At least 20 AAC regular-season football games will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 this fallGETTY IMAGES
AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco "feels there have been some misconceptions" about the role ESPN+ will provide for the conference, according to Matt Murschel of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. Aresco said, "We basically have our own branded network on ESPN+ for certain kinds of events. Where the misconception is, we are getting more games on the ESPN primary linear channels than we had in previous years." Under the new deal between the AAC and ESPN, the net "agreed to broadcast at least 40 regular-season football games per season, with at least 20 of those on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, as well as the conference championship game on either ABC or ESPN." By comparison, ESPN aired 26 AAC games in '18. At least 13 women's basketball games per season also "will air on the network, with a minimum of five featured on ESPN and ESPN2." Aresco said that there is "no room in the new agreement" to "allow for regional television coverage brokered through the individual schools." He added that ESPN "hasn't decided whether to allow the partnership" between UConn and SNY to continue. He also "denies the claims that the league is pushing a majority of its broadcasts on ESPN+." Aresco: "That's nonsense." Murschel notes the AAC will "hire a company to produce the football games and Olympic sports championships featured on ESPN+" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 5/2).
HIGHEST BIDDER: Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said he thinks it is "too early to look at" whether the conference's TV negotiations could accelerate in the next decade. Bowlsby: "The most valuable place to be under almost all circumstances is in an auction environment with several suitors. That's the best place to be. Now we have existing partnerships with ESPN and Fox. It's conceivable that we would do something preemptively before 2024-25, but if we did that we would have to get auction-like numbers to do it" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 5/1).
