Must-see TV: national networks tab GCU games

Athletics is the front porch to a university.

But Grand Canyon basketball is transcending that analogy and being welcomed through the door for a spot in the living room.

The university, which touts students in every state, now will have Lopes basketball games broadcast on televisions in every state far more than ever.

National TV list

With GCU Athletics joining the Mountain West this year, national television networks selected 13 Lopes men's basketball regular-season games for broadcast and two GCU women's basketball games for national TV. It is a program first for Lopes women, while the GCU men will have as many nationally televised regular-season games this season as the previous five seasons combined.

The ascent of the basketball programs is an audience draw, but the show at GCU is not relegated to the court. "The Biggest Party in College Basketball" has grown its reputation in tangent, with one of the nation's most spirited student sections – the Havocs – creating a game scene that the cameras love.

"Getting more eyes from the people who are flipping through channels to see our crowd is hopefully going to make them want to stick on that channel a little bit longer," said GCU men's basketball head coach Bryce Drew, who has led the Lopes to the NCAA Tournament in four of his five Lopes seasons. "It will definitely help build the brand of the university with people just seeing the energy and excitement that our fans bring."

Known as a rapidly rising program, GCU men's basketball already had landed more national television games gradually throughout Drew's tenure. But this is an above-the-rim leap from an all-time high of four nationally televised games last season to 13 this season on Fox, FS1 and CBS Sports Network.

T Havocs

he Fox game at UNLV on Feb. 7 will be GCU's first appearance on a Big Four network. After one conference game aired on national television (ESPNU) last season, half of its 20 conference games in its first Mountain West season will be broadcast on national networks this season.

The increased national exposure began Thanksgiving week, when the GCU men traveled to Palm Desert, California, for a pair of CBS Sports Network broadcast games against Utah and Iowa.

Postseason appearances in the Mountain West Championship and potentially the NCAA Tournament could add to the total games and number of networks.

GCU assistant athletic director of media production Al Porteous, who worked for 14 years at Fox Sports Arizona, said the Lopes are checking four boxes to make them an attractive basketball product for national television:

Consistently successful and fun basketball
Matchups with prominent opponents
Passionate home atmosphere
Large-market locale

"Phoenix is a large opportunity for national media outlets," Porteous said. "There is a huge potential reach for viewership, and this also goes hand in hand with the size of GCU's student body and alumni. There is an enormous potential reach for viewership."

Last year and in 2017, GCU's locale in a Final Four host city and the campus's basketball fervor led to ESPN broadcasting the College 3-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest from the university's Global Credit Union Arena.

The coinciding promise of more winning basketball and intrigue of competing in one of the nation's best basketball conferences also put GCU on a larger platform in Arizona.

Sutton and Boggs

Arizona's Family networks (3TV, CBS 5 and Arizona's Family Sports channels) became the official home of GCU Athletics this year with an agreement that increased statewide exposure for GCU men's and women's basketball. It also included more broadcasts for Lopes volleyball, men's and women's soccer, baseball and softball games too.

"This partnership places our programs alongside Arizona's most prominent sports brands while ensuring our games are available free to fans in nearly 2.8 million households," GCU Vice President of Athletics Jamie Boggs said. "It is an incredible opportunity to showcase the energy of GCU and connect even more deeply with our community, alumni and the state's sports fans."

Every home men's basketball game that is not shown on a national network airs on an Arizona's Family channel and is streamed on the Mountain West Network with nationally recognized play-by-play voice Daron Sutton joining Phoenix sports radio host Dan Bickley.

The broadcast expansion included behind-the-scenes growth with new campus control rooms, computers, cameras and a learning curve for a new graphics package and a different method of sending its signal to the MW Network.

"One of the first things we have done is to shift the mentality of our crew from thinking these are livestreams to broadcasts," said Porteous, whose staff incorporates full-time professionals and student workers. "Livestreams can sometimes have an amateur stigma, and we don't feel like we operate that way. We take a lot of pride in blending those worlds.

"The fact that we try to be forward-thinking really prepared us for minimal concern when it came to changing over to the Mountain West and to broadcasting to AZ Family."

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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