ACC Inks A Reported $1.86 Billion, 12-Year Deal With ESPN

by Akula Wolf on May 17, 2010 1:22 PM EDT

The SportsBusiness Journal broke the story this morning:

ESPN won the TV rights to ACC football and basketball in a bidding competition with Fox Sports that was surprisingly close, industry sources say, and as a result made the conference several million more dollars.

The back-and-forth bidding, which reached its final stages last week at the league’s spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla., drove up ESPN’s rights fee from initial projections of about $120 million a year to $155 million, sources said, providing the ACC with more than double the revenue it was receiving from its previous football and basketball contracts.

[snip]

That annual figure of $155 million dwarfs the average of $67 million the league was getting from its previous media deals, which expire at the end of the 2010-11 season, but falls well short of the $205 million a year that the SEC gets from its new 15-year deals with CBS and ESPN.

Raycom Sports, a 30-year partner with the conference, is expected to continue running the syndicated package of football and basketball by sublicensing those games from ESPN.

It's not SEC money, but it does close the money gap between the two conferences considerably. The ACC's institutions will receive about $12 million per year under the new deal, up from the roughly $5 million/year they were getting under the old deal.

No details yet as to how this affects the number of ACC games that are televised, though Lee Fowler said last week that the new deal would put every football and basketball game "on some sort of TV."

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Very Good News

This will allow the ACC to become more competitive in football. Maybe NC State can afford that indorr practice facility they’ve been wanting for the past couple of years. It gives the ability to pay more for better, proven coaches and make stadium upgrades. Plus now the difference per school per year from the SEC is ~4mil. Not a lot when you are talking the grand scheme of things. Especially considering it will take a couple of mil to buy out your association with the conference. I doubt we’ll lose anyone to conference re-alignment, although I would like to swap BC for Syracuse even though BC is probably why we got such a huge increase in money (Boston is the 7th biggest market int he nation, syracuse is 81). either way why would Fla st and clemson leave the ACC for 4 mil more a year and instant mediocrity in the best conference in college football. No you stay in the ACC and try to dominate that league.

Steelers football is 60 mins.

by tannofsteel84 on May 17, 2010 2:37 PM EDT reply actions

What the ACC should do

is start their own TV network like the Big 10 and you have plenty of money to go around.

Steelers football is 60 mins.

by tannofsteel84 on May 17, 2010 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't see that as an option

Unless we’re packaged with the Pac10 I don’t see the ACC Network as a sell-able commodity. There is a tremendous difference between ACC fans and Big Ten fans. They’re loyal, they’re anything but fairweather and their cable/satellite providers know this. While the league has the inventory in terms of programming I just find it difficult to believe that the league would have the same subscriber load as the BTN. I could be wrong but I think it is just a subscriber gap and the demand would be interesting to see.

http://inthebleachers.net

by InTheBleachers on May 18, 2010 6:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Also

my impression is that Big 10 schools typically are much larger on average than ACC schools. In addition Big 10 schools tend to have less competition for non-alum fans than ACC schools. ACC shools have major competition for fans from the SEC and, to a lesser extent, the Big East. EVERYONE in Ohio loves OSU, EVERYONE in Michigan loves UM or MSU, EVERYONE in Indiana loves IU, and so on.

by PACKHOOLIGAN on May 18, 2010 9:40 AM EDT up reply actions

yeah, that's a big issue

The ACC shares too much footprint with the SEC.

Backing The Pack

by Akula Wolf on May 18, 2010 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions

either way why would Fla st and clemson leave the ACC for 4 mil more a year and instant mediocrity in the best conference in college football. No you stay in the ACC and try to dominate that league.

Yep. As Bud @ Tomahawk Nation said on twitter: “i’d rather be $5 Mil short and have an easier path to the NC”

Backing The Pack

by Akula Wolf on May 17, 2010 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions