ESPN's Latest Obsession: The SEC
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
More on ESPN and the SEC and this relationship will implicate college sports went up at FanHouse just a few minutes ago. Here's a preview. About to head out to Otter's for our live ClayNation radio show tonight from 7-9. Should be fun.
Last summer, the SEC signed a new $2.25 billion television rights deal with ESPN. The amount was staggering. ESPN is now on the hook for $150 million per year for the next 15 years. Now we know that every SEC football game will be televised on the network's broadcast partners, infinitely more basketball games will arrive on the network, and sundry lesser sports will also be featured.
It's a deal of tremendous implications that catapults SEC sports coverage into the realm of professional sports. What's been left unexamined is how this will change ESPN's news coverage of the league, and how that resulting coverage is going to make the SEC the de facto national college league of choice. Why? Because ESPN has spent so much money on the rights packages, the SEC has to be front and center.
Don't believe me? It's already happening.
Just take a look at Tennessee football and Kentucky basketball. Since Lane Kiffin's hire, Tennessee has soaked up all the world's supply of college football news. For several days in mid-May, five of the top 10 college football storise on ESPN.com were Tennessee features. Last week, six of 10 were Kentucky basketball stories. That means, for a while, Tennessee and Kentucky, just two programs out of the more than 450 combined top-division basketball and football teams, were receiving over half of ESPN's news coverage. In the process, ESPN has already set about making national figures of Kiffin and John Calipari.
You'll love these guys or you'll hate these guys, but no matter what you'll have an opinion.
And ESPN has picked two major figures that already have national profiles outside of the South to help drive ratings across the country. Coach Cal is very well known on the East Coast thanks to his tour of duty at UMass and his turn as head coach of the New Jersey Nets.
Similarly, Kiffin is well known to sports fans on the west coast. He's got the sexy USC connection in Los Angeles, he's got a messy NFL divorce in Oakland, and now he's come South to take the helm of one of the SEC's most storied programs. Bang, you get two coaches with national renown on different coasts who ESPN can feature as lightning rods for national stories.
All of a sudden, a region's rivalries have become a nation's, as fans everywhere are being indoctrinated into the characters of SEC sports. Love them or hate them, you have an opinion of these two men. And if you have an opinion, you're more likely to tune into the sporting contests, making the upcoming seasons at Tennessee and Kentucky of national interest. Labels: claynation espn's latest obsession the sec coach cal lane kiffin
Posted by Clay Travis at 5:00 PM
 
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