Not that there’s a shortage of SEC sports programming on television now, but more could be on the way. The league is seriously exploring launching its own network.
Georgia president Michael Adams is in favor of the idea and, in fact, thinks an SEC network might be past due.
“We’re strong enough in the marketplace that I have long advocated for an arrangement [in which] we look for a media partner where we would own at least 51 percent of the deal and create a network,” Adams said. “I raised that issue when we did the last TV deal [in 2008], but I was a minority view at the time.”
Based on the buzz at last week’s SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., Adams might no longer be in the minority. No decisions have been made, but the possibility of an SEC cable network by 2014 is on the table in the ongoing renegotiation of the league’s TV contracts with CBS and ESPN.
The SEC’s interest has been heightened by the success of the four-year-old Big Ten network (BTN) and the upcoming launch of a Pac-12 network.
“We [the SEC] sort of broke ground on major media contracts, and I think the others have followed along and actually moved the ball a little bit further,” Florida president Bernie Machen said.
Machen said the public “would like to see more of our conference,” and he expressed enthusiasm about a possible network “based upon the reception we’ve had to all of our media so far and the interest of the media outlets in more.”
While the SEC chose four years ago to sign then-landmark deals with CBS and ESPN — and not to start a network — the Big Ten launched a network in a joint venture with Fox Sports.
The Big Ten network carried more than 600 live events this school year and has more than 50 million subscribers across the nation, BTN president Mark Silverman said this week.
“We actually have more subscribers outside the nine Big Ten states than inside the nine Big Ten states,” Silverman said. “So it is truly a national network by all means and definition.”
The network reportedly produces about $8 million per year for each of the conference’s schools and continues to grow.
Silverman said BTN2Go, which simulcasts BTN programming for viewing on computers, phones and other mobile devices, has more than 30 million subscribers and plans to expand internationally this year.
The SEC’s contracts with CBS and ESPN run through the 2023-24 school year. But the league’s addition of Texas A&M and Missouri provided a window to renegotiate financial terms with those networks — and to revisit the concept of an SEC network in the context of the league’s expanded footprint.
“Certainly, it’s a viable option and something we want to consider,” South Carolina president Harris Pastides said. He noted a network could benefit the SEC schools financially and could provide popular programming for viewers, but he raised a potential peril.
“Overexposure, maybe,” Pastides said. “I don’t think any of us would claim that our universities aren’t seen enough now.”
An SEC network would not carry the league’s top-tier football and basketball games, which would remain on CBS and ESPN. But lower-profile matchups in those sports, as well as a multitude of live events in other sports, historical events from the league’s archives and auxiliary programming such as studio shows, could provide ample inventory for a 24/7 network.
Adams said he would favor an arrangement where a sports media partner “can do the technical work and let us provide the product. There’s both, I think, more money and more editorial control if you do those things.”
ESPN would be the presumptive partner if a network is started in the foreseeable future because it controls rights to most of the league’s football and basketball content for another 12 years.
Not every league finds the idea of its own network alluring. The ACC recently completed a renegotiation of its ESPN contract without going there.
ACC commissioner John Swofford said earlier this year that the conference “didn’t feel the investment required in setting up a network at this point in time was the right thing to do for our particular league.”
“Conferences view that differently,” Swofford said.
While the SEC’s presidents and athletic directors buzz about a network, SEC commissioner Mike Slive is closely guarding details of what is reportedly dubbed “Project X” within the league office.
“Project X, along with Project Y and Project Z, are the kinds of things we are talking with our television partners about,” Slive said with a laugh. “It’s not necessarily an exclusive discussion, but it’s certainly one of the models that we are analyzing very carefully as we move ahead to see what is the best way for us to go down the road.”
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