GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The "Who Didn't Vote for Tim Tebow?" story line dominated SEC media days two weeks ago, but it was another news story that left athletic directors across the country shaking their heads.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive officially announced his conference's 15-year, $2.25 billion television deal with ESPN — to go on top of its 15-year, $825 million contract with CBS.
 JASON GETZ/Cox Newspapers SEC Commissioner Mike Slive gives Vanderbilt University's Carla Thomas her MVP trophy for the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament after Vanderbilt defeated LSU 51-45 at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga., March 4, 2007. Vanderbilt won for the SEC Tournament Championship. For a larger, high resolution image, click HERE |
"That's quite a contract that the SEC signed," ACC Commissioner John Swofford said. "There's a new standard set there."
The SEC has won three straight national football championships and boasts six of the top 13 revenue-producing universities in the NCAA, and finished first or second in 11 of 20 NCAA sports in 2008-09.
And now, thanks to the infusion of ESPN cash and influence, the rich got a whole lot richer.
"The SEC definitely reached a new level," said Kirby Hocutt, athletic director at Miami. "Am I worried and concerned about that? Of course. The SEC ... was able to take television revenue to the next plateau. We just have to stay in the same ballpark."
ESPN essentially bought the SEC with its record-breaking package. It led to the creation of the SEC Network, which will be aired not only in SEC country, but also in markets such as Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago and New York.
CBS will get the first choice of football games — such as Florida-Georgia and Alabama-Auburn this year — but ESPN acquired the rights to every other SEC sporting event. ESPN will air 5,500 SEC athletic events on its various platforms over the 15 years, or about 365 per year.
"This deal raises the bar," ESPN spokesman John Wildhack said. "SEC football is unique. With all due respect to the other conferences, there's a passion and an interest here, and it's 365 days a year."
ESPN has television contracts with each of the six BCS conferences, plus several of the non-BCS conferences. But not all television contracts are created equal.
ESPN will pay $150 million to the SEC each year to split equally among all 12 teams, and $100 million to the Big Ten. The Big 12 gets $60 million per year, ACC gets $37 million a year, Big East $33 million and the Pac-10 $25 million.
Not coincidentally, SEC and Big Ten teams dominate ESPN/ABC's Saturday primetime lineup this fall. The other conferences are mostly shown regionally.
"If you're not the SEC or the Big Ten, you're probably not going to play on an ESPN family network on Saturday," said Craig Thompson, commissioner of the Mountain West Conference, which severed ties with ESPN three years ago in favor of Fox Sports and Comcast.
Not only will SEC and Big Ten teams be receiving the most exposure, but ESPN is providing those schools with finances not available to anyone else.
Florida, like every SEC school, will receive about $16 million in total television money for the 2009 season, $11 million of which comes from ESPN. Compare that with a Pac-10 team, which will receive about $4.5 million from its television contracts.
A Mountain West school such as Utah, which has entered the national title picture the past five years, receives about $1.2 million.
Thanks to ESPN, SEC teams now have significantly more money to spend on recruiting, upgrade facilities and lure top-notch coaches.
"The Big Ten and the SEC have clearly separated themselves from the other four BCS conferences," said Karl Benson, commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference, which receives about $4 million annually from ESPN.
"We have become a national brand," said Slive, who called this the SEC's "golden age" at media days. "Many conferences, the intensity of their following is more regional, and with that has come some benefits to us."
Chalk it up to yet another glaring disparity in college football.
"We would love to have some of that money, that's for sure," said Chris Hill, athletic director at Utah. "But that's not the case, so we'll just have to do more with less."
Ben Volin writes for The Palm Beach Post. E-mail: ben(underscore)volin(at)pbpost.com.
