern (Sept. 15, 7 p.m. CT), Indiana at Michigan State (Oct. 13, 7 p.m. ET) and Illinois at Minnesota (Nov. 3, 7 p.m. CT). All Big Ten Network telecasts will be in high-definition (HDTV).
The Big Ten Network is a national television network, available to all cable satellite providers nationwide, that will allow fans to see their home teams regardless of where they live. The network currently has national agreements in place with DirecTV and AT&T, and discussions with other cable satellite providers are continuing.
The sports programming on the Big Ten Network and alternative platforms will include, but is not limited to:
- More than 35 football games each season
- More than 105 regular season men’s basketball games, with four to six weeknight games and four to seven weekend games per week
- A nightly studio show including segments from each campus
- Women’s sports, including basketball, volleyball, soccer and softball
- More than 170 Olympic sporting events, including baseball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, swimming, diving and more
- Classic games and historical footage from ESPN and ABC libraries
- Original, non-sports programming produced by Big Ten universities, showcasing their academic excellence, talented students and award-winning programs
- Weekly coaches shows
The Big Ten Conference’s compelling athletic competition positions the network as the go-to destination for Big Ten alumni and fans across the nation. In addition to traditional distribution through cable and satellite providers nationwide, select Big Ten Network content also will be available through alternative media platforms such as the Internet, iPods, cell phones and/or other emerging technologies.
About the Big Ten Network Launching this August, the Big Ten Network is dedicated to covering the Big Ten Conference and its 11 member institutions. The Big Ten Network will provide unprecedented access to an extensive schedule of conference sports events and shows; original programs in academics, the arts and sciences; campus activities and associated personalities. Sports programming will include live coverage of more major men’s and women’s events than ever before, along with news, highlights and analysis, all complemented by hours of university-produced campus programming. The network is available to all cable and satellite carriers and television distributors nationwide, with most programs offered in stunning high-definition (HDTV). The Big Ten Network is a 20-years partnership between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks.
Click HERE to learn more about the Big Ten Network.