The Media Arms Race In College Football

As conference media days took place across the country the past two weeks, the SEC once again stole the college football spotlight, although not through on-field performance. Rather, by announcing the release of the SEC Digital Network and the creation of the SEC Network, both of which premiere in August. The SEC Digital Network, a new media platform – born from a partnership between the SEC and a company called XOS Digital – combines media offerings from multiple mediums, packages the content for fans, and “translates as the largest online library of exclusive and comprehensive SEC sports content available anytime, anywhere.”

It is the first innovation of its kind in the college ranks and will grant fans more centralized access than ever before. Combined with the release of the SEC Network – the league’s TV counterpart – and the announcement of a new $3 billion dollar, 15-year deal between the SEC, ESPN, and CBS earlier in the summer, the SEC has boldly made the latest power play in the media arms race being staged between the BCS conferences.

On the strength of the Big Ten Network, which debuted in the fall of 2007 (the first game ever broadcast by the network was Appalachian State’s monumental 34-32 upset of Michigan) the Big Ten landed the first punch and effectively kicked off the race to secure the backing of bigger and better media outlets, and along with it, mountains of cash. The BTN was the first network solely focused on showcasing the wares of an individual college athletic conference, and it now boasts 70 million subscribers. Monetarily, in football contracts anyway, the Big Ten isn’t far behind the SEC, possessing a $1 billion deal with ESPN and a 25-year deal with the BTN that pays out $2.8 billion.

Houston Nutt - now the head coach at Ole Miss - is positively giddy at the thought of receiving $15 million from TV revenue.

All this has left the ACC feeling mighty insecure. Although the conference is guaranteed $500 million through 2011, when the current 10-year deal with various networks concludes, it is chump change compared to what the SEC and Big Ten have secured.

What this means for individual athletic departments, and by association, their football programs, is more money for scholarships, facility upgrades, and recruiting purposes, all of which can and will be used to increase the existing gap between the haves, the have-some, and the have-nots. During the 2007-08 season, each SEC institution received $5.3 million from TV revenue; with the new contract in place, each school could potentially earn up to $15 million per season. If the ACC, Big East, Pac-10, and Big 12 cannot secure comparable deals we could witness a slow decline in the level of competition between conferences, with TV revenue being the sole reason.

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