I look at Slive with the eye of a person who has been outside of the SEC. My time out from this conference has allowed me to see our Commissioner as a man who stands largely silent until he has something to say. In Goodfellas speak, he is Paulie.

He stood silent and then hit everyone with the largest TV deal ever. IMO he's doing that again.

He did that to a lesser degree when it comes to realignment, allowing Big Ten and Pac 12 people to make their plays, and then he got the big score.

If anything, the fact that he's starting to chirp on this gives me a warm satisfaction that we will be on the right side of this issue in no time. He habitually has played his cards close to the vest, right before he plays a royal flush.

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by aggressor

Austin, TX

Member since Sep 2011

8714 posts

Posted on 4/30/13 at 8:41 am to RocketBallz

Actually I think Slive is being very modest in those statements. The SEC sat back and watched everything about how the Big 1G launched and developed its network and it did the same for the LHN and to a lesser extent the Pac. They have addressed the weaknesses of each prior to launch, that's why it is a sure thing.

1. Get the right partner. Having ESPN as a partner is immeasurably better than Fox because ESPN is the dominant sports channel, esp for college sports. It also has Sportscenter and multiple successful networks already. This is huge not only for management but for advertising and promotion. Sportscenter and Gameday will essentially become even more SEC dominated than they are now.

2. Add markets to make it profitable. This is where A&M and Mizzou obviously fit in.

3. Have a lengthy buildup to launch to grow demand. The Big 1G Network launched but no one really knew what to expect and thus it took a while to get going. Everyone can see what potential there is for the SEC Network.

4. Build up content. This has been the focus for some time and ESPN has been working with the SEC. If you look at the 30 for 30's and "SEC Storied" it is essentially all just a warmup to create content.

5. Making your 2nd Tier Rights holder your partner. This will allow the SEC Network to show as many games as it wants and to put high quality games on the network that people want to see.

6. Develop relationships with providers BEFORE you launch. This has clearly been going on behind the scenes. They are going to be picked up quickly all over.

Page 1 2