CBS to lose SEC rights after 2023

Average Reds

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Your thread title seems completely backwards. CBS did not "leave SEC football." Indeed, they increased their rights offer by an estimated $245 million per season, and the SEC rejected it.
 

axx

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Your thread title seems completely backwards. CBS did not "leave SEC football." Indeed, they increased their rights offer by an estimated $245 million per season, and the SEC rejected it.
You could put it that way although CBS could up their offer further... but they are choosing not to.
 

Average Reds

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You could put it that way although CBS could up their offer further... but they are choosing not to.
Look, I was trying to give you some advice regarding the fact that you created a misleading thread title. If you don't want it, that's fine. But don't piss on me and claim it's raining.

We all understand how these things work. The thread title is the opposite of the truth.
 

axx

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Look, I was trying to give you some advice regarding the fact that you created a misleading thread title. If you don't want it, that's fine. But don't piss on me and claim it's raining.

We all understand how these things work. The thread title is the opposite of the truth.
That's the wording the article used and it is true, they are leaving.
 

MuzzyField

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Both can work.
CBS is leaving the negotiating process. The result of that decision is they are losing their long-held media rights to the SEC’s #1 (and sometime a 2nd premier game) weekly football game.
I guess adding the alternating FedEX Cup to their new PGA deal will fill some of the time.
The real headline is how big the SEC is winning here and how the sports media rights fee bubble keeps getting larger, for now.
 

mauf

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I changed the headline — we don’t know who will win the rights, but it appears it won’t be CBS.

I’m aware of the larger forces that are making sports broadcasting rights extremely valuable, but wow, that’s an amazing rate of growth.
 

RedOctober3829

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A question now is will ESPN/ABC's Saturday primetime game be SEC-only as part of the deal or will the conference's marquee game still be at 3:30? The old CBS deal only allowed for 1 primetime game a year which almost always was LSU-Bama. This year it was ND-Georgia. It makes sense for ESPN to grab the SEC rights given the SEC Network is under their umbrella. Will College GameDay be an SEC-only vehicle or will it be at the biggest game of the weekend?
 

MuzzyField

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A question now is will ESPN/ABC's Saturday primetime game be SEC-only as part of the deal or will the conference's marquee game still be at 3:30? The old CBS deal only allowed for 1 primetime game a year which almost always was LSU-Bama. This year it was ND-Georgia. It makes sense for ESPN to grab the SEC rights given the SEC Network is under their umbrella. Will College GameDay be an SEC-only vehicle or will it be at the biggest game of the weekend?
The SEC will lose network exclusivity on CBS as their only weekly football production, but find more games in the ABC prime time window. It also opens other SEC games to be played in the late-afternoon window and push some early season games out of the high-noon heat.

SEC Network already handles an SEC version of Gameday and ESPN would be foolish to neuter it’s Saturday morning cash cow with FOX trying to dent it during the 11am hour by going SEC only.
Both GD and the SEC show were in JAX formUGA/FL in 2018. It was a crazy display of live sports production awesomeness and excess. However, the two shows don’t overlap often.
 

Ale Xander

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Makes sense for Disney to grab SEC since 1) as REdO mentioned, they already have SECN. But, also, 2) they have ESPN1 ESPN2 and ESPNU to show the secondary, tertiary, etc. games. CBS never put (or maybe was not able to) put games at the same time on TNT/TBS like they do during march madness tournament. CBSSN both isn't in enough homes and also never seemed to have any decent games (they have C-USA usually I believe).

I 'm actually surprised that CBS went as high as they did. I am worried I will miss Danielson, though. And more importantly, that theme song. Hopefully CBS can get either B12-2 or P12 as I am not too enamored by the entertainment value of non-Clemson/BC ACC or B1G. It doe look liek CBS will lose most big time college football, but I remain hopefuly.

This is also bad for Fubotv as they don't have ABC/ESPN I believe.
 

Vinho Tinto

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I am worried I will miss Danielson, though. And more importantly, that theme song.
SEC Twitter’s first reaction to this being so long to Gary D is telling how they feel about him; but I hate it. I love how CBS produces sports. The only deal they’ve had that I thought that did not work was MLB in the early 90s. Otherwise they elevate the broadcast. They’ve played a part in elevating the SEC’s prestige and I hope the network does not exit college football.

