Part V: On-campus activations

On that ACC Football Road Trip series, Cambareri said going to all campuses ahead of the football season has been terrific for ACCN.

“It’s been great. I mean, it’s a great opportunity to connect with schools every year, obviously. But just like the NFL, college has turned into a little bit of a year-to-year game, getting fans reacquainted with their schools and new players and the transfer portal. And hope springs eternal, right? Everybody’s 0-and-0.

“So you are getting the sunny side of things. And it’s just an opportunity to get to those schools, it’s an opportunity to show off different things schools may be doing, if they’ve grown from the standpoint of buildings or new opportunities for the student-athletes.

“For us, it’s a chance to show off a very unique thing that goes on within the conference network. And I’m not sure anyone else does this. If you go to the NFL Network, they do training camps, but I don’t think they do all 32. And we will have all 17 schools at the ACC where we will have done an hour-long show previewing their new season.”

Michiaels said one of the biggest changes at ACCN during his 2021-present tenure, and one of the learnings from ESPN’s experience with SEC Network and Longhorn Network, comes from the decision to send a show to campuses each week that started last year.

“The biggest thing, and you’re seeing that manifest itself with what we’re doing with ACC Huddle, was we wanted to have a travelling football show that went around to campus each week. At the same time, we we needed to be different, which is why you see ACC Huddle follow the ACC Network primetime game each week.

“Rather than just doing a a morning show from one of the ACC sites, we wanted to really kind of give it the CFP treatment, if you will, building up that crescendo all day, still supporting the other games that are on our network, but really shining a big spotlight on the ACC Network primetime game.

“And in addition to being good programming, it gives our corporate partners a really good opportunity to activate on the various different campuses across the conference. So it’s one of the biggest things that we’ve been involved in, and one of the takeaways that I had from working on the other networks.”

Michiaels said the on-campus aspect is vitally important on several levels.

“It’s huge. And really, last year was the first year that we were able to do that for every week of the season. We’re doing that again this year, that is our business model going forward. There are many different reasons why it’s a really advantageous property to have. Not only does it get your talent on campus and interacting with the coaching staffs and the student-athletes and really getting to know them a lot, but it makes our network accessible for the fan base.

“We’re in the activation area or the the tailgate lots throughout the day, and then we move into the stadium for the game, our primetime game, so it allows our talent, our network, our content to be visible to the fan base and and really be accessible to the schools and the coaches and the administrators and the student-athletes as well.”

Cambareri said he loved coming in last year when ACC Huddle went on the road.

“Last was my first year with the project, and that coincided with the show being on the road every week. To me, it was a great opportunity. I’ve been at the company way too long, 32 years, I’m dating myself. I was there when GameDay started [going on the road], and obviously, it wasn’t the GameDay we know today, it wasn’t the same. Obviously, they’ve built it, and it’s nice to have the paper in front of us of how they did it. And I think there’s a Ray Kinsella factor to this, ‘If you build it, they will come.’  And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Like Michiaels, Cambareri said a differentiating aspect from other ESPN networks’ efforts is how long they’re on-site.

“Last year was the first year in an effort to build it, where every week is our expectation is we’ll be on campus. The difference for us is we’re there all day, we close the lights at the end of the night at about 12:30 a.m. most Saturdays. So we’re there for the first show starting at 11 a.m. (Eastern), and we’re done after the 8 p.m. show, but we have a one-hour postgame show. It’s great experience for us to be exposed to the schools, great experience for us to be there on a weekly basis, and for fans to expect us there.”

He said he thinks one area they can further build is that morning show, and its differentiation from the main network’s College GameDay.

“The area of growth that we pinpointed last season was ‘How can we further leverage that 11 a.m. hour?’ Obviously, we know what Game Day looks like from 9 to noon. We can be aspirational, but we can also be realistic. ‘How do we do it? How do we build these bricks each year?’ I think that’s the kind of dialogue we’ve been having with schools.”

Cambareri said a key part of that is working in fans more.

“I think our goal is to get more fan engagement. And I think there are certain schools that you can already see that at. I’ve been to Virginia Tech, I know if we go back there, they will represent 10 hours before the game, they will have people around to carry that energy of college football that we’re looking to extend, and obviously the passion that ACC fans have for football. So that’s really what we’re trying to lean into this year as much as anything.”

He said being on-campus each week helps with that a lot.

“The opportunity is we go week-to-week, and fans recognize it. They know now like ‘E.J. Manuel is going to be coming to our town!’ or ‘We have an alum who’s going to be around!’, a favorite son, Eddie Royal coming back to Virginia Tech or Eric Mac Lain at Clemson. These fans connect with these guys; they might have been gone from the team for a decade or more, but they cherish them. They’re one of theirs. And I think you get to feel that with Coach Richt, who obviously has ties to a couple of schools in the conference.”

Read on for more on Week 0 in Dublin and the network to date.