TAMUC – Sports

Lion Football adds two regionally televised games through LSC/Nexstar partnership.

A&M-Commerce to have four total football games televised in 2019 campaign

 RICHARDSON – The Texas A&M University-Commerce football team will be featured in two regionally televised games in the 2019 season as part of a new partnership between Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and the Lone Star Conference. 

The Lions’ two televised games through this partnership are the October 26 Homecoming game against Western New Mexico, and the November 16 season finale at Angelo State. Both games are scheduled to kick off at 3:00 pm on those dates. 

The addition of these games to the broadcast schedule will give the Lions four televised sports in the 2019 season. On Tuesday, the Division II Football Showcase lineup was announced by the NCAA, with two Lion games nationally televised on ESPN3. Those games are the October 12 home game vs. Midwestern State, and the November 2 road game at West Texas A&M. 

The Nexstar/LSC games will air via live television broadcast and/or streaming online video exclusively on network-affiliated stations and/or websites owned by Nexstar and select broadcast partners including: KTAB (Abilene), KASY (Albuquerque), KCPN (Amarillo), KBVO (Austin), KVEO (Brownsville), KTSM (El Paso), KLBK (Lubbock), KMID (Midland/Odessa), KSAN (San Angelo), KTPN (Tyler), KWKT (Waco) and KJBO (Wichita Falls). The television and/or online streaming programming schedule is specific to each station, please see the table below for air-dates/times and more information. 

The planned programming lineup reflects Nexstar’s ongoing commitment to delivering unprecedented game-day experiences and coverage of the best local gridiron matchups directly to the homes of local viewers and football fans throughout Texas and beyond.  

“We are excited to collaborate with Nexstar and KXAN-TV to create this new media partnership. This agreement is going to provide great exposure for the newly expanded Lone Star Conference. And it allows us to highlight many of our great football programs and student-athletes this fall,” said LSC Commissioner Jay Poerner. 

Eric Lassberg, Vice President and General Manager of KXAN-TV, said, “Nexstar and our local stations are thrilled to team up with the Lone Star Conference. It will deliver unprecedented viewing experiences of these thrilling games to local college football fans throughout the great state of Texas. We look forward to bringing more local sports to viewers with live game-day coverage of NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference football this season. It will be televised and live-streamed exclusively on Nexstar stations and station websites, also, to select broadcast partners.”

Lone Star Conference Football Game Programming Schedule – Television Broadcast and Live-Stream: (Please check local listings for schedule updates and additional information)

Nexstar and Broadcast Partner Participating Stations – Television Broadcast / Online Live-Stream:

* Note: KASY-TV is owned by Tamar Media. KTPN-TV is owned by White Knight Broadcasting. KCPN-TV and KJBO-TV are owned by Mission Broadcasting.
**Note: KSAN-TV will air the A&M-Commerce at Angelo State game via live television broadcast and streaming online video. All other games will be only be available via live-stream online at www.conchovalleyhomepage.com.

Nexstar Participating Stations – Online Live-Stream Only:

**Note: KSAN-TV will air the A&M-Commerce at Angelo State game via live television broadcast and streaming online video. All other games will only be available via live-stream online at www.conchovalleyhomepage.com.

About KXAN News

KXAN News is a station dedicated to serving the community by delivering in-depth investigative coverage that gets results for Central Texans and provides quality storytelling on all platforms. To learn more about KXAN, please visit KXAN.com. 

About Lone Star Conference

The Lone Star Conference, which is the largest intercollegiate athletic conference in NCAA Division II with 19 member institutions, is an innovative athletics conference that aims to provide a superior competitive experience for member institutions and to allow for comprehensive development of student-athletes through academic services and life skills programming. Founded on April 25, 1931, the LSC started as a five-member conference of Texas-based schools and is now a 19-member league with 14 members in Texas, two in Oklahoma, two in New Mexico, and one in Arkansas. The LSC conducts conference championships in 18 sports (nine men and nine women).  

About Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Nexstar Media Group is a leading diversified media company that leverages localism to bring new services and value to consumers and advertisers through its traditional media, digital and mobile media platforms. Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides sales and other services to 170 television stations and related digital multicast signals reaching 100 markets or nearly 39% of all U.S. television households. Nexstar’s portfolio includes primary affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, MyNetworkTV and The CW. Nexstar’s community portal websites offer additional hyper-local content and verticals for consumers and advertisers, allowing audiences to choose where, when and how they access content while creating new revenue opportunities. For more information please visit www.nexstar.tv.

