SBJ College: NFL Net Goes To School
I'm in New York for our Sports Business Awards. If you're going to be here, look me up.
Here’s what is cooking on campus:
NFL NETWORK COULD KEEP ADDING COLLEGE GAMES
- NFL Network’s deal for 10 Conference USA football games annually will not be a one-off. Sources expect the channel to show up at the Mountain West’s negotiating table looking for a similar package that would start in 2020. Sources also tell me those NFL Net games will start at 3:30pm ET -- a time that sets up nicely for a college football doubleheader. Imagine C-USA games starting at 3:30pm and MWC games kicking off at 8:00pm. C-USA schools like the deal -- it provides them strong distribution on a football-centric linear channel and keeps games in traditional Saturday time slots. From a financial perspective, NFL Net delivers a mid-to-high six figure payday annually.
- I get why C-USA schools are happy with this deal -- going from beIn Sports to NFL Net is a huge upgrade. But the conference's primary challenge hasn't gone away. C-USA still has five media partners, with games appearing on CBS Sports Network, ESPN+, Stadium and Facebook. Making fans navigate five media partners -- not to mention figuring out whether a game is on linear TV or a streaming platform -- is a tough way to build a brand.
- What’s clear today, though, is that C-USA officials are proud they've broken new ground. The conference has been ravaged by realignment in the last decade, and every dollar counts.
WELCOME BACK CLC
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When I started covering college sports for SBJ, I spent a day in Collegiate Licensing Co.’s Atlanta office with Bill Battle, his son, Pat, and then-COO Derek Eiler. They gave me a tutorial on the collegiate licensing business that I still remember well. Ever since IMG acquired CLC in 2007, however, the company looked less and less like the one Bill Battle founded four decades ago. IMG eventually did away with the CLC brand in favor of the much more corporate-sounding IMG College Licensing in 2017.
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Today, Learfield IMG College said it is bringing back the CLC name. The company’s s two licensing businesses, Learfield Licensing Partners and IMG College Licensing, are merging into a single division known as CLC. Count me as someone who loves the move. No three letters are more synonymous with the business of college sports than CLC. The name still carries plenty of juice on campuses across the country, which is why Learfield IMG College President & CEO Greg Brown brought it back.
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Longtime CLC and IMG exec Cory Moss will oversee the combined licensing business, which owns the rights to nearly every school in D-I. Moss knows the CLC approach better than anyone at the company -- he was hired in 1995 and learned licensing from the Battles. Representing the CLC name will mean something to Moss, who, like me, grew up in Greensboro and graduated from Page High School (OK maybe not at the same time; Moss is a lot younger than me).
WHO WILL TAKE HOME AD OF THE YEAR?
- Tomorrow night's Sports Business Awards are one of my favorite nights of the year. I get a kick out of watching execs from pro sports, college sports, agencies and sponsors all mingling in the same room. It’s also the night we name the Athletic Director of the Year. The finalists are Arizona State’s Ray Anderson, Kentucky’s Mitch Barnhart, Washington’s Jennifer Cohen, Miami’s Blake James and Iowa State’s Jamie Pollard.
SPEED READS
- The ACC Network has a unique ally in its quest for wider distribution at launch -- Syracuse AD John Wildhack. The former ESPN exec went through a similar process five years ago with the start of the SEC Network. That experience was on full display last week as he ramped up public pressure on cable companies ahead of the Aug. 22 launch. Wildhack said of the effect SEC fans had when that conference channel was launching, "They spoke loud and often and that had an impact. There’s no question." Wildhack is now using a similar tactic to get the ACC Net on as many providers as possible, per the Syracuse Post-Standard.
- It isn't cheap to keep up with powerhouses in the Big 12, even in golf. West Virginia needs an estimated $5 million to build a planned state-of-the-art golf practice facility, according to the Morgantown News. The Mountaineers brought back its men’s golf program back in 2012 as part of the move to the Big 12, and now it wants to take the next step. WVU AD Shane Lyons: “We’re in the best golf conference in the country, and if we want to compete with the likes of Oklahoma State (11 NCAA titles including 2018), Texas and Oklahoma, this is something that coach (Sean) Covich needs.”
LET'S DO THE NUMBERS
- 44 -- Number of colleges that have now partnered with athlete marketing platform Opendorse, according to a profile by The Athletic. Last summer, I took a look at the company founded by former Nebraska football players Blake Lawrence and Adi Kunalic when it had 30 clients. Since then, they've added powerhouse programs like USC, Virginia and BYU. SBJ also chatted with Opendorse Marketing Dir Sam Weber on how the service helps athletes connect with fans.
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Something on the College beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (msmith@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessdaily.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).
