Ivy League
May
09
A Few More Overdue Sports Media Thoughts
I’ll do a common theme in this particular sports media thoughts post. This will deal with college sports. The thoughts will be in bullet forms, of course.
- With the Big 12 about to sign the next Mega Millions TV deal, it leaves just the Big East’s media rights in doubt. We know the ACC will extend its current deal with ESPN with the expansion of two more teams. The fact that ESPN and Fox have locked up long term deals with most of the BCS conferences leaves other mpnetworks fighting for scraps.
NBC signed with the Colonial Athletic Association and Ivy League. CBS Sports Network inked a deal with the Mountain West.
The Big East is still in play and NBC has been targeting the conference since last summer when it left a big deal from ESPN on the table causing major upheaval with Syracuse and Pittsburgh fleeing for the ACC and West Virginia packing its bags for Big 12.
ESPN has long-term deals with the Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC and can pretty much cherry pick its football and basketball schedules to its liking.
And with many deals not expiring until well into the next decade, any rival network will have a long wait to get into the major college sports game.
- The resignation of Big East Commissioner John Marinatto hardly comes as a surprise. As mentioned, the league is in a state of flux as the football and basketball schools are wondering which side has more power. And as a new media rights deal is on the horizon, it remains to be seen if the conference can ever match the glory years of the 1980′s in both influence and money.
- The Pac-12 Networks announce the first three members of the on-air team later today. We know former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel will be an analyst, but any other names are just speculation. It will be interesting to see who joins from here on end.
That’s all.
May
07
NBC Sports Network Inks Ivy League For Two Years
Just announced today, NBC Sports Network has signed a two year contract with the Ivy League, the non-athletic scholarship conference. It will go from the 2012-13 academic year to 2013-14. Not only will the contract entail football which has been seen previously when the channel was known as Versus, but it will also expand to basketball and lacrosse.
NBC Sports Network will show 6-10 football games, 6-10 men’s basketball games and as many as four men’s lacrosse games.
In addition, NBC Sports Network has the ability to sublicense games to other networks. Under the contract, NBCSN will air the annual football rivalry game between Harvard and Yale.
This year, NBC Sports Network has signed an exclusive contract with the Colonial Athletic Association, signed a sublicense agreement with CBS Sports Network to air 10 Mountain West football games and now has this new pact with the Ivy League. NBC Sports Network is still hopeful to gain the Big East whose rights are up for bid this year.
Here’s the NBC Sports Group announcement.
THE IVY LEAGUE, NBC SPORTS GROUP RENEW NATIONAL TELEVISION AGREEMENT
NBC Sports Network to Televise up to 10 Football, 10 Men’s Basketball & Four Men’s Lacrosse Games Annually
”The Game” Between Harvard-Yale to air on NBC Sports Network in 2012 & 2013NEW YORK – May 7, 2012 – The Ivy League and the NBC Sports Group announced a two-year renewal of their national television rights agreement today that includes an increase in football games, and the first-ever rights for the NBC Sports Network to televise men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse games.
Beginning with the upcoming 2012 football season and continuing through the 2014 lacrosse season, the NBC Sports Network will televise a minimum of six, but no more than 10, football games, six-to-10 men’s basketball games, and up to four men’s lacrosse games annually. Even more Ivy League games may be seen on a national basis within this agreement as the NBC Sports Network has acquired the rights to sublicense additional football and men’s basketball games to a national sports network.
“The Ivy League is excited to continue our relationship with the NBC Sports Network,” said Robin Harris, Ivy League Executive Director. “The NBC Sports Network has been an outstanding partner and we appreciate their interest in enhancing our existing relationship by increasing the number of games and sports. We are pleased to showcase more Ivy League competition nationally to our passionate fan base which has a thirst for Ivy League athletics.”
“We are proud to again partner with the Ivy League, a conference whose institutions and student-athletes consistently comport themselves with great distinction while attracting an audience with a favorable demographic for our growing sports network,” said Jon Miller, President, Programming, NBC Sports & NBC Sports Network. “With this renewal, the Ivy League will now provide quality content for the NBC Sports Network across three college seasons.”
Per the agreement, the NBC Sports Network will televise the annual football game played between Harvard and Yale, known as “The Game”, in both 2012 and 2013. In 2012, “The Game” will be played at Harvard and will mark the 129th iteration of the rivalry. Yale leads the series 65-55-8.
Back with more later.
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