SEC school signs largest media rights deal in history of college athletics

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Texas A&M Athletics has signed the largest media rights deal in the history of college athletics. Texas A&M University and Playfly Sports have agreed to a 15-year deal. An announcement is expected from university officials later on Friday morning. TexAgs’ co-owner and executive editor Billy Liucci was first with the news. Additionally, the agreement will pay Texas A&M $34 million annually for a 15-year total of $515 million, fully guaranteed. This A&M-Playfly agreement is currently the richest media rights deal in the history of college sports. For A&M, the first-year payout will be an increase of $12 million from the final year of the current Learfield Sports agreement. Additionally, the school will receive $95 million over the first three years of this deal with Playfly. Further, an unspecified portion of sponsorship deals will be earmarked for Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) opportunities for Texas A&M student-athletes. Additionally, Playfly represents the multimedia rights of 25 different college athletic departments and those of three conferences (ACC, Big East, Pac-12). From the Southeastern Conference, Auburn University and Louisiana State University are affiliated with the company. PlayFly also boasts national, regional and local platforms that cover 1,920+ professional basketball games (NBA and WNBA), 4,200+ MLB games, 1,600+ NHL games and many more through its Home Team Sports platform each season. In December 2015, it was announced that A&M and Learfield Sports had reached a 10-year campus-wide revenue model. Through its operation of Texas A&M Sports Properties, Learfield has marketed corporate sponsorships connected with the Texas A&M Athletics Department since 2006. That deal will expire later this year.

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