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mattsarz

SEC ready to re-sign with ESPN

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I'm lifting this from a reputable poster on another board, who lifted this from Sports Business Journal. Their site is subscription based, so he posted the key points.

ESPN pays $2.25B for SEC rights

Highlights from the article include:

-As expected, there will be no SEC Network.

-Raycom will no longer syndicate SEC games.

-ESPN will receive all rights not sold to CBS.

-ESPNU and ESPN+ syndication will receive major rights.

-ESPNU expected to announce a carriage deal with Comcast "in the coming weeks" which would place ESPNU's distribution at approximately 40 million (comparable to the Big Ten Network).

-ESPN will televise the SEC basketball championship.

-Deal is for a 15 year term with a payout at approximately $2.25 billion.

-Payout per school expected to be slightly less than the Big Ten's television deals.

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-As expected, there will be no SEC Network.

-Raycom will no longer syndicate SEC games.

-ESPN will receive all rights not sold to CBS.

-ESPNU and ESPN+ syndication will receive major rights.

Wow. I wasn't expecting this. I suppose the SEC didn't want to give up a local syndicated game on free TV. I suspect that the ESPN+ broadcasts will result in the Big East game of the week having to compete with the SEC game of the week.

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Wow. I wasn't expecting this. I suppose the SEC didn't want to give up a local syndicated game on free TV. I suspect that the ESPN+ broadcasts will result in the Big East game of the week having to compete with the SEC game of the week.

I wasn't expecting Raycom to get completely cut out. The recent regional deals for football replays and non-conference basketball that Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida signed were signals that the SEC Network idea was losing steam. Cincinnati, WV, Kentucky and Florida get the Raycom games now and I presume they will pick up the ESPN+ games. The Big East has done well getting their game onto large cable entities like Altitude Sports, MASN, etc. Those are the entities I would be worried about losing if I were the Big East. With the Big Ten leaving the ESPN+ fold, the Big East was the crown jewel of ESPN Syndication. With the SEC there, they'll lose that distinction in football. They'll still be ahead of the SEC and Big 12 in the men's basketball area.

I think it will also depend on how far the SEC decides they want to reach out and distribute these games.

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I'm lifting this from a reputable poster on another board, who lifted this from Sports Business Journal. Their site is subscription based, so he posted the key points.

ESPN pays $2.25B for SEC rights

Highlights from the article include:

-As expected, there will be no SEC Network.

-Raycom will no longer syndicate SEC games.

-ESPN will receive all rights not sold to CBS.

-ESPNU and ESPN+ syndication will receive major rights.

-ESPNU expected to announce a carriage deal with Comcast "in the coming weeks" which would place ESPNU's distribution at approximately 40 million (comparable to the Big Ten Network).

-ESPN will televise the SEC basketball championship.

-Deal is for a 15 year term with a payout at approximately $2.25 billion.

-Payout per school expected to be slightly less than the Big Ten's television deals.

ESPN U may become the SEC network LOL. They need the content

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ESPN U may become the SEC network LOL. They need the content

Actually they don't need the content. They show football from the ACC & Big East on Saturdays, sometimes mixing in the Sun Belt or MAC, along with MAC and I-AA games on weeknights. For basketball they have a load of ACC, Big 12 & Big East games they already show in addition to the MAAC, MEAC, SWAC, MVC, Horizon League, A-10 and WCC.

Something is bound to get cut and its probably going to be one of the little guys.

PS - A while back, the WAC supposedly was close to a new deal to put games on ESPNU. I assume that deal will now be to place some games on weeknights on ESPNU.

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SEC used the threat of their own network well. They have two major networks paying them, one for whatever it can get.

That's power. Happy for their fans, even though their administrators are crooks. Hogs get fat.

Go Cougars

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The good news is that we won't get bumped from CBS-CS, but the bad news is that the SEC would have obviously been a good bell cow to increase distribution of that network. CBS-CS has to get the rights of one of the big 6 conference to jump on board, although it is a chicken and the egg thing- you need the distribution first to attract those leagues.

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Matt, what effect do you think this will have on CBS-CS? Seems like they were putting the eggs into the SEC basket with all of their SEC centered programming (SEC replays seemed like they were on all summer, and they really promoted that SEC tailgate stuff during the year). Undoubtedly, they went after some of this programming, but were shut out. Where does CBS-CS go from here? I hate to embrace a BCSocentric view, but I think strategically they need one of the AQ conferences to increase distribution.

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Matt,

Looking at your post from the Big East board, it looks like ESPNU will be forcing out the MAC from Saturdays and won't have a spot open for anything in the WAC that is not on the islands. Is that what you're seeing too? Basically, this is the final nail in the coffin of the idea of ANY non-BCS conference games being on an ESPN network on a Saturday. If CUSA, MAC, Sun Belt, or WAC want to play a conference game on an ESPN network including ESPNU, they will have to do so on Sun, Tues, Wed, or Fri.

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Matt,

Looking at your post from the Big East board, it looks like ESPNU will be forcing out the MAC from Saturdays and won't have a spot open for anything in the WAC that is not on the islands. Is that what you're seeing too? Basically, this is the final nail in the coffin of the idea of ANY non-BCS conference games being on an ESPN network on a Saturday. If CUSA, MAC, Sun Belt, or WAC want to play a conference game on an ESPN network including ESPNU, they will have to do so on Sun, Tues, Wed, or Fri.

The MAC currently has very limited distribution on ESPNU on Saturdays. This year, they only have three games, all vs. BCS opponents the first two weeks of the season:

8/30 Boston College vs. Kent State

9/6 UConn vs. Temple

9/6 Minnesota vs. Bowling Green

A potentially bigger blow to the MAC is the ESPN+ syndication rights. The last two years, the MAC has filled a void left by the Big Ten during the 12:00 ET slot and actually has decent syndication coverage across the Midwest. Next year, it will be interesting to see if ESPN+ renews with the MAC and if so, whether the stations in the Midwest will choose the SEC or the MAC (not that it will matter much as there will likely be 3-6 Big Ten games on at that time among ESPN, ESPN2 and the BTN feeds).

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