ESPN And ACC Extend TV Rights Agreement Through 2026-27

The ACC gets paid.

ESPN and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) have announced an extension to their exclusive agreement through 2026-27 which will now feature several new elements designed to bring added value to ESPN and ACC fans, including more title sponsorship rights, more men's regular-season and conference tournament basketball games, more conference football games, and dozens more Olympic sports competitions. The deal will provide premier content to numerous ESPN multimedia platforms, including ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, WatchESPN.com, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FULL COURT, ESPN Buzzer Beater/Goal Line, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic and ESPN.com.

The deal reportedly works out to 15 years for $3.6 billion. After the conference takes an equal 1/15 cut of the contract, that works out to $16 million / program / year.

As part of the deal, ESPN gets 30 more conference men's basketball games per year with the move to an 18-game conference schedule and two more conference tournament games. In football, 14 more conference-controlled games will be televised each year.

Other interesting tidbits:

Per the extension, ESPN has the right to televise three Friday ACC football contests annually which will include a standing commitment from Boston College and Syracuse to each host one game as well as an afternoon or evening game on Thanksgiving Friday.

Friday night college football is back, with a commitment from BC to host at least one home football game on Friday. Interesting.

Also, more women's basketball and dozens more Olympic sports competitions will be covered on ESPN platforms representing the conference's 25, soon to be 26, sponsored sports.

Soon to be 26?