FAYETTEVILLE — Saturday will be the only time this season that Arkansas does not have a basketball game broadcast either on TV or through an online streaming service.
The game against Mercer can only be heard on the Razorbacks' radio network. It will be the first time in more than two years that an Arkansas basketball game won't be broadcast in some visual capacity.
The reason for the omission is twofold.
First, the game will be played at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, away from infrastructure in-place to stream it online. Second, none of the SEC's TV affiliates - ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or SEC Network - opted to televise the game.
Prior to the advent of the SEC Network, schools had the latitude to sign independent TV contracts for home nonconference games in sports like basketball and baseball. The result was seven or eight nonconference games being shown either on local TV affiliates or a regional sports network (such as Cox Sports TV) each year.
Now only the home games selected by the SEC's affiliated networks can be shown on TV. All other games must be streamed through the SEC Network's digital companion, SEC Network+. The North Little Rock game is considered a neutral-site contest for Arkansas, but the Razorbacks are considered the home team for broadcasting purposes.
Like many SEC schools, Arkansas invested millions of dollars in new infrastructure when the SEC Network was launched last year. The Razorback Sports Network has headquarters inside Bud Walton Arena and the capability to live-stream any event on the university campus.
Such operations have been the backbone of SEC Network+. Through over-the-top apps like WatchESPN, RSN has been able to broadcast almost every Arkansas home sporting event from soccer to track since last August.
But RSN does not own a broadcast control truck, which limits its streaming capabilities to only on-campus events. Broadcasting the North Little Rock game against Southeast Missouri State last season wasn't an issue because the game was televised by SEC Network.
Arkansas baseball potentially faces the same problem when it plays its annual baseball game at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Not all basketball games are contractually required by the SEC to be broadcast. A spokesman said the SEC encourages broadcasts of all home basketball games, but the league is understanding of times when neutral-site locations or overlapping sport schedules make broadcasting a game impossible.