On July 19, 2019, Stony Brook Director of Athletics, Shawn Heilbron, cryptically tweeted about an important partnership that was secured for Stony Brook Athletics. A little over a month later, on Aug. 29, the university announced a new linear television deal with SportsNet New York (SNY), best known for being the main broadcast network of its primary owners: the New York Mets.
Under the current partnership, SNY will broadcast five home Stony Brook football games as well as the season opener for men’s basketball, with the opportunity to add even more games as the season progresses. The partnership is a monumental achievement for a program on the rise, trying to establish itself as “Long Island’s Team.”
“I’m beyond elated to announce this transformative partnership between Stony Brook Athletics and SNY,” Heilbron said in a press release. “Elevating and expanding our brand is extremely important, and this partnership helps to enhance those efforts in so many ways. Stony Brook is a dynamic institution with an unlimited trajectory. Distributing our games through SNY presents a powerful opportunity for us to promote the University and our successful teams to a larger audience.”
The first Seawolves football game to be broadcast on SNY will be Saturday, Sep. 14’s bout with the Wagner Seahawks. Homecoming on Oct. 5 versus the James Madison Dukes is also scheduled for the network, as well as Oct. 12 against the New Hampshire Wildcats, Nov. 9’s match with the Towson Tigers, and lastly the annual Empire Clash against in-state adversaries the Albany Great Danes on Nov. 23. As of now, the only men’s basketball game on the schedule is Nov. 5’s season opener against the Yale Bulldogs.
The deal was brokered by the Collegiate Sports Marketing Group and comes during a year where the university is celebrating its 20th year of Division I athletics. SNY is available in approximately eight million households across the New York metropolitan region and 11 million households nationwide. It has previously notched deals with other universities in the tri-state area including Rutgers and UConn. Last season, SNY aired Stony Brook’s Oct. 27 game at James Madison as a one-off.
“With college football season just underway, we are excited to team up with Stony Brook University and bring Division I Seawolves football to SNY,” SNY president Steve Raab said. “As the home of New York Sports, adding an emerging program like Stony Brook to our programming line-up is a win for us and for our viewers across the tri-state.”
As the Seawolves prepare for another successful year coming off 2018-19’s historic Commissioner’s Cup-winning season, they will have another audience to witness their accomplishments live.
