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Winners and losers from SEC football leaving CBS
The winners and losers of the SEC leaving CBS and likely headed to ABC/ESPN.
The aftershocks of Friday’s news that CBS was dropping out of the running for the Southeastern Conference’s television rights are just beginning to be felt.
After a more than two decade relationship, CBS decided it made more sense to invest its money elsewhere as the price tag around the SEC TV rights soared amid a reported large bid from Disney/ESPN. No official deal has been reached yet but the expectation is after the 2023 football season, all of the SEC’s rights will be under the same umbrella with Disney/ESPN.
What does that mean? AL.com takes an early look at the big winners and losers from CBS’ decision to walk away and the likely outcome of the negotiations.
WINNERS:
Disney/ESPN
If Disney/ESPN lands the premier SEC football package, as is widely expected in the aftermath of CBS bowing out, it is the clear biggest winner of this situation. ESPN already had a close relationship with the conference, including launching the SEC Network, but annually missed out on marquee games like the Iron Bowl, the World’s Largest Cocktail Party and the SEC Championship. Landing these rights gives the company all that plus increased scheduling flexibility and no need to coordinate with CBS each week on time slots. It should also lead to increased advertisements and sponsorships as companies now know they have to go through Disney/ESPN if they want their products associated with the SEC’s televised games.
Greg Sankey
The SEC commissioner hadn’t had to make a groundbreaking decision until now after taking over the job from Mike Slive in 2015. This could be one of the defining moves of Sankey’s tenure, and while some might be upset about moving away from CBS, the SEC commissioner has his league primed to receive a massive financial windfall with this upcoming deal. Insiders said Sankey has been instrumental behind the scenes working to build consensus among the league’s chancellors and presidents for this move.
Paul Finebaum
Already the face of ESPN’s SEC coverage, Finebaum becomes even more valuable to the network as it readies to invest hundreds of millions more into the conference. Finebaum is heavily utilized on SEC Network and ESPN and should factor in to however the company decides to handle these big SEC games. With reports of Finebaum meeting with former ESPN boss John Skipper about a possible role at DAZN, it becomes even more imperative for ESPN brass to keep the SEC’s dominant voice for when it officially acquires the rights.
Gary Danielson haters
The Gary Danielson haters, of which there are many, were delighted by Friday’s news that the SEC games would be leaving CBS after 2023. CBS’ primary SEC analyst isn’t exactly a fan favorite -- some of the criticism is admittedly overblown -- and his legion of haters now know they only have to watch a few more seasons of the former Purdue quarterback. With an expiration date now attached, it will be interesting to see if CBS lets Danielson finish out the contract or if it makes a change for a younger analyst as it recently has with its PGA Tour coverage.
LOSERS:
CBS
The obvious loser here is CBS which has broadcasted the SEC’s premier games since 1996. The network has long had an extremely advantageous deal with the SEC, only paying $55 million annually for the weekly top game, and wanted to keep the relationship going but wasn’t willing to go above $300 million for the TV rights. Instead, CBS will bank the money for what should be a highly competitive -- and expensive -- bidding war to keep its AFC NFL rights. CBS still has the NCAA Tournament and the annual Army/Navy game but will essentially be out of the college football business in 2023 unless it adds a different conference’s rights. Even if CBS does add college football rights -- the Pac-12′s deal comes up in 2024 -- nothing it adds will do the monster ratings the SEC consistently delivered for the network.
ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12
These three conferences will all fall even further behind the SEC (and the Big Ten) as the league is expected to get a huge financial deal likely upwards of $330 million. Starting in 2023, SEC schools should get at least $65 million each and that number could easily be $70 million, more than double what Pac-12 schools received in 2019. Further, all three of these conferences will lose relevance and exposure with ESPN as it becomes even more financially invested in the SEC. Disney/ESPN will be financially compelled to push the SEC even harder which isn’t great news for the other conferences.
FAANG + DAZN
There has been years of speculation that an alternative or over the top platform would make a major play for live sports TV rights but yet again a premier property is expected to stay with a traditional partner. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google were never serious contenders for these rights, and the SEC was never going to give its best games to an OTT platform like DAZN. OTT might be the future given the way major companies are investing in their own platforms but the traditional players still carry weight for the big TV rights.