Season tickets for the Lions’ five-game home schedule (including the ESPN3 matchup with MSU and Nexstar game with Western New Mexico) are available at the Lion Sales and Service Box Office, online at WeAreLionsTix.com, and by calling (903) 468-8756. The 2019 season begins with Student Appreciation Day and International Day on Saturday, September 7, when the Lions host Selección Nuevo León for a 6:00 pm kickoff on Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium. This is A&M-Commerce’s first-ever international football game and anticipation is mounting for the first action under new head coach David Bailiff.

A School record 58 Lions earn D2ADA Academic Achievement Award.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A total of 58 student-athletes representing Texas A&M University-Commerce has been awarded the Division 2 Athletics Directors Association’s Academic Achievement Award for their efforts in the 2018-19 academic year.

A&M-Commerce’s 58 honorees are the most for the Lions since the award was created in 2008, beating the previous school record of 52 set in 2017-18. Lion scholar-athletes have increased their record total in each of the last four academic years and have the most honorees of any school in the Lone Star Conference for 2018-19.

“Our record year of competitive success in 2018-19 is surpassed only by these phenomenal achievements in the classroom,” A&M-Commerce Director of Athletics Tim McMurray said. “It starts with the Best in Class efforts of our student-athletes. The passion and commitment to student preparedness of our Thrower Center leadership team. Our coaching staffs, and our wonderful academic campus partners – including Provost John Humphreys, each of our academic deans, and the faculty who instruct our students. This is truly an institutional recognition that caps last year’s comprehensive success perfectly.”

In total, there were 11,660 student-athletes from 185 institutions being recognized for the 2018-19 Academic Achievement Awards. This set the record for the most participation from institutions and the most significant number of student-athletes being nominated.

“I am very excited to see the highest number of student-athletes get recognized for their academic achievements this past year,” said D2ADA President Chris Ratcliff, director of athletics at Rogers State University. ” The number of institutions recognizing their student-athletes’ academic achievements continues to rise. As a board, this is perhaps one of our biggest initiatives. We see the value of acknowledging academic achievements. This a way for our member institutions, through D2 ADA, to recognize our student-athletes.”

For a student-athlete to receive an Academic Achievement Award, the athletics director of the Division II institution must be a current dues-paying member of the D2 ADA.

Also, the student-athlete must:

• have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale
• have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college-level work
• have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year

Texas A&M University-Commerce student-athletes who earned the award are:

Lions to be featured on ESPN3 twice in 2019 as part of Division II Football Showcase.

COMMERCE – The NCAA has announced two Texas A&M University-Commerce football games in the 2019 season have been selected for broadcast on ESPN3 as part of NCAA’s Division II Football Showcase.

The No. 13 Lions’ home game against No. 20 Midwestern State on October 12 and the road game at West Texas A&M on November 2 will be broadcast nationally on ESPN’s app and ESPN.com.

A&M-Commerce has had home football games televised nationally in each of the last five seasons. It has become one of the most featured schools in Division II as the program has risen to national prominence. The Lions are also the only team to be selected for two Division II Showcase games in 2019. Eighteen games have been selected in the first nine weeks of the season, with four flex games to be chosen later in the season.

“It’s always exciting to begin a new academic year and the start of Division II season,” said Terri Steeb Gronau, vice president of Division II. “We’re looking forward to highlighting the teams that will be featured in the football showcase and promoting the Division II brand on several platforms for fans to see across the country.”

“The football showcase features several great teams and matchups,” said Daryl Dickey, chair of the Division II Football Committee and athletics director at West Georgia. “It’s always fun to follow Division II football and celebrate our student-athletes for their excellence on the field, in the classroom, and in the community.”

ESPN3 is ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible on ESPN.com and the ESPN App across computers, smartphones, tablets, and connected streaming devices. The network is available at no additional cost to fans who receive a pay-TV subscription from an affiliated provider. The network is also available at no cost to U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones, and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.

Season tickets for the Lions’ five-game home schedule (including the ESPN3 matchup with MSU) are available at the Lion Sales and Service Box Office, online at WeAreLionsTix.com, and by calling (903) 468-8756. The 2019 season begins with Student Appreciation Day and International Day on Saturday, September 7, when the Lions host Selección Nuevo León for a 6:00 pm. kickoff on Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium. This is A&M-Commerce’s first-ever international football game and anticipation is mounting for the first action under new head coach David Bailiff.