Nationally-Televised Football Broadcast Highlights Allegheny College Community Day

MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny Gators open the 2012 home slate on Saturday, September 8, against regional rival Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to live local and national television coverage, the season opener will also serve as Community Day. Patrons will enjoy free admission as well as numerous giveaways and activities as part of a community-enhanced experience.

"The Meadville community has a long standing history of supporting Gator athletics," said Director of Athletics Portia Hoeg. "The Community Day home opener is our way of strengthening that relationship and welcoming the Crawford County area to the College through our athletics program. I encourage everyone from the young to the young at heart to come out to what is sure to be a big day of fun, give-a-ways, community outreach and Gator football!"

Through the generous sponsorship provided by PNC Bank, Allegheny will have at least one home football game televised live on Fox College Sports for the second consecutive year, while local cable coverage for the game will be available on the CW Network. Saturday's non-conference rivalry has also been picked up by ESPN3.

Numerous promotions are planned to augment the TV, radio, and online broadcasts. Activities before and during Saturday's game include:

- Face painting
- Games such as football toss, cornhole, and ring toss where patrons can win prizes
- Pre-game giveaways to include mini footballs, Frisbees, magnets, schedule cards, and Allegheny fall sports posters
- Special performance of the National Anthem by award-winning Lake Erie Sound
- Pizza giveaways to patrons with specially marked programs
- Halftime performance by the Meadville Area Senior High School (MASH) marching band
- Recognition of Meadville Area Little Gridders
- In-game giveaways to include t-shirts, gift cards, and more.
- Student and community raffles (i.e. iPad, flat-screen TV)

COOL 101.7 FM is set to broadcast the game beginning with its weekly pre-game show at 3 p.m., while www.GatorsTV.com will begin live coverage from Frank B. Fuhrer Field at 3:15 p.m.

For Armstrong Cable subscribers, the best place to catch the action outside of a seat at the stadium will be on the CW Network (channel 16). Fans with Dish Network will be able to view the game in high definition through Dish Network's multi-sport package by tuning in to Fox's Regional sports networks. A specific channel will not be assigned until 48 hours prior to the broadcast, but the channel range is 411-426. DIRECTV is similar (Fox Regional sports networks) with additional programming on channels 617 and 623.