re: How did we not totally get our lunch eaten by the Big Ten with the new TV deals?

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said three years ago, losing CBS was beyond dumb. Their production run’s circles around ESPN. Plus you never put all your eggs in one basket.

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I don’t think leaving CBS for our tier one rights was dumb. They didn’t want to pay what they were worth. They then panicked and bought tier 2 rights with the big 10 for more than what we were asking for out tier - rights, that’s dumb by them, good move by the B1G. In addition CBS still hasn’t produced a single game in 4K and doesn’t look like they will anytime soon.

So essentially we swapped our SEC 3:30 CBS game of the week for what will be a Prime time ABC game of the week for more money ($300m) than CBS was willing to pay. I think that’s a pretty damn good move. ABC/ESPN own the media rights for the playoffs through 25/26, Sec 100%, ACC 100%, and Big 12 60%. Who do you think I’d going to get all the air time and talking points?

I think the really stupid move was the B1G completely abandoning ESPN. It is by far the biggest voice in sports and college football. The B1G stories on ESPN will be far and few between going forward with the focus on SEC, ACC, and Big 12 football during football season and ACC/SEC during the basketball season. The new SEC/ACC basketball challenge will only elevate SEC basketball more.