EDIT: I think this is the network’s worst sports decision since letting NFC football go to FOX. They had a prestige product and were paying below market prices. Picking up the Champion’s League does not make up for losing the marquee college football slate of games.
 
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Granite Sox

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Will be interesting to see if Saban is still around by the time this deal kicks in. Right or wrong, he’s a huge force in driving value. Orgeron’s no spring chicken, either, though his success has been a little bit surprising.

Re: Danielson... Pair him up with Sean McDonough and giddyup!
 

j-man

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Danielson used to be on ESPN nessler too if i was CBS i wouild go after the big 12 and hire joel kiatt move carter blackburn to the new face and have jenny dell as sideline
 

mauf

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Danielson used to be on ESPN nessler too if i was CBS i wouild go after the big 12 and hire joel kiatt move carter blackburn to the new face and have jenny dell as sideline
There’s a good argument that the P5 should really be the P4, and the B12 is obviously the odd man out in that scenario. Hard to make a 10-15 year financial commitment to a conference that would basically cease to exist if Oklahoma and Texas decided to bolt.
 

JMDurron

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I am worried I will miss Danielson, though. And more importantly, that theme song.
Agreed.

I'll probably just miss Danielson because of my being used to his voice, but the theme song being gone is going to hurt a bit. Something just felt right about hearing that music before watching a big game on Saturday afternoon.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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Makes sense for Disney to grab SEC since 1) as REdO mentioned, they already have SECN. But, also, 2) they have ESPN1 ESPN2 and ESPNU to show the secondary, tertiary, etc. games. CBS never put (or maybe was not able to) put games at the same time on TNT/TBS like they do during march madness tournament. CBSSN both isn't in enough homes and also never seemed to have any decent games (they have C-USA usually I believe).
Even more important would be ESPN+, which is a much bigger part of ESPN/Disney's corporate future than those diginets.

As @Conigliaro's Potential points out, Danielson would be a sure bet to get a new deal elsewhere if CBS loses SEC rights.
 

HriniakPosterChild

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There’s a good argument that the P5 should really be the P4, and the B12 is obviously the odd man out in that scenario. Hard to make a 10-15 year financial commitment to a conference that would basically cease to exist if Oklahoma and Texas decided to bolt.
Should the PAC-12 be at the grown-ups table? Their network is not exactly printing money for the member schools, according to an article earlier this year:

The upshot of the piece was that conference schools have received an average payout of $1.639 million over the past five years, and $2.6 million this year. That’s a fraction of the $3 million-$10 million annual range Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told athletic directors they’d see in a presentation several years back, according to one of Wilner’s sources. Former Washington State and Oregon athletic director Bill Moos, now at Nebraska, was quoted in the story.

“We were all giddy,” Moos told Wilner. “And we wouldn’t have been giddy over $2 million (per year).
I think in a pinch, the SEC schools could find money like that in their sofa cushions.
 

mauf

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Should the PAC-12 be at the grown-ups table? Their network is not exactly printing money for the member schools, according to an article earlier this year:
According to this article, annual P5 conference revenues look like this:

Big 10: $759 million
SEC: $627 million
Pac 12: $497 million
ACC: $465 million
Big 12: $374 million

The B12 pie is split fewer ways, so member schools aren’t doing much worse than Pac-12 or ACC schools, but the SEC and B1G are pulling away from the others. Throw another $250 million on that SEC figure (from the increased TV rights fees) and you’re looking at a difference in the neighborhood of $30-40 million per member school compared to the Big 12.

If the SEC comes calling in five years, will state legislators in Oklahoma and Texas let OU and UT walk away from that kind of money? I don’t see a similar threat to the Pac-12 or the ACC.
 
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Vinho Tinto

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According to this article, annual P5 conference revenues look like this:

Big 10: $759 million
SEC: $627 million
Pac 12: $497 million
ACC: $465 million
Big 12: $374 million

The B12 pie is split fewer ways, so member schools aren’t doing much worse than Pac-12 or ACC schools, but the SEC and B1G are pulling away from the others. Throw another $250 million on that SEC figure (from the increased TV rights fees) and you’re looking at a difference in the neighborhood of $30-40 million per member school compared to the Big 12.

