This college football bowl season, The CW will air as many games as CBS and Fox.
On Thursday, the network announced it will air the Barstool Arizona Bowl, scheduled to take place on December 30th between a team from the MAC and a Mountain West team.
“As The CW continues its expansion into live sports, we are thrilled to partner with Barstool Sports to bring our viewers the 2023 BARSTOOL SPORTS ARIZONA BOWL,” said Brad Schwartz, President of Entertainment, The CW Network. “The CW is quickly becoming a destination for college football fans every Saturday thanks to our partnership with the ACC, which has delivered some of the biggest ratings in the history of the network. We look forward to continuing this momentum with our first bowl game, delivered in the iconoclastic Barstool fashion.”
The Barstool Arizona Bowl is the latest live sports property that The CW has picked up this year, joining LIV Golf, regular season ACC football and basketball games, and Inside the NFL. The CW will also start airing WWE NXT in 2024 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025.
The Arizona Bowl has led something of a nomadic existence since the first edition in 2015. The first two Arizona Bowls aired on Sinclair’s American Sports Network, which was eventually relaunched as Stadium. In 2017, the Arizona Bowl moved to CBS Sports Network. After four years with CBS, Barstool picked up the sponsorship and broadcast rights for the game, exclusively streaming it in 2021 and 2022.
The CW’s coverage of the Arizona Bowl will feature “some of Barstool’s biggest content creators calling the game.” Dave Portnoy, Dan Katz, and Jake Marsh will call the game, joined by Caleb Pressley and Adam Ferrone on the sidelines.
With so many bowl games owned and operated by ESPN Events, it’s tough for other networks to get in on the fray. The Arizona Bowl is one of those few opportunities, and The CW is taking it.
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.