In the 1980s, Raycom Sports established a prominent joint venture with Jefferson-Pilot Communications which made them partners on the main Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) college basketball package.

[3] In its first year, it also acquired rights to basketball games from the Atlantic Coast Conference: some of them were syndicated to a newly launched cable sports channel, ESPN.

[2] In 1980, Raycom made what would prove to be its biggest splash when it teamed up with Jefferson-Pilot Communications to take over production of ACC basketball games.

[5] The January 14, 1973 game between NC State @ Maryland was the first Super Bowl Sunday college basketball national telecast.

Chelsey would again syndicate an ACC game (Maryland @ NC State) nationally on Super Bowl Sunday the following year.

[6] For the 1981–82 season, the two companies formed a joint venture, Raycom/JP Sports, that won the package after the ACC turned down Metrosports' bid to renew its contract.

Raycom sub-licensed ACC games to national broadcasters (including CBS, and ESPN), regional sports networks, and local stations.

However, with the rise of cable and regional sports networks, Raycom began to lose many of its college rights to competitors.

The new Raycom Entertainment division was led by Peter G. Lenz, who previously ran The Television Program Source.

The ACC's regional territory happened to include several fast-growing markets such as Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad, the Triangle, Hampton Roads, Richmond, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

[1] In 1994, Raycom first organized a pre-season event known as the Great Eight, televised by ESPN, which aimed to feature two nights of doubleheaders between regional finalists from the previous season's NCAA tournament (with the highest-ranked team eliminated before the regional finals serving as a backup if a team declined an invitation).

[8] The inaugural edition featured Boston College, Duke, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Purdue, Villanova, and UConn (which replaced Arkansas as a backup).

[10][11][12] By August 1997, Raycom lost the Pac-10 and Big 12 college football advertising sales rights to Fox Sports Networks.

[15] In 2008, Raycom lost its SEC rights to ESPN, who reached a 15-year deal to become its main media rightsholder alongside CBS.

The FCC approved the sale on December 20, 2018, and it was completed on January 2, 2019, making Raycom Sports a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gray.

[33][34][35] In July 2021, Raycom launched the streaming-only Origin Sports Network which rebroadcasts games featuring famous athletes.

[39] Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in the South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams, Lance Stewart, & Beverly Rumley) Sports Segment – "Skipper" (Alex Farmartino) Editor/Short Form – "ACC football open featuring Chris Daughtry" (Dave Barringer) Photography/Short Form – "ACC football open featuring Chris Daughtry" (Dave Barringer & Jeremy Williams) Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in the South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams, Lance Stewart & Beverly Rumley) Sports Segment – "Cameron Crazies" (Jeremy Williams) Editor/Short Form – "SEC football open featuring Rascal Flatts" (Dave Barringer.

Jeremy Williams, Chris Stevens) Director/Short Form – "SEC football open featuring Rascal Flatts" (Dave Barringer) Magazine Special – "ACC Road Trip" (Tommy Kane, Alex Farmartino, Jeremy Williams, Dave Barringer) Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in the South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams) Sports Segment – "Big Dawg" (Alex Farmartino) Magazine Special – "ACC Road Trip" (Tommy Kane, Alex Farmartino, Jeremy Williams) Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in the South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams & Chris Duzan) Sports Live Event Game – "ACC Basketball: Duke vs North Carolina" (Rob Reichley, Billy McCoy) Sports Program/Series – "Football Saturdays in the South" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams, Chris Duzan, Maxwell Brooke & Richard Brooke) Sports Live Event Game – "ACC Football: NC State vs North Carolina" (Rob Reichley, Roy Alfers) Sports Segment – "Rodney Rogers: The Durham Bull" (Jeremy Williams, Rob Reichley, Maxwell Brooke) Sports Live Event Game – "ACC Basketball: NC State vs North Carolina" (Dave Barringer, Billy McCoy) Documentary/Topical – "Head Impact Research in the ACC" (Alex Farmartino) Sports Segment – "Toomer's Corner: The Final Roll" (Richard Brooke) Sports Promo Spot – "Duke/North Carolina: Making of a Masterpiece" (Jeremy Williams, Boris Rogers, Josh Hairston, Richard Brooke) Documentary/Historical – "Charles Scott" (Jeremy Williams, Rob Reichley, David Daly, Maxwell Brooke, Richard Brooke) Sports Segment – "Brian Stann" (Dave Barringer) Sports Promo Spot – "Numbers of a Rivalry: Duke/North Carolina 2015 Tease" (Richard Brooke & Maxwell Brooke) Sports Live Event Game – "2016 ACC Tournament Championship" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Billy McCoy, Jeremy Williams, Chris Duzan, Jonathan Robbins, Josh Vinson) Documentary/Historical – "The Red Bandanna" (Alex Farmartino, Chris Duzan, Maxwell Brooke) Sports Segment – "Ever Faithful: The Resurrection of UAB Football" (Richard Brooke, Maxwell Brooke, Timothy Alexander, Jordan Smith, Kortney Cowart, Michael Shikany) Sports Live Event Game – "2017 ACC Tournament Championship" (Rob Reichley, Lonnie Dale, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jeremy Williams, Jonathan Robbins, Josh Vinson) Sports Segment – "James Conner – Conner Strong" (Alex Farmartino) Sports Live Event Game – "2018 ACC Tournament Championship" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Dave Barringer, Jonathan Robbins.

Josh Vinson, Jordan Smith) Documentary/Topical – "Ramah" (Alex Farmartino, Maxwell Brooke, Josh Vinson, Jonathan Robbins) Sports Segment – "Rory Coleman" (Josh Vinson) Sports Live Event Game – "2019 ACC Tournament" (Rob Reichley, Alex Farmartino, Lonnie Dale, Billy McCoy, Maxwell Brooke, Jordan Smith, Stone Hill) Sports Promo Spot – "Battle of the Blues" (Jordan Smith, Richard Brooke & Maxwell Brooke) Raycom was to have produced Team Racing Auto Circuit auto racing for ESPN in 2003; however, the league folded before ever actually staging any events.