Since my post got a wee bit of traction, it feels only fair to post the reply I received just now from the athletic department in full. It mostly echoes what folks here have already said, but I'll let it speak for itself. Maybe there's some useful information in here for someone. If nothing else, I am impressed to have gotten a response so quickly.

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Hello Mr. XXXXXX,

Thanks for your note. Whit asked me to follow up on his behalf.

Some of what you have referenced below is accurate and an unfortunate reality of the situation. When the ACC Network came online, broadcasting football spring games were a requirement of the agreement with ESPN. It is an unfortunate reality on all campuses as there are only so many control rooms/cameras/personnel to go around and now that we are running most, if not all, of our broadcasts in-house, these are the realities of the current contract.

Though it does not help us tomorrow, we did have a full digital broadcast for softball and baseball last night, will have a one-camera broadcast for baseball and softball tonight, but unfortunately cannot tomorrow because of the equipment being used in Lane Stadium, as per the requirements. We have asked ESPN to work with us on scheduling these events (in conjunction with the entire ACC, not just VT) on separate days in the future because every school is having similar challenges with overlap. They are tremendous partners and are aware that all schools can work together with them to solve these issues.

Hope this helps to shed some light on the situation even if it does not rectify it.

Go Hokies!

Brad Wurthman
Senior Associate Athletics Director, External Operations