(05-14-2015 12:43 PM)Marge Schott Wrote: Is there a link that says the SEC is "stuck" with that pre-extension valuation for their rights for every year until 2034?
There's no question that the pay will scale up like all the TV contracts do. And there is likely some revenue sharing involved that will grow as the contract continues.
We don't know any of that...but we do know these things:
- It's for 20 years
- The SEC can't take their product on the open market for 20 years
- They have zero ownership of the network
- The deal was negotiated (like the ACC's would be) from a position of ALREADY being locked in a long term contract with the provider.
The fourth one means, no matter how good the deal is, it is very very good to ESPN. The fact that ESPN didn't have to negotiate against anyone matters.
I don't mean to suggest the SEC got a bad deal by any means...but every deal has looked bad in the past a few years later. I'm sure the SEC made a smart deal and the best deal they could.
Being that the ACC will be in the same position and this is a 20 year decision, I don't get the rush. $4-5M more for a couple years isn't changing anyone's world, if there is a better deal to be had two years from now.
Do people think Swofford is personally torpedoing an ACC Network? That he is keeping ESPN from dumping a bunch of cash down our craws?
I sense this "announce a network at any cost" urgency that just shouldn't be there.
The ACC is not in a great bargaining position here. We're in the midst of a locked up contract. We're not far removed for a dreadful decade of football relevance. It's not like we're losing leverage here. The only incentive ESPN has to do this is to lock the ACC up until 2035 on a 2015 deal.
I mean, does anyone really think we'd have gotten a better deal had we struck a deal in 2013?
Hell, maybe the ACC is just pushing it out past the B1G's deal...that would make a hell of a lot of sense. Why would you want to cut a deal BEFORE the B1G sets the market? Especially if ESPN gets locked out of the B1G...then the ACC becomes a more important piece to get locked up.
I just don't see how the rush/pressure benefits the ACC.