ODU Monarchs Football Opener to be Available in 55 Million Homes

August 27, 2014

Saturday's 2014 season-opening game for the Old Dominion University football team against Hampton University will be available via television to 55 million homes around the country on the brand-new American Sports Network.

The broadcast will kick off football programming on ASN at 3:30 on Saturday, Aug. 30, with Mike Gleason and Jim Donnan calling the game. The contest will mark ODU's 36th straight sellout at S.B. Ballard Stadium at Foreman Field.

This is the third meeting between the two schools with ODU holding a 3-0 record. ODU won a storm-shortened 45-7 contest over Hampton in 2012.

Locally, the game will be available on Cox Ch. 2 (MyTV) and 1002 (HD), on FIOS Ch. 11 and 511 (HD), on DirecTV Ch. 33 and on Charter Ch. 9 and 709 (HD).

On radio, the game is available on ESPN Radio 94.1 FM in Hampton Roads, Sports FM 100.5 in Richmond, and WBRG 104.5 FM, 1050 AM in Lynchburg. Ted Alexander provides the radio play-by-play, with Andy Mashaw as color analyst, Rich Radford as sideline reporter and Rick Kiefner as pre-game host. Coverage starts one our prior to kickoff.

Some facts about the Monarchs:

ODU Head Coach Bobby Wilder is 46-14 in his five years in Norfolk. The former Maine offensive coordinator led ODU to FCS playoff berths in 2011 and 2012 along with a CAA Championship in 2012.

Old Dominion will play a full Conference USA schedule for the first time in school history in just the sixth season since it restarted football in 2009. The Monarchs are eligible for the C-USA Championship and berth in the C-USA Championship game played on Saturday, Dec. 6.

Eleven of 12 games will be televised this season, including the season opener Aug. 30 against Hampton. Four contests: vs. Hampton, at UTEP, vs. FIU and at FIU, will be broadcast by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which just signed a contract to televise Conference USA games. ODU's game against Middle Tennessee will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1 Friday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. It is the first Friday night game in school history.

Senior quarterback Taylor Heinicke returns for the Monarchs. Heinicke passed for 4,022 yards and 33 touchdowns as a junior after winning the Walter Payton Award as the top player in the FCS as a sophomore. He is one of just 18 Division I quarterbacks to pass for 10,000 yards and rush for 1,000 and was the first Division I quarterback in Virginia to pass for 10,000 or more career yards.

Antonio Vaughan and Zach Pascal are the top-two returning receivers this year. Vaughan caught 60 passes for 843 yards and nine touchdowns last season while Pascal had 41 receptions for 534 yards and six touchdowns.

ODU returns four of their top-five tacklers from a season ago in junior Fellonte Misher, 95 tackles, and senior captain, Andre Simmons, 78 tackles. The Monarchs also return No. 4 tackler in Richie Staton and No. 5 tackler in D.J. Simon.

For Monarch fans attending the game, tailgate lots open at 11:30 a.m., and close two hours after the game ends. The stadium gates open at 2 p.m. The game day sponsor is Liberty Tax, and fans are encouraged to wear blue as their game day color.

For ODU fans in select other markets, here are the channels where the game can be viewed on ASN.

• In Birmingham, Ala., the game is available on WABM-MyTV, Ch. 68;
• In Fresno, Calif., the game is available on KFRE-CW, Ch. 59;
• In Hartford, Conn., the game is available on WCTX-MyTV, Ch. 9;
• In Washington, D.C., the game is available on WJLA2-MyTV, Ch. 8;
• In Mobile, Ala., the game is available on WFGX-MyTV, Ch. 35;
• In Tampa, the game is available on WTTA-MyTV, Ch. 38;
• In West Palm Beach, Fla., the game is available on WTCN-MyTV, Ch. 43;
• In Boston, the game will be available on NESN Boston;
• In Baltimore, the game will be available on WUTB-MyTV, Ch. 24;
• In Minneapolis-St. Paul, the game will be available on WUCW-CW, Ch. 23;
• In Raleigh-Durham, N.C., the game will be available on WRDC-MyTV, Ch. 28;
• In Las Vegas, the game will be available on KVMY-MyTV, Ch. 21;
• In Cincinnati, the game will be available on WSTR-MyTV, Ch. 64;
• In Oklahoma City, the game will be available on KOCB-CW, Ch. 34;
• In Pittsburgh, the game will be available on WPMY-MyTV, Ch. 22;
• In Nashville, the game will be available on WUXP-MyTV, Ch. 30;
• In San Antonio, the game will be available on KMYS-CW, Ch. 35;
• In Salt Lake City, the game will be available on WTVZ-MyTV, Ch. 12;
• In Milwaukee, the game will be available on WCGV-MyTV, Ch. 24.

For a complete list of what channel the game will be available in markets from coast to coast, Click here for your Fan Watch Guide!

MyTVZ, a Sinclair Broadcast Group station, will produce an extensive slate of live, local sporting events, including football, basketball, soccer and other sports beginning with this year's college football season. The initial launch will include more than 50 universities and colleges. The collegiate conferences represented on the network include Conference USA, the Colonial Athletic Association, Big South Conference, Southern Conference and Patriot League.

Sinclair owns and operates or provides programming and sales services to 167 television stations in 77 markets. Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 38.7% of United States television households and includes FOX, ABC, MyTV, CW, CBS, NBC, Univision and Azteca affiliates. In Hampton Roads, WTVZ (Cox channel 2/1002 Digital) is a member of the Sinclair group and will air the ODU games.