Concord University and WVVA-TV have agreed to air three Concord home football games during the 2015 season. WVVA President Frank Brady and Concord University President Dr. Kendra Boggess signed the agreement Monday afternoon at WVVA's station.
WVVA sports director A.J. Good will do the live play-by-play with former Concord assistant football coach Will King joining Good in the booth for color commentary for the September 12 home game against Fairmont State, the September 26 contest versus West Virginia Wesleyan and the October 24 home contest against Mountain East Conference rival Shepherd. "It's going to be great for the whole university and the athletic department," Concord Director of Athletics Kevin Garrettsaid. "We're putting a great product out on the field with our football program. It extends our fan base as well. What this is going to do for our university and athletic department is just unmeasurable. Garin and his staff have done a great job by bringing in the right type of kids and putting them in the right positions.
"I'd also like to thank WVVA and Dave Barnett for this opportunity," Garrett said. "It's been a great experience and I look forward to doing it this year and in the coming years as well."
Monday's announcement is another chance to showcase CU's football program after a 13-1 record in 2014 that boasted the Mountain Lions to the national semifinals and to consecutive TV appearances versus Bloomsburg in the Super Region One Championship and national semifinal contest at Minnesota-Mankato. "I don't think there are too many schools of our size that has this going for them," Dr. Boggess said. "It's going to give our community an opportunity to be part of it, if they can't make it to the games. It's going to be an exciting time. I think the whole community is going to be rallying around in the way they did last year." With the playoff run CU went on a season ago, it gave WVVA the chance to air regular season games in 2015. "This is monumental for us," Brady said.
"We had a dry run last year at the end of the season as Concord got into the playoffs. That got all of us thinking that why not do multiple games this year and help Concord expand its base and help us expand our sports base in the marketplace." With dozens of Concord players from local towns and communities it will give extended family members a chance to watch the Mountain Lions on Saturdays during the fall. "Now that a local network gets to carry out games, it's big for us as a program, big for our players and also helps us as far as recruiting is concerned," Concord head coach Garin Justice said. "Anytime that families, especially extended families can get involved it's a big thing. When grandma and grandpa can watch the games it's a big honor.
"I don't think this deal goes through if we don't make the run we did last year," Justice said. "Now there's interest and there's people that want to watch us play games. Hopefully we can continue to win and make this even bigger." WVVA-TV is the local NBC affiliate and the games can be seen on channel 6 on Comcast in Bluefield, West Virginia, channel 6 on Suddenlink in Beckley, West Virginia and channel 5 on Suddenlink in Princeton, West Virginia. Games can also be seen on wvva.com/live.