Last summer the world of college football nearly collapsed and reformed into super-conferences because of the disparity in conferences’ TV revenue. Some major TV contract negotiations are shaping the world of college football now as different conferences seek new TV deals to maximize their revenue and pay for money-gushing athletic departments.
Here is a comparison of the TV deals the Big-Six BCS conferences have or are negotiating.
Currently the SEC, and the Big 10 – which now has 12 teams – sit atop the perch as the highest paid conferences in TV revenue. The Pac 12 will join them right at the top when it finishes up its new TV deal this spring or summer. The Big 12 stands next in line, about 25 percent per school behind the Big 10 and SEC. But the Big 12 features an uneven revenue sharing plan, so some of its teams will stand at the top of the mountain and make bank, while some of its other teams will lag behind. The ACC trails the Big 12 by about $2 million per school on average and the Big East is negotiating a new deal but lies at the bottom of the heap.
Big East
The Big East’s current TV deal ends in 2012 and was worth $200M. Versus and Turner have interest in Big East games, and estimates range from 110 – 130 mil/year for the rights to the conference’s basketball and football games combined. The Big East houses nine FBS football schools and 17 D1 basketball schools right now, probably adding another football school to get to 10 (likely UCF). Details of how the conference splits revenue between football and basketball schools are not factually known. But, some analysts believe it splits revenue 60% for all of the schools – 17 ways – and 40% for the nine football schools (not counting UCF). Assuming the Big East will get $130 million dollars per year, the basketball schools would get about $4.59 million/ year and the football schools would bring in about $10.34 million/year.
SEC:
In 2009, the SEC signed 15-year deals with ESPN and CBS that will expire in 2024. ESPN pays $2.25 billion and CBS forks over $825 million to the SEC for broadcast rights. The deals include full rights to all SEC sports, meaning the SEC will not follow the Big Ten model and put together its own network. Totaling all the payments, each school earns about $21.5 million per year.
Big Ten
The Big Ten has a deal with Fox for $2.8 billion and 25 years to broadcast the Big Ten Network, full of programming around the clock. The Big Ten earned $1 billion for a 10 year deal with ABC/ESPN that runs through 2016 and has another $20 million 10 year deal with CBS for its men’s. Last June, the Big Ten announced it would add Nebraska to create a championship game that would bring the conference between $15 – $20 million more. The total comes to about $21 million for each of its 12 schools per year.
ACC
The ACC signed a contract with ESPN for $155 million per year for 12 years, with a $30 million sub-lease for Raycom Sports – a company based in Alabama that already broadcasts ACC sporting events. The ACC will bring home about $12.9 million/year per school.
Big 12:
The Big 12 has a deal running through 2015-2016 for $60 million/year plus the conference just signed a contract with Fox that will pay out $90 million/year until 2023-2024. The combined deals amount to a total $150 million/year and $15 million/year per school. However, due to unequal revenue distribution, that number will vary for each school based on the number of major TV appearances it has. Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M all purportedly negotiated their way to a guarantee of $20 million per year during the conference realignment craze last June.
Texas also signed a contract with ESPN that will pay the school $300 million for 20 years, or $15 million/year to put together a Longhorn Network that will have around-the-clock programming. Texas would appear to have a guarantee of at least $35 million/year from TV revenues, making it the highest paid school out there.
Texas’ haul seems gargantuan, but fans should note how much money the Texas network costs to start up. One analyst estimate for a similar Pac 12 network start-up pegs the price at $100 million. If the Longhorn Network is anywhere close to that, then that $300 million may end up being more like $200 million, or $10 million/year. That would bring the yearly total for all of Texas’ TV revenue closer to $30 million/year.
Texas A&M and Oklahoma both are exploring creating their own networks, while the rest of the conference will likely pool together the rest of their basketball games, non-revenue sports and other programming to form a Big 12 Network channel. Texas A&M and Oklahoma may actually be involved in the Big 12 Network, but are at least looking into forming their own cable stations.
Pac 12:
Like the Big East, the Pac 12 is currently out in the market looking for a TV deal. Conference commissioner Larry Scott reportedly asked Fox for $300 million/ year for all of the Pac 12’s rights. His offer would have included non-revenue sports and the type of content that would make up a Pac 12 network like that of the Big Ten.
Estimates now have the Pac 12 likely working with Fox or Comcast/NBC to put together a deal that would bring in around $220 million per year for the conference. The Pac 12 would likely also partner with Fox to create a Pac 12 network. Fox has agreed to pay the Pac 12 $25 million per year to broadcast the new conference championship game that it will first hold on Dec. 3.
The total comes to an estimated $20.4 million/ year per school plus any revenue a Pac 12 network might bring.
Notre Dame:
College football’s iconic tradition would not glitter with half of its magical glow without Notre Dame. One writer estimates Notre Dame probably makes between $12 and $15 million per year from its TV deals.
BYU:
BYU left the Mountain West conference to become an independent and signed its own TV deal with ESPN in September. The school will have at least three home games broadcast on ESPN each season and could earn between $800,000 to $1.2 million per game. BYU also broadcasts its other sports on its own network, BYUtv. ESPN owns the rights initially to all BYU home games.
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Posted on April 26, 2011
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