SEC / ESPN Deal
I just saw that the SEC inked a 15-year, $2 BILLION deal with ESPN. Quoting the USA Today article:
ESPN will have rights to every SEC home football game not on the network package and all league matchups will be shown on some outlet, including at least 20 a year on ESPN or ESPN2. That includes two primetime Thursday night matchups and Saturday night games.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2008-08-25-4023556519_x…
No wonder they scrapped the idea of an SEC network.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:33 AM ^
August 26th, 2008 at 10:13 AM ^
August 26th, 2008 at 10:20 AM ^
CBS has a deal with the SEC. I don't think that will change. This seems to be more about the secondary games. The same article has the followin quot:
ESPN will have rights to every SEC home football game not on the network package and all league matchups will be shown on some outlet, including at least 20 a year on ESPN or ESPN2. That includes two primetime Thursday night matchups and Saturday night games.
I assume that the network package is CBS. Both the ESPN and CBS contracts run for the same term (15 years starting in 2009).
August 26th, 2008 at 10:42 AM ^
This is annoyingly smart by the SEC. Having the major sports media outlet for the country pitching your product is much better than having your own network. Just look at what sportscenter does for games on ABC and ESPN. These games are always lead stories and have build up stories the week before. Now ESPN has a financial stake is promoting the myths of SEC dominance.
That is the problem with Big Ten network. It is better for the fans due to more access, but it is bad for the league because the coverage is so localized.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:29 AM ^