B1G and ESPN Reach Media Agreement
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/college-gridiron-365/os-e… .
ESPN is reportedly set to pay close to $200 million per year for the secondary media rights of the Big Ten Conference that according to Sports Business Journal.
All in all, the Big Ten's new television/media rights deals with ESPN, Fox and CBS Sports would pay the league a whopping $2.64 billion over the next six years. The new deal goes into effect next fall and it would nearly triple the average media rights payout.
According to sources in the report, ESPN will continue to carry Big Ten games on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, but the number of games on ESPNU will decrease.
ESPN, and ESPN 2!? I don't know how Joe Tessitore is going to be able to do this. That "centralized" studio idea where he calls all games on a delay off of monitors may have to in deed be implemented.
One of the only play by play guys they have left.
Start with Finebaum. Whatever their contribution to the SEC network is, they need to reduce it to afford the B1G.
He announced his retirement. Every baseball game or in-studio discussion I watch has former ESPN people. And they are people I liked watching. The ditsy "babes" and giggling guys they have on now really suck. Not much in the way of highlights - just social media like analysis of the players feelings. AND. Loud. Talking. Guys. With a microphone who contradict themselves Every. Other. DAY. Their Shtick is transparent.
Fuck Penn St.
can't have one without the other!
They are owned by Di$ney. I think it'll be covered.
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How are they gonna afford that?
By jacking up their subcription rates, leaving us all with higher and higher cable bills.
Right, and this will only continue to get worse.
They can't just arbitrarily raise their rates. Those are all negotiated with the various cable companies for multi-year deals. Much like their rights agreements with the leagues.
doesn't look like it - just a 10M/yr basketball deal for those sunday games Dec-Mar. that's up from 6M/yr for the previous contract
The difference between the two packages is that Fox Sports will carry the Big Ten football championship game every season, which is a strong draw each December. Fox also will have game selection advantages over ESPN, which almost certainly means that the coveted Michigan-Ohio State rivalry will move to Fox most years.
For Delany and the Big Ten, the deal is a clear win. Not only did the conference pick up a significant increase in a down market, but the relatively short length of the deal means the Big Ten will be the first major college conference to renegotiate a new deal in what it hopes will be a more robust marketplace.
Given the loss in cable/satellite subscribers that will continue over the course of this deal, I don't understand why a short deal is a positive, or how the marketplace will be more robust.
That being said, ESPN and/or Fox may have insisted on a shorter deal in order to offer $200-240 million/year, and it's worth taking the money while it's there.
Although subscriber revenue will be down, advertising revenue will continue to be there from college football fans, and the Big Ten likely feels comfortable that its product will continue to be attractive when the next deal is made.
Altogether, this is a great deal for the Big Ten - it takes advantage of Fox's willingness to pay up to expand their sports properties, and it ensures continued exposure and promotion on ESPN.
The short deal allows the B1G to re-negotiate before the other conferences' contracts expire. That may provide a window of opportunity to get the "next best deal."
I'd rather be able to negotiate afterwards. Just like with the recent apparel contract, right after Michigan got the "biggest in CFB" OSU and other schools were able to negotiate bigger deals. Let the SEC renegotiate first, then use that deal to get more.
They can make a definitive offer to Texas or UNC or whomever before they are locked into their next contract.
Also, this isn't like the apparel deals made in a rising market. There is no way to tell if the market will be up or down then, but it's different with just a few conferences. A couple of big deals early for the most desirable conferences, may leave less money for the others. If I'm the Big 12, for example, I don't like this one bit.
Yeah, there may not even be a Big Ten as we know it in 6 years.
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but the grant of rights clauses will keep schools from jumping from Big XII, ACC, etc until their TV contracts are nearly up. If we add someone, it will most likely be around the start of a new deal. A couple of big names would boost our bargaining position, so it would be nice to get the commitments before the new deals are finalized. Going first also should help up get first pick of expansion candidates.
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they'd just argue it was agreed to 'under duress,' or that not all members voted for it, that there was no time to jump ship before it went into effect etc
There do not appear to be any out clauses. Several years after the fact isn't the time to start raising objections.
texas conference last month was playing up its payout per team, but with this deal, they just fell way way behind
my bet's on oklahoma to bail first
They have the most reason to, taking in a fair amount less than Texas. I think the first to go may just be the team who gets the first offer, Texas to the Big Ten or OU to the SEC. I could see the Big Ten offering both as a package deal. The rest will be scrambling to join them or be relegated to Group of 6 status.
The more "cord cutters" the higher the demand for live events.
yeah, even the media empires don't know when the cord cutting will end, so it's short term until it stabilizes
Hopefully, if Fox Sports it's at least FS1 and not the regional Fox Sports channels. Although the local pro sports coverage can be good or great, college football games Fox has broadcast on the regional networks have been less than ideal in terms of production quality and announcing.
I thought I was the only one to think the fox programming was sub-par. I love Fox for Lions games, but it just seems like college football is an ABC/ESPN thing.
Maybe Fox will try the 1st row seats perspective for an entire game.
*ducks*
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Sucks when you are away from home and are somewhere that does not get or show FS1. Which is just about everywhere.
Everybody gets ESPN. Every restaurant / bar has ESPN on in the background on a Saturday.
When I'm forced to go to my local chinese restaurant on Saturday evening with the Family because "You've been watching that damn football all day", they have ESPN on the TV.
They are not going to even know what FS1 is.
Especially hotels. Been doing a fair amount of traveling lately and pretty much none of the hotels I've stayed at have FS1 as part of their normal cable channels. But they usually have 2-3 of the ESPN's.
FOX is still fighting a pretty solid uphill battle.
will become more and more the norm. It is their defense against cable cutters. The harder they make it for you to get the big games without a cable package, the less likely you are to cable cut.
If they leave the big games on the regular networks, you can pick up the broadcast on an OTA antenna, which often gives you even better picture quality than cable anyway.
i think the point of contention is
1) should the schools allow their games to be broadcast on channels where few students/alum can watch?
i mean what if some chinese channel wanted to dump $1 billion to broadcast all the road games this season? A lot of $ for a 'nonprofit,' a lot of angry fans
Does this mean we can take the band to the 2017 Florida game?
yes as soon as some rich alum coughs up $400k
All your money are belong to us!
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