The conference signed a mega deal with CBS about two weeks ago, which virtually killed the idea of an all SEC network, but today the SEC TV dream has officially ended. There was still a slight chance though seeing as ESPN hadn’t yet signed a contract of their own and in turn getting CBS’ “leftovers”, but yesterday the “Leader” inked a 15-year deal of their own. Thus ending an all SEC TV discussions….
The Southeastern Conference already has a new 15-year CBS contract in hand, and this week the league will announce a similar 15-year deal with ESPN (and its family of networks) to televise everything that CBS doesn’t. Because of the maximum exposure provided by both networks, the SEC athletic directors decided this past week in Orlando that there won’t be an SEC network. The ultimate conclusion was that each school has its own pay-per-view and re-telecast agreements, and that web was not worth untangling, especially after CBS and now ESPN has backed up the Brinks armored car to the SEC vault.
So there you have it. The SEC is in the hands of CBS and ESPN until the year 2023 and if you’re a College Football fan, this isn’t a bad thing at all. The games from arguably the best conference in the country will all be readily available to most, if not everyone and Verne Lundquist will be calling games until he’s 94 years old. Good times.
Oh and does anyone want to know the grand total of the contract? A cool $2.25 billion. The deal should be announced by ESPN later this afternoon.
SEC drops idea to start own TV network; deal set with ESPN (Commercial Appeal)
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