ESPN Paying SEC $2.25B Over 15 Years For Remaining TV Rights

ESPN To Pay $150M Annually For SEC Rights

ESPN will pay the SEC $2.25B over the next 15 years -- about $150M annually -- for the conference's TV rights, giving the net "all of the SEC's content that was not taken by CBS," according to sources cited by Smith & Ourand of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The deal, set to be announced later this week, "effectively ends any conversation of a conference network, and it knocks Raycom Sports out of the SEC's distribution business for the first time" since '86. The SEC, which will receive an average of $55M per year from the new deal with CBS, will bring in an average of $205M annually in media rights from the two contracts through FY 2025, "nearly three times what the SEC had been receiving in TV revenue." ESPN's package of games will include the SEC basketball tournament finals, previously on CBS, and ESPN also is "expected to offer an expanded package of regular-season basketball games across its networks." Smith & Ourand note ESPN's "aggressive bid is part of a strategy to secure high-quality programming for its networks and broadband platforms." Also, ESPN and Comcast in the coming weeks will announce a deal that will "initially put ESPNU in about 7 million Comcast homes." ESPN Regional Television "will handle syndication to local broadcasters throughout the Southeast," and also will "make regional cable packages available to cable channels" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/25 issue).