Tony Bennett held his retirement press conference Friday, but fans who tuned in to the ACC Network to see the Virginia head coach explain his stunning decision were in for a huge surprise.
The network did not broadcast the press conference. Nor did parent network ESPN, for that matter. ESPN did stream the event on ACC Network Extra. However, many fans do not have access or understand how to access that digital-only offering.
ESPN has live coverage of Tony Bennett’s @UVAMensHoops retirement press conference now on @accnetwork Extra.
To watch: https://t.co/Oe6YnIz77e pic.twitter.com/Ffky2JOf5b
— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) October 18, 2024
To be clear, Bennett’s announcement is huge news in not only college basketball, but sports world. Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman broke the stunning story regarding Bennett, a three-time national coach of the year who led the Cavaliers to a national championship and won 364 games in 15 seasons in Charlottesville. After helping make UVA a perennial power, his retirement, coming just before the start of the season, raised many questions.
During Bennett’s press conference, the ACC Network showed a rerun of ACC Huddle, a football show. USA Today’s Dan Wolken was among the reporters who did not understand the decision.
“It’s very strange that ACC Network isn’t carrying this,” he posted on X. “Seems like the kind of thing a media outlet whose only purpose is to cover the ACC might be interested in.”
It’s very strange that ACC Network isn’t carrying this. Seems like the kind of thing a media outlet whose only purpose is to cover the ACC might be interested in. https://t.co/vkHjRXrhGm
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) October 18, 2024
AP basketball writer Aaron Beard also expressed his frustration with the network: “Good grief, ACC Network. Tony Bennett is having a retirement news conference at Virginia for the biggest story of the day in college hoops and ACCN is showing its ACC Huddle show recap of last night’s football matchup between two unranked teams.”
Mark Berman, a sportswriter who covers the Cavs for The Roanoke Times, also criticized the network’s decision not to air the press conference.
“ACC Network Extra is airing Tony Bennett’s press conference,” Berman posted on X. “But the ACC Network TV channel is showing a rerun of ACC Huddle instead of Bennett’s press conference? What a joke. What is the point of the ACC having a TV channel if it won’t show Bennett’s press conference?”
ACC Network Extra is airing Tony Bennett’s press conference. But the ACC Network TV channel is showing a rerun of ACC Huddle instead of Bennett’s press conference? What a joke. What is the point of the ACC having a TV channel if it won’t show Bennett’s press conference?
— Mark Berman (@BermanRoanoke) October 18, 2024
ESPN sent along this statement on this:
“ACC Network aired live streaming coverage of Tony Bennett’s retirement press conference on ACCNX and the ESPN App, and will have additional programming surrounding his retirement today on our original studio programming, including ACC PM.”
While it seems like a very questionable decision, the surprise decision retirement announcement yesterday likely played a role and that ESPN would have been unable to get a studio team assembled to cover the press conference. Additionally given it’s Friday, a lot of ESPN’s college sports personnel are on the road for the full slate of games the network is airing tomorrow. While all of this likely factored into the decision to make the press conference less accessible and easy to find, you would hope ESPN would find a middle ground of making the press conference accessible on the appropriate network without having to overly disrupt their planned scheduling and operations.
