Local TV station to air 'Runners' game at New Mexico St.
| Thursday, Jan 26 2012 06:13 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Jan 26 2012 06:14 PM
CSU Bakersfield will have live local television coverage of next Wednesday's men's basketball game at New Mexico State on Channel 45, it was announced Wednesday.
It will be the second time this season CSUB has played New Mexico State. The Aggies beat CSUB 73-72 in the Icardo Center on Jan. 2 on two free throws with nine-tenths of a second remaining.
CSUB athletic director Jeff Konya said CSUB has been busy for three days finalizing the broadcast details.
"We've had inquiries from our fans who'd like to be exposed to our team as much as possible," Konya said. "Our motivation was we're having a fairly successful basketball season and we think this will be a very entertaining and competitive game. At least the last one was."
New Mexico State will provide the broadcast fee and the announcers. Konya said local advertising will be inserted into the commercial breaks.
The game will also be carried on ESPN 3, Konya said. CSUB paid $700 for the rights, he added.
Prior to Thursday, New Mexico State is 14-6 overall and 4-1 in the WAC, one game behind Nevada (16-3, 5-0).
"New Mexico State was awesome in this, and so was the WAC office," Konya said. "The real challenge was finding someone locally to work with us. Fortunately 45 stepped up."
CSUB has had a few televised games in recent years on regional sports networks, such as the game at UCLA two seasons ago, and Bright House Networks broadcast CSUB home games for subscribers in past years.
But this will be the first time a local over-the-air station has carried a CSUB game since CBS' national telecast of the 1997 Division II championship game when the Roadrunners beat Northern Kentucky 57-56.
