PRESEASON PRIMER: FOOTBALL TEAM OPENS CAMP; INFO ON ESPN+, HOMECOMING, PRACTICE SCHEDULE

The Princeton football team began what it hopes will be a journey to the program's 12th Ivy League championship this morning with the first practice of its 2018 preseason. While the top-ranked recruiting class in all of FCS football made its debut in Orange and Black jerseys today, the practice also signaled the official return of guys like John Lovett, Kurt Holuba and Mark Fossati, all of whom missed either part or all of the 2017 season due to injury. Optimism remains high for the upcoming season, and head coach Bob Surace is excited to build the foundation of the team throughout the training camp. At the bottom of this release is the full preseason schedule. Here are several other notes to get you ready for the 2018 season.

ESPN+ The Ivy League entered a partnership with ESPN+ earlier this year, and nine of Princeton's 10 games this season (excluding Butler) will be featured on either ESPN+ or ESPNU (Columbia). Launched April 12, ESPN+ is a new direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service that has replaced the Ivy League Network. A monthly subscription to ESPN+ ($4.99/month or $49.99/year), which is more than 50% less expensive than the previous Ivy League Network subscription, will allow you to watch all Ivy League events streamed by the service, as well as all ESPN+ content, including select games from MLB, MLS, NHL, and more, in addition to all Ivy League ESPN+ programming. You can learn more about the service here. TELEVISION SCHEDULE Princeton is set to return to national television this fall when the Tigers head to Columbia on Friday, Sept. 28, for a 6 pm contest on ESPNU. Check back during the preseason for other potential announcements regarding local television coverage of the Tigers this fall. HOMECOMING/ALUMNI WEEKEND When the Ivy League altered the football schedule to set up regional rivalries in Week 10 — Princeton hosts Penn in the 2018 season finale — one of the results was that the location for Princeton's games against both Harvard and Cornell were flipped for this season. That impacted Princeton's Homecoming schedule, which had been the Harvard game on even years and the Yale game on odd years for decades. Since Princeton will be on the road for both games this fall, Homecoming/Alumni Weekend on campus will surround the Oct. 13 game against Brown.