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Greg Sankey believes the SEC’s ESPN deal is undervalued.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:22 am
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:22 am
He said this in May of 2026.
What was SEC leadership thinking when he lead this deal out?
I would rather have some old Alabama booster from Gulf Shores that knows the actual value of what this conference has been over the years.
This conference was largely ignored by northern elitist sportswriters pre 1990s.
The SEC still went on to be the best league and provide the best rivalries top to bottom.
The 3:30 game on CBS was always the top attraction.
Then somehow the SEC decided on a 770 million contract vs Big 10’s 1.15 billion. And we STILL added a ninth game.
Explain how this fox got into the hen house?
I say this knowing that there will be disagreements on the actual numbers, and how ESPN has helped us with the SEC network.
But the inventory was always there annf we let ESPN/Disney/ ABC have it all, while the Big10 let cbs/nbc/Fox bid competitively.
By allowing some hack from New York, we squandered a lot of money on the table while increasing the difficulty of schedule at a time where the CFP doesn’t respect SOS.
What was SEC leadership thinking when he lead this deal out?
I would rather have some old Alabama booster from Gulf Shores that knows the actual value of what this conference has been over the years.
This conference was largely ignored by northern elitist sportswriters pre 1990s.
The SEC still went on to be the best league and provide the best rivalries top to bottom.
The 3:30 game on CBS was always the top attraction.
Then somehow the SEC decided on a 770 million contract vs Big 10’s 1.15 billion. And we STILL added a ninth game.
Explain how this fox got into the hen house?
I say this knowing that there will be disagreements on the actual numbers, and how ESPN has helped us with the SEC network.
But the inventory was always there annf we let ESPN/Disney/ ABC have it all, while the Big10 let cbs/nbc/Fox bid competitively.
By allowing some hack from New York, we squandered a lot of money on the table while increasing the difficulty of schedule at a time where the CFP doesn’t respect SOS.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:23 am to dstone12
Stankass is a criminal and needs to be prosecuted.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:26 am to dstone12
The current deal was negotiated before TX and OU joined.
The B1G's deal was a panic spend by CBS after the lost the SEC.
The B1G's deal was a panic spend by CBS after the lost the SEC.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:33 am to dstone12
quote:
Explain how this fox got into the hen house?
Mike Slive hired his hometown yankee buddy (Sankey) to work under him, then the conference brass lazily promoted Sankey when Slive retired
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:37 am to dstone12
Agreed. Negotiations will happen very soon if they expand to 16 which is about to happen. Goodbye conference championship games. They were fun while it lasted.
Expecting atleast $1.5B or look into Netflix/HBO Max
Expecting atleast $1.5B or look into Netflix/HBO Max
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:38 am to dstone12
Agree, you added OU and Texas to the already best conference period and got screwed because the bulk of the media comes from the Midwest and educated at big10 schools thus their bias
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:40 am to TexasWranglers
B10 owns the media. It doesn’t help that Sankey sucks at his job
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:41 am to dstone12
When the deal was signed, it was a landmark deal. One could argue it could have fought for a shorter term to account for changes or expansion clause to renegotiate from a stronger position.
The BIG benefitted from having a benchmark that the SEC established, planned expansion into other big markets, and sports media inflation with competition from streaming services. They leveraged that into a better payout and shorter term.
The SEC was largely just happy to get out from under a horrible CBS deal. But, they hardly got screwed. They just acted 20 months to early to really maximize the boom.
The BIG benefitted from having a benchmark that the SEC established, planned expansion into other big markets, and sports media inflation with competition from streaming services. They leveraged that into a better payout and shorter term.
The SEC was largely just happy to get out from under a horrible CBS deal. But, they hardly got screwed. They just acted 20 months to early to really maximize the boom.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:42 am to ColoradoAg
Something longhorns and Aggies can agree on
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:45 am to dstone12
Sankey is in over his head. Nothing but blunders....
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:48 am to PSS101
quote:
Sankey is in over his head. Nothing but blunders....
Is he, or is he a B1G plant to tank the conf?
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:49 am to dstone12
B1G has maybe 2-3 games a year worth watching. Sankey is dumb.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:52 am to Night Vision
He got slapped by the networks with the BIG tv deal.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:55 am to Drebin
quote:
The current deal was negotiated before TX and OU joined.
They added $300M to the deal when they joined (to the $700M existing) so it's a billion a year deal now; which still is a bit embarrassing compared to the B10's deal which i believe they got like $1.4B recently.
SEC should be getting $1.5B+ easily
This post was edited on 9/30/26 at 8:57 am
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:56 am to dstone12
Theres a little more to it than just ou/tex value vs usc/ucla/wash/Oregon value. Ou and Tex while superior brands are in a saturated market time zone wise. Est and central have zero shortage of premium brands outside of ou/tex. You got bama barn, the three Florida schools, lsu Aggie nd Ohio st Mich Tenn Clem uga Penn st etc….out west you have usc Oregon and maybe Washington. That’s it. Networks are willing to pay more money for teams that can sell the late night spot. It’s like how jobs pay more money for the graveyard shift bc the pool of workers is smaller. It’s not they’re better workers it’s supply and demand.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 8:58 am to dstone12
I guess he wants everyone paying more for ESPN.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 9:02 am to ColoradoAg
quote:
doesn’t help that Sankey sucks at his job
Lane and Governor Look At Me are fighting the good fight to fire that clown.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 9:04 am to dstone12
quote:
Greg Sankey believes the SEC’s ESPN deal is undervalued.
It was a massive failure on Sankey's part.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 9:06 am to thunderbird1100
quote:
They added $300M to the deal when they joined (to the $700M existing) so it's a billion a year deal now; which still is a bit embarrassing compared to the B10's deal which i believe they got like $1.4B recently.
SEC should be getting $1.5B+ easily
It was really more of a shell game, or financial reallocation, from the big 12 deal.
They'll be renegotiating in a couple of years and the SEC will get paid. Nobody's tuning to CBS Saturday afternoon to watch Iowa vs Minnesota. There will be a huge bidding war.
It's dishonest to judge these deals in hindsight anyway. At the time it was signed, the deal was pretty groundbreaking.
Posted on 9/30/26 at 9:06 am to moneyg
I think the consumer product is stellar though. Start to finish SEC games
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