June 21, 2004
The University of New Mexico and Albuquerque television stations KRQE-TV and UPN 50/WB 19 have agreed on a one-year deal to televise Lobo sports UNM director of athletics Rudy Davalos announced today. The stations will televise selected football and men’s and women’s basketball games, and coaches’ shows during the 2004-05 season.
This is the 14th straight year that KRQE will air Lobo sports programming, dating to 1991-92. UPN 50/WB 19, also called New Mexico’s WB, joins the mix for the first time and will televise games when KRQE has a conflict with network scheduling. UPN 50/WB 19 has also committed to televise at least two women’s basketball games during the upcoming season.
“We are very pleased to continue the great relationship we have with KRQE-TV,” said Davalos. “It’s been a very succesul run for Lobo athletics and for our CBS affiliate in the state of New Mexico. Now we add UPN and Warner Brothers, which will expand our coverage and include exposure for our women’s basketball program. It also allows our coaches shows to be seen at an earlier time. We look forward to a very successful season with our local television partners.”
The specific games available to KRQE and UPN 50/WB 19 will not be known until a later date. The stations’ inventory – per the current Mountain West Conference contract – are those games not chosen by ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN+Plus. SportsWest, a regional sports network based out of Salt Lake City, then has the next choice of games followed by KRQE. As in the past five seasons, Lobo games produced by ESPN+Plus and SportsWest will be shown on KRQE.
“This is the way televised sports in New Mexico is done these days,” said Bill Anderson, general manager and vice-president of KRQE. “It’s kind of an unusual collaboration with UPN, although the arrangement allows us to enhance the schedule and carry more games in a predictable manner and in improved time periods. We should be able to eliminate the delayed telecasts. As important as anything is that we are able to support the University of New Mexico and Lobo athletics to the fullest extent of our abilities. Lobo sponsors on the network will receive greater value and exposure through this arrangement. We’re excited about televising Lobo athletics for another year.”
The 30-minute coaches’ shows for Rocky Long, Ritchie McKay and Don Flanagan, and athletics director Rudy Davalos will now air on UPN 50/WB 19 early Sunday evenings, probably between 5 and 7 p.m.
“This is an historic day for our company, to be part of the Lobos and join up with KRQE,” said John Greenwood, vice-president and general manager of UPN 50/WB 19. “This will allow some synergy between our collective businesses to bring a heightened awareness to the Lobo program. It’s a culmination of our hard work for the past five or six years. It brought us to this point. We promise not to disappoint the viewers who feel so strongly about the Lobos.”