Stadium College Sports (formerly Fox College Sports) is a group of three American sports networks. Owned by

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

and

Entertainment Studios Entertainment Studios, Inc., also known as Allen Media Group, is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved in the production and d ...

(under the joint venture

Diamond Sports Group Diamond Sports Group LLC is an American media and entertainment company operating as a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, and partnered with Entertainment Studios. The company operates Bally Sports, a group of regional sports channels which ...

), the three channels air

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

and

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

sporting events and programming. The channel is divided into three feeds—Atlantic, Central, and Pacific. Despite their names, the feeds no longer correspond to specific regions. Programming is drawn from the

Bally Sports The Bally Sports Regional Networks are a group of regional sports networks in the United States owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint-venture company of the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios. The naming rights to the network we ...

regional sports network In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region. ...

s and

Stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

History

The three networks were originally launched in June 2001 as Fox Sports Digital Networks as a complement to

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

for digital cable subscribers since they did not have access to out-of-market

s that were available on

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

. The majority of the programming presented on the networks originated from the various Fox Sports regional networks and affiliates. The networks focused on college sports, but also had out-of-market

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

games (which would be phased out after the first few years). In 2004, the networks were relaunched as Fox College Sports to emphasize their college sports programming. On June 18, 2021, more than a year after the networks sold to Sinclair after having been sold to Disney as part of the 21st Century Fox purchase, and the rebranding of the FSN networks as

in late-March of that year, the channels were quietly rebranded as Stadium College Sports, taking their name from Sinclair and Silver Chalice's national sports channel

. In August 2021, Verizon Fios became the first major provider to provide the networks in high-definition. On December 31, 2021, YouTubeTV announced that the three channels would be removed from their Sports Plus tier on January 1, 2022.

Programming

The channels are divided into three geographical areas, which are Stadium College Sports Atlantic (formerly FCS Atlantic), Stadium College Sports Central (formerly FCS Central), and Stadium College Sports Pacific (formerly FCS Pacific). In addition to the events, the network features weekly coach's shows for various universities, programs from the various

conferences A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main pu ...

and schools that highlight their athletes, and the regional sports reports from

and other regional sports channels not within the Bally Sports system. Also featured are high school basketball and football games and some state championships for these sports. Major events include: *

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

Hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

* Men's & women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

* Women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

Track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Paintball Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy ai ...

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

The three Stadium College Sports channels generally air simulcast and live games produced by the

networks or by Stadium through the digital only WCC Network and Mountain West Network.

Former Programming

Previously, each network sourced its programming from the various Fox Sports Networks as follows: *FCS Atlantic: Shows

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

, East Coast Athletic Conference,

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

and

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

content from

Root Sports Pittsburgh AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh is an American regional sports network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit as part of the AT&T SportsNet brand of networks and is an affiliate of Bally Sports. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the chan ...

Fox Sports South Bally Sports South (BSSO) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports Networks. The network carries regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events from across ...

Fox Sports Carolinas Fox Sports Carolinas (FSCAR) was an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. The channel was ...

, Fox Sports Tennessee,

Fox Sports Southeast Bally Sports Southeast (BSSE) (originally named SportSouth from its inception until October 4, 2015, and Fox Sports Southeast (FSSE) until March 31, 2021) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture betw ...

, Fox Sports Florida, Sun Sports, and MSG Plus. *FCS Central: Shows Big 12 Conference and Mid-American Conference content from Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports North, Fox Sports Wisconsin, Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox Sports Indiana, and Fox Sports Ohio *FCS Pacific: Shows Big 12 Conference and Pac-12 Conference content from Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports West, Bally Sports SoCal, Prime Ticket, Root Sports Rocky Mountain, Root Sports Utah, and Root Sports Northwest. *Pac-12 Conference football and basketball *''FCS Final Score'', a news program similar to FSN's former program ''Final Score (U.S. TV program), Final Score'', also aired on this network at the top of the hour; it has since been cancelled. *The National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship *Exclusive Home to The Paradise Jam Tournament from the Virgin Islands *The FCS Tailgate Tour *The NSSA College Surfing Championships *The South Padre Invitational *International University Sports Federation, FISU International Collegiate Olympic Games every 2 years - both Winter and Summer. FCS was the exclusive domestic television carrier for these events.

References

{{Sports television in the United States English-language television stations in the United States Fox Sports Networks Television channels and stations established in 2001 College sports television networks 2001 establishments in the United States Bally Sports Sinclair Broadcast Group