The ACC's New TV Deal: Winners and Losers
by Brian Favat on May 18, 2010 7:37 AM EDT
in Boston College Football
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PrintWe've had a day to chew on the ACC's new TV deal with ESPN, a $1.86 billion deal over 12 years that will pay member schools approximately $12 million per year. Let's break down the winners and losers from the ACC's latest payday:
Winners:
- ESPN. Natch. The WWL adds the country's premiere basketball conference to its already sterling lineup of college sports programming. ESPN adds ACC basketball to their lineup of SEC football, Big Ten football, all but a few bowl games (including the BCS), and oh, by the way, were nearly paid to take the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament off CBS's hands a month ago.
- The ACC. Nearly doubled their last broadcast contract, which translates to an additional $7 million to each member school and $7 million to line the conference's coffers (the conference takes an equal 1/13 cut of the revenue). This deal also helps close the gap between the SEC/Big Ten and the ACC, lessening the chances that an ACC program will see $$$ and bolt to either the Big Ten or the SEC.
- Boston College. Think BC's athletics program couldn't use another $7 million to fund the 27 other non-revenue varsity programs? The Eagles have the most varsity programs in the ACC. That money will go a long way towards funding the fencing, rowing, swimming, sailing and tennis teams, among others. I think InTheBleachers said it best, non-revenue sports "need to eat."
- FOX Sports. And to a lesser extent, Raycom. Make no mistake about this deal. This isn't a renewal of the existing ACC TV broadcast rights deal. With this deal, ESPN owns the rights to all ACC football and basketball games. If FOX Sports wants to continue broadcasting their Sunday night hoops game, or Raycom wants to continue their regional ACC football game of the week, they'll now have to buy the rights from ESPN. It's expected that Raycom will continue to run their syndicated package of ACC football and basketball, but I think we'll see FOX Sports coverage of ACC hoops scaled back dramatically (if not completely).
- Fans without a Broadband Internet Connection. It remains unclear where ESPN3(60.com) plays in this new TV deal, but it's increasingly becoming a matter of shelf space for the WWL. With SEC and Big Ten football already on the slate of games to be televised, my guess is we'll see just as many ESPN3 games as we have in the past, if not more. We'll probably also see the return of a lot of Thursday night ACC games. But really, is that such a bad thing?
- 9pm Weeknight Crowds at Conte Forum. With ESPN now owning all the rights to broadcast ACC basketball, my guess is the WWL will start to have a much greater influence on the league's basketball schedule. I'll make the leap to say this can only mean more 9 PM weeknight tips for second-tier ACC basketball schools. We have our own set of attendance issues unrelated to start times. While this deal has its benefits in terms of basketball (hey, more basketball games broadcast on ESPN!), this also has the potential to kill midweek attendance for games not against Duke or North Carolina.
- Big 12, Pac 10 and Big East. Earlier, I mentioned a little thing called shelf space. With ESPN already gobbling up the SEC, ACC and Big Ten, it's unclear just how much inventory will be left for the Big 12, the Pac 10 and the Big East (if it's even still around) on the WWL. The Big 12 and the Pac 10 are the next two conferences who are next in line to renegotiate their media rights contracts, with both contracts expiring in 2012. Short of getting 1 or 2 channels closer to realizing the dream that is the Ocho, there will be precious little programming time left for the three remaining BCS conferences. Unless the Big 12 and Pac 10 partner to create their own television network a la the Big Ten network, ESPN might not even come to the bidding table in two years. Now this could also pave the way for someone like FOX Sports or Comcast/NBC Universal to buy up the rights for these conferences. But without a second major player at the table, there might not be anyone to bid up the contract like FOX did for ESPN's ACC deal which literally translates to less $ for the remaining three BCS conferences.
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IMO thursday night games are a two-edged sword.
Bad for winning with often short turn around time, and good for exposure (but this only applies to lesser teams). I think the ACC, at least compared to the SEC is chalked full of schools who benefit from Thurs. night games. Those schools should be okay with this.
As a Seminole fan, I don’t like it.
Giddy-up!
Also, bad for the surrounding communities logistically, but awesome for current students.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
Yeah that's another downer...Tallahassee is not big enough to self-support the Noles.
It’s half-way a commuter fan base.
Giddy-up!
Chestnut Hill is big enough. It’s just that the neighbors go to sleep early on Thursday nights, or something.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
The real biggest loser: South Florida. This whole thing is going to see them back in CUSA because they’re going to have a hell of a time convincing the ACC and SEC to take them on after the Big East disintegrates.
by MaizeAndBlueWahoo on May 18, 2010 7:38 PM EDT reply actions
And, to a lesser extent, Cincinnati and Louisville.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
There’s room for one of them in the SEC if the SEC goes the route of picking up the Big East’s scraps – highly possible, IMO, because they can offer take-it-or-leave-it deals as opposed to having to make a school like FSU a full partner. I think that one would be Louisville over Cincy.
by MaizeAndBlueWahoo on May 18, 2010 8:58 PM EDT up reply actions
Interesting point.
Obviously you have the whole Louisville-Kentucky thing going for the ‘Ville over Cincinnati. And the SEC clearly doesn’t care about academics. But both the Ville and Cincy wouldn’t come close to adding an extra $17 mil on the existing TV deal.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
No, they definitely wouldn’t. But I’m not sure they’d have to. I think if the Big East falls apart, Louisville and Cincy will be left with the following options:
- Reconstitute the Big East by raiding C-USA and the MAC (Temple, mainly) and try and cling desperately to BCS status, which may or may not remain.
- Make a go of it as independents.
- Accept a return to C-USA.
- Convince the SEC to accept them as third-class citizens.
And since they’d be bidding against each other in the latter case, the SEC could get a really good deal out of it.
by MaizeAndBlueWahoo on May 19, 2010 9:23 AM EDT up reply actions
Of the options you laid out, I think the only viable ones are 1) Big East and 3) Conference USA. It would be virtually impossible to move to being Independent since the BCS qualifying rules wouldn’t have you in consideration, and you’d have to spend the extra cash to schedule a full season of games. At that point, it would almost be better just to go back to C-USA.
I just don’t think the SEC would be interested in adding them, even as third-class citizens. They have to protect the quality of their football program, and I’m guessing you’d get significant push back from UK (but so what?) and UF.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
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