If the SEC comes calling in five years, will state legislators in Oklahoma and Texas let OU and UT walk away from that kind of money? I don’t see a similar threat to the Pac-12 or the ACC.
Is the Big 12 money split evenly? IIRC, that was one of the reasons A&M jumped to SEC. Texas was commanding a disproportionate amount of the revenues.
 

grsharky7

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According to this article, annual P5 conference revenues look like this:

Big 10: $759 million
SEC: $627 million
Pac 12: $497 million
ACC: $465 million
Big 12: $374 million

The B12 pie is split fewer ways, so member schools aren’t doing much worse than Pac-12 or ACC schools, but the SEC and B1G are pulling away from the others. Throw another $250 million on that SEC figure (from the increased TV rights fees) and you’re looking at a difference in the neighborhood of $30-40 million per member school compared to the Big 12.

If the SEC comes calling in five years, will state legislators in Oklahoma and Texas let OU and UT walk away from that kind of money? I don’t see a similar threat to the Pac-12 or the ACC.
Something to consider though is a lot of those state legislators went to other schools in those states and won't want their alma maters left out in the cold. I don't see OU getting to leave for the SEC and OSU dying on the vine. Remember when the ACC initially expanded in 2003, VT was not included until the VA state government started twisting arms at UVA to get the Hokies in the fold. I'd imagine the same could be said for the state of Texas with TT, TCU, and Baylor all wanting a seat at the table as well. Plus would A&M ever go for it? It seems like those two schools could never be in the same conference again because of their toxic relationship.

When is a conference just too big? The SEC is already very weird schedule wise, heck UGA and A&M played for the first time just this year and the Aggies have been in the conference since 2012. UGA won't go to College Station until 2024. They played at LSU last year and won't back to Baton Rouge until 2025. That seems more like an out of conference series than a conference game.

Finally, besides the money, which I think we can all agree has been very good for the major college conferences. Has expansion really helped many of these teams on the actual playing field? Since conference realignment began in mass in 2003, 12 teams have moved from major conference to major conference (leaving out TCU, Louisville, and Utah since they began the process in mid majors and expansion has got them Power 5 level). The first set of numbers is how the teams have performed since they joined their respective leagues and the second set is their winning percentage for the last ten years in their previous league.

ACC
Boston College 104-87 (.544) Had a .550 winning percentage from 1995-2004.
Miami 113-81 (.582) Had a .785 winning percentage from 1994-2003.
Pitt 48-42 (.533). Had a .568 winning percentage from 2003-2012
Syracuse 37-51 (.420). Had a .388 winning percentage from 2003-2012
Virginia Tech 146-66 (.688). Had a winning percentage of .747 from 1994-2003

Big 10
Rutgers 21-52 (.287). Had a .595 from 2004-2013
Maryland 28-46 (.378). Had a .463 winning percentage from 2004-2012
Nebraska 65-50 (.565). Had a .646 winning percentage from 2001-2010

Big 12
WVU 56-45 (.554). Had a .742 winning percentage from 2002-2011

Pac 12
Colorado 39-73 (.348). Had a .476 winning percentage from 2001-2010

SEC
Missouri 58-44 (.547). Had a .632 winning percentage from 2002-2011
Texas A&M 67-38 (.638). Had .516 winning percentage from 2002-2011.

Most teams are around were they were previously, some are better and some are worse. Personally I miss the leagues the way they were previously. So many rivalries have gone by the way side (OU/Nebraska, Texas/A&M, WVU/Pitt, Kansas/Missouri, etc). Plus the cultural and geographic fit for some of these are just weird. Maryland and Rutgers in a midwestern conference, WVU in a southwestern conference, Nebraska has never seems to fit in with the B10 either. This post was focused on football, but expansion has also watered down college basketball. No more Maryland/Duke or Maryland/UNC. The old Big East is no longer and rivalries like Georgetown/Syracuse are gone. The chase for the almighty dollar has really changed the college sports landscape and I wonder how much further this will go when the next round of media contracts and grants of rights come up in 2023. I guess we shall see.