YES puts Ivy football back on T.V.

After a nearly 12-year hiatus, Ivy League football will be making a much-anticipated return to national television this fall.

Via an agreement with the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network that was first made public on Sept. 9, the syndicate, whose reach extends throughout New York, Connecticut and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, will broadcast four Ivy League football games this year. Each of the contests will feature a different pair of Ivy teams.

The games will also be televised nationally via DirecTV. The Ivy League stands to expand its current relationship with DirecTV through the deal with YES, as it already has an existing agreement with the pay-per-view satellite provider to distribute coverage of its basketball games.

"The broadcasts will be both regional and national, since we are on the YES Network and DirecTV," said Ivy League Associate Director, Chuck Yrigoyen. "We've had a nice relationship with DirecTV in the past, and we look forward to continuing that relationship via the YES Network."

Before signing with YES, Ivy football last maintained a major TV deal with ESPN from 1988-1990. Previously, Ivy football was broadcast on TBS, which featured a weekly Ivy football game for much of the 1980s.

"Since the end of the deal with ESPN, we haven't had a league-wide television package," Yrigoyen said. "We've had an occasional game here and there, but it was only limited action."

The first Ivy game to air on YES will be Cornell at Harvard on Oct. 12. Penn will be making its debut on the network the following week, when Columbia visits Franklin Field.

Yale at Brown on Nov. 9 is the third game on the slate, with Dartmouth at Princeton on Nov. 23 finishing the four-game package.

"We are getting a lot of exposure for Ivy League football," Yrigoyen said. "To have something which will carry the Ivy name with it is something of great value to us."

The Ancient Eight will figure prominently into YES' fall broadcast lineup. While the fledgling network will be airing football from three conferences this fall, the Ivy League will be getting the bulk of YES' live coverage.

The network has already aired two University of Connecticut football games live and will be showing Oregon games on tape delay on Sundays from 2-6 a.m.

"Ivy League football represents an opportunity to show quality sports," said YES spokesman, Andrew Fegyversi. "It also adds to our diversity as a regional sports network."

And while diversity in programming is important, for a first-year network like YES -- the syndicate was launched in March 2002 -- viewer ratings is where YES is most concerned.

Both YES and the Ivy League are hopeful that Ivy graduates and alumni clubs will form the core of its viewing audience in the Northeast.

"A lot of the alumni have expressed great satisfaction that they can watch their former colleges play," Fegyversi said. "And even if you're not an alumnus, it's still great programming and it's still fun to watch."

Recently, YES signed former Princeton running back, Keith Elias as a television analyst for football broadcasts.

After starring for the Tigers, Elias enjoyed a five-year career (1994-99) in the NFL with the New York Giants and Indiannapolis Colts and also played one season for the NY/ NJ Hitmen in the XFL.

"Keith is obviously a prominent former Ivy League football player," Yrigoyen said. "We're looking forward to working with him."

The enthusiasm of a network deal aside, the timing of this agreement seems to be a bit suspect for the Ivy League.

This summer after the Ivy League presidents announced a series of cutbacks in Ancient Eight sports -- most prominently Ivy League football -- it appeared that the League might be on the verge of some form of contraction.

With a television deal now in place, and the potential for the breadth of the contract to grow in the future, it seems that the league has completed a rather rapid change of heart.

"This is a plan that has been approved and endorsed by the athletic directors and the presidents," Yrigoyen said. "I think that makes a big statement."

Since the first Ivy football broadcast is still nearly a month away, most of the programming details have yet to be finalized.

YES and the Ivy League will be meeting over the next few weeks to discuss the general structure of the telecast. Yrigoyen said the issues to be addressed generally concern in-game features, halftime reporting and the role of other Ivy sports in the football broadcast.

"We're hoping that this is the basis for an expanded football schedule and YES' involvement in other Ivy sports," Yrigoyen said. "This provides them with a good test case and we'll see where we go from here."

Penn Football 2002 Televised Games

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.