ESPN, Fox Sports and the Pac-12 announced a 12-year, $3 billion deal Wednesday that places the conference right behind the Big Ten and the SEC in terms of money. In a smart move, the conference kept the rights to establish its own network.
We have seen deals now from the SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12 that have netted universities in excess of $20 million a year. In the case of Texas, the school will be allowed to establish its own network, and the same is the case with SEC schools.
The other key piece is the length of each deal — all of them are in the 12- to 15-year range.
The ACC signed a deal in 2010 with ESPN for $1.86 billion over 12 years, which is not chump change by any means. But it does put the ACC well back among the BCS conferences.
So how about the Big East?
Well, its deal ends with ESPN in 2013, but you can bet the conference is considering what its next move will be. Yes, the Big East is the best basketball conference in the country, but its football programs are perhaps the weakest among the BCS conferences.
However, that is really not an issue because the Big East has teams in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Dallas, Chicago, Tampa/St. Petersburg and Pittsburgh — all top-25 markets. Big-time markets can mean big-time money.
The conference is considering putting the rights out to bid, and why not?
You would have ESPN, Fox Sports and NBC Sports all trying to get a foothold in the Big East markets.
ESPN would have to be considered the leader, but I would not count out NBC Sports because of the Comcast connection or Fox Sports, which would like to be able to have the West Coast and the East Coast tied up.
So the real winner in the new Pac-12 deal just might be the Big East because it is next up in the network-rights sweepstakes.
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
