Today, the SEC and ESPN announced their partnership in forming an SEC network. The deal will give ESPN the rights to all SEC sports on television. However, CBS will still be able to keep one SEC game of the week, keeping a longstanding arrangement between CBS and the SEC.
The SEC Network deal runs until 2034. Making it the longest television deal in history. Not the longest college football deal, the longest ever television deal.
The SEC network will be similar to the Big Ten Network (Fox Sports) and the Pac-12 Network (Comcast). The Big Ten came out with the first network of its kind in 2007. The Pac-12 Network is just a year old. Look for this trend to continue in college football. The SEC dominates college football, they’ve won every national title since Ohio State took the crown in 2002. And ESPN is the 800 lb gorilla of sports media. Therefore, it follows that the SEC network might soon dominate as well.
If all goes as planned for the South Eastern Conference and Eastern Seaboard Programming Network (yeah, I know that’s now what it actually stands for, but in a situation like this, how can you not pass up an opportunity at the joke?), the SEC network will be up and running by August, 2014.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and ESPN President John Skipper announced the partnership of the SEC Network. The new SEC network will air SEC content 24/7 including more than 1,000 events in its first year.
The SEC network will televise approximately 45 SEC football games, more than 100 men’s basketball games, 60 women’s basketball games, 75 baseball games, and events from across the SEC’s 21 sports annually. The SEC network will originate from ESPN’s Charlotte, N.C.,