The Columbus Crew and SportsTime Ohio announced today that the regional television broadcast of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the Crew and Colorado Rapids being produced and aired by ONN on Saturday, Nov. 6, will also be carried live in high definition by SportsTime Ohio. Time Warner Cable will also carry the HD production in Columbus on Channel 1311, as it has for home games throughout the season.
The match kicks off at 4 p.m. from Crew Stadium with Dwight Burgess and Bill McDermott calling all the action. Conference Semifinal series are conducted in a home-and-home, aggregate-goal format. The team that scores the most goals in the home-and-home series advances to the single-elimination Conference Championship.
“We are thrilled to partner with SportsTime Ohio to provide broader distribution of next Saturday’s match in high definition,” said Crew President & General Manager Mark McCullers. “Time Warner Cable customers in the Columbus area already know what an exceptional viewing experience our matches are in HD, and we’re excited that more fans across the state will be able to share in that experience.”
The first game of the Crew-Rapids series was played on Thursday (Oct. 28) night in Denver. Colorado came away with a 1-0 victory and the teams now prepare for the decisive second leg match at Crew Stadium on Nov. 6.
If the teams are tied after 180 minutes in the Conference Semifinal series, a 30-minute extra time period (divided into two 15-minute periods) would be played followed by kicks from the penalty mark, if necessary. Should the Black & Gold advance to the Eastern Conference Championship as the higher remaining seed, it would host that single-elimination match between Nov. 11-14.
“We’re pleased to have another professional sports team and championship organization televised on STO,” said SportsTime Ohio’s VP of Programming/ Executive Producer Pat Kilkenney. “Having the Crew on our network strengthens our brand and commitment to provide the best sports programming to our viewers state wide.”
Individual tickets, as well as two-game packages, are available at the Crew Stadium Box Office and all central Ohio Ticketmaster retail locations, via Ticketmaster phone at 800-745-3000 and on-line at TheCrew.com and Ticketmaster.com.
This is the third consecutive trip to the playoffs for the Black & Gold, who won the MLS Cup in 2008 then fell to eventual champion Real Salt Lake in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last year.
The Rapids finished fifth in the Western Conference with a record of 12-8-10. Colorado enters the playoffs for the first time since 2006 when it lost 3-1 on aggregate to eventual MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo in the Conference finals.
The Rapids and the Crew have never met in postseason action and Colorado holds the all-time regular-season advantage over the Black & Gold with a record of 15-10-8. The two teams split the series this year with the Rapids taking the first match at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park 1-0 on June 5 and the Crew defeating the Rapids at Crew Stadium 3-1 on Aug. 17.
COLORADO RAPIDS at COLUMBUS CREW
Eastern Conference Semifinals – Second Leg
Saturday, Nov. 6 – 4 p.m. – Crew Stadium
Regional Television: ONN and Sports Time Ohio
About the Crew
Founded by American sports pioneer Lamar Hunt, the Columbus Crew is Ohio's Major League Soccer club, anchoring a diverse sports and entertainment enterprise. One of the league's Charter Members, it won its first MLS Cup championship in 2008 and has also won the 2002 U.S. Open Cup and MLS Supporters’ Shield titles in 2004, 2008 and 2009. It is currently in its 15th season overall and 12th in first-of-its-kind Columbus Crew Stadium.
About SportsTime Ohio
SportsTime Ohio is a Northern Ohio regional sports network reaching 2.8 million homes and designed to offer a variety of sports programming produced for the Ohio sports fan. STO’s initial venture was the largest television package in Cleveland Indians team history. STO offers 150 Indians games annually with ALL games in HD. Beginning July 1, 2007 STO became the official cable home of the Cleveland Browns offering Browns fans 52 weeks of Browns coverage. STO is also the television home of the OHSAA football and basketball playoffs and championships and the official cable partner of the Mid-American Conference. Additional programming is geared specifically toward Ohio-area sports fans and the passion that makes the region the greatest sports community.
About ONN
ONN is Ohio’s Channel for news, weather, sports and lifestyles programming. ONN is a member of the Dispatch Broadcast Group, which includes WBNS-TV, WBNS-AM/FM, Ohio News Network and Radio Sound Network in Columbus, Ohio; WTHR-TV and SkyTrak Weather Network in Indianapolis, Indiana. ONN is available in 84 of Ohio’s 88 counties on these cable systems: Time Warner, Armstrong, Insight, WOW!, Suddenlink, Medina Cable Access, New Knoxville Cable and AT&T U-verse.
