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The BCS is Now Officially a Four Letter Word

Posted by srr50 on November 17th, 2008 under Uncategorized

Fox is getting out of college football altogether, deciding that the BCS was not worth $500 million, so the BCS games will be moving to cable.

Starting in 2011, the BCS series will become a part of the Four-Letter Network. In its announcement that it was dropping out, Fox sounded just like the jilted lover stating “Unfortunately, the university presidents and BCS commissioners were not satisfied and they’ve decided to take their jewel events to pay television.”

ESPN shot back that they are on basic cable, and right now 88% of the country (98 million homes) have ESPN already. Interestingly enough, Houston is one of the least-wired cities around. ESPN has only about 77% penetration in the Top Ten market.

Fox originally paid $330 million for the four BCS games, and ESPN ponied up $500 million for the 5-game package. There are of course several consequences to this deal.

* Forget about any kind of playoff system in the next ten years.

* The new world of TV is that the big cable conglomerate can outbid any over the air network without breaking a sweat. ESPN can afford the price tag because they get to double dip. They are already the most expensive channel for the cable outlets, as they charge almost $3 a subscriber. That assuredly will go up with this exclusive deal. And of course they get to sell advertising as well.

* Think the SEC isn’t giddy about this? They are already signed, sealed and delivered to ESPN for the same time period. Get ready for the heaviest promotion of any league you have ever seen. Every SEC game on the Four Letter Network, will be promoted before, and known as The SEC On ESPN. Hell, they might even get their own half hour highlight show on Saturdays.

* ESPN already owns five bowls outright. They will now have the broadcast rights to the crown jewels. Somehow I don’t think you will be seeing too many ESPN analysts arguing for a play off system any time soon.

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18 Responses

  1. Facebook User said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    Arghffuckkaakakaka!!!!@

  2. MIA said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 5:38 pm

    Time for Congress to step in.
    This could very well ruin college football. Well not really, but I will have yet another reason to hate espn.

  3. Texas_Dawg said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 5:39 pm

    Dude.

    It means no more Thom Brennaman (Thom… you could at least learn the names of the key players; just a few, OK?). It means no more Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw (the idiots at Fox actually put those NFL-loving tools on the ‘07 Sugar Bowl). It means no more Chris Meyers ruining wedding proposals on national TV. It means less than 110 shots per game of the fonking bands.

    Playoffs? Screw playoffs. College football is ending a horrible, terrible experiment with FOX. That is without question a very, very good thing.

  4. DrkBgrk said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 6:02 pm

    Dawg: even though fox sucks at bcs airing, the continued existence of the bcs is still a very bad (worse) thing.

    oh and fuck the sec.

  5. Texas_Dawg said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

    If the non-existence of the BCS means some NFL-style playoff, then thank God for ESPN and whoever else is protecting the BCS.

    And I’m not really sure what the deal is with the ESPN/SEC conspiracy stuff… what is the fear here? Doesn’t ESPN’s parent, ABC, broadcast Big 12 games and the Big 12 championship? (ESPN doesn’t even broadcast the SEC’s championship game or its premier game each week.)

  6. srr50 said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 6:31 pm

    ESPN signed a 15-year agreement with the SEC for over $300 million. They get to add two primetime Thurday night games to their packages. They will hold the over-the-air rights to SEC regional football and basketball telecasts.

    They will have more than enough games to push the league throughout its family of networks, and yes there will be a 1-hour weekly SEC highlights show.

    ESPN also will own the internet rights to all SEC events.

    As I said, every football game will be promoted as “The SEC on ESPN.” Not a bad way to brand your conference.

    ABC may be the parent, but ESPN drives the bus. That’s why it’s called “ESPN College Football on ABC.”

  7. cwofford said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

    i’m confused. if ESPN’s contract is only for four years, why should we not expect any kind of playoff system for the next ten?

  8. srr50 said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 7:47 pm

    Because ESPN’s contract doesn’t kick in until 2011.

    I suppose you could have one in 2016, but I wouldn’t hold my breath that there will be one in place, so the networks can renegotiate their contracts based on it.

  9. uthookem said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    If Obama gets a college playoff for D1 football, his presidency will have been a success.

    Hook ‘em!

  10. Harold Reynolds said:

    November 17th, 2008 at 10:41 pm

    There are a lot of great looking ladies who work at ESPN

  11. Big Satan said:

    November 18th, 2008 at 5:19 am

    Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but the SEC deal signed by ESPN was for the Twins style after-birth. CBS Still has their deal in place with the SEC that allows them to cherry pick the best gamens each work. There will still be a substantial SEC presence on CBS. Not that this nullifies anything you’ve said…

  12. Mysterious Package said:

    November 18th, 2008 at 6:25 am

    Big 12 needs to jump on or get runover.

  13. p said:

    November 18th, 2008 at 6:40 am

    With ESPN airing and promoting all of the SEC games it effects the masses perception of the conference. The same way hyping USC in 2005 did. People assumed Texas had no chance because ESPN told them USC was the greatest college football team ever.

    The SEC will be perceived as the mini NFL(It’s already bad enough now). I wouldn’t be surprised to see two SEC teams end up in the national championship game, if the only loss of the other was in their conference championship.

    Living outside of Texas(NC), the vibe has already swung that way. When the subject of football comes up it always turns into “the SEC is the best conference in football”. Most fans don’t actually watch the games, they just watch the highlights and regurgitate the sentiments of the analysts. They don’t know LSU was down 29 to Troy at home, or that Bama lost to Louisiana-Monroe. All they know is the SEC mudholed Ohio State twice, ND, and Hawaii and that qualifies them as untouchable. This deal will only make it worse!!

  14. Big Satan said:

    November 18th, 2008 at 7:21 am

    ESPN is not going to be airing ALL of the SEC games. CBS and the SEC renewed and extended their contract literally a month or two before ESPN picked up the rest of the games. Step away from the ledge, people.

  15. srr50 said:

    November 18th, 2008 at 8:15 am

    ESPN is not going to be airing ALL of the SEC games. CBS and the SEC renewed and extended their contract literally a month or two before ESPN picked up the rest of the games. Step away from the ledge, people.

    Actually it is the combination of the two that makes the SEC the media leader. The only college football CBS will be packaging will be the SEC Game of the Week.

    All of CBS’s marketing of college football will be the SEC.

    They share the Basketball rights as well — and they are the home of March Madness.

    The combination of CBS drooling over the SEC (just listen to Gary Danielson on Saturdays) and ESPN pumping the SEC at every turn gives them a great media platform that no other conference can come close to.

  16. Sports Jesus said:

    November 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am

    What have I created…

  17. Atomic Teeth » Blog Archive » BCS on ESPN; Fox Out said:

    November 18th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    [...] see the folks at Barking Carnival has a post up about this very topic.  There’s some consternation that the relationship is problematic because ESPN and SEC are [...]

  18. Barking Carnival — Blog — March Madness May Move to Cable said:

    December 8th, 2009 at 8:43 pm

    [...] Last year the NCAA looked on with envy as the BCS, despite a down economy, hit pay dirt with a $500 million dollar deal to move their games off of broadcast TV to ESPN. [...]

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