MORGANTOWN — The run made by the WVU men’s basketball team through the Big 12 this season will basically be a plus.
As in you’ll need to subscribe to ESPN+, the online streaming service that comes at a monthly cost, to view most of the Mountaineers’ regular-season games.
The conference released its 2023-24 schedule Tuesday, including times and TV slots. The bottom line for WVU: 11 of its 18 Big 12 games will only be streamed on ESPN+, rather than televised.
WVU’S 2023-24 SCHEDULE/TV/TIMES
That includes the first nine, which constitutes the first half of the conference schedule, and WVU’s 10th league game — at Texas on Feb. 10 — will be televised by the Longhorn Network, which also needs a subscription through one’s TV provider.
WVU’s 11th Big 12 game — at TCU on Feb. 12 — is also on ESPN+, meaning the Mountaineers don’t play a nationally televised conference game until Baylor visits on Feb. 17.
Including the non-conference schedule, WVU plays an additional seven games on ESPN+, meaning 18 of the team’s 31 games (58%) will only be found on the streaming service, while 12 will be nationally televised.
The flip side to WVU’s TV schedule is it starts no Big 12 weekday road game later than 8 p.m., giving the team a better opportunity to return to Morgantown at a decent time.
In the past, the Mountaineers have played several 9 p.m. weekday road games, sometimes not returning to Morgantown until 5 or 6 a.m. the following day.
WVU head coach Josh Eilert shared his views of the schedule, presenting a give-and-take with less games being televised.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the times,” Eilert began. “As a coach, especially with being an outlier geographically in a conference, you think about getting home at a decent time and can you get the rest you need?
“The best time slots are going to be the ESPN+ games and the worst time slots are going to be the national TV games. It’s going to be a give-and-take and a pick-your-poison on what you want. Do you want to be on national TV or do you want to get that rest?”
The expansion of the Big 12 this season in adding BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF also adds to the TV dilemma, Eilert said.
“There’s four more schools, so there’s a lot less time slots,” he said. “Nationally, we’re probably going to be on ESPN+ a lot more than we have in the past. Every school will have to be. It’s just the nature of where it’s going.”
The second half of WVU’s Big 12 schedule does feature six of the nine games that will be televised by either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
The Mountaineers begin the season by hosting a charity exhibition game on Oct. 27 against George Mason. That game, too, will only be streamed on ESPN+.
TWEET @DomPostSports
