Thanks to the great Matt Sarzyniak of Matt’s College Sports on TV for passing this press release along. It’s from the Pacific 12 Conference on the new media rights deals with ESPN and Fox, but there are some interesting points passed along in regards to what will be its own in-house network. The Pac-12 Network will begin operation in the 2012-13 season and there are some very important points that we should know and should follow here.
- The Pac-12 Network will carry 36 regular season football games averaging three per week.
- The Pac-12 Football Championship Game will be carried in primetime on a Friday night.
- Over 120 regular season basketball games will be carried on the Pac-12 Network and its digital platforms.
- The Pac-12 Tournament preliminary games will be carried on the Pac-12 Network.
- 200 Olympic Sports events will be aired on Pac-12 Network.
So you can see the Conference’s own network was a very important part of the new rights deal. Here’s the Pac-12 press release.
Pac-12 Announces Landmark Media Rights Deal With ESPN, Fox Sports Media Group
The Pac-12 Conference today announced it is teaming up with ESPN and FOX Sports Media Group on a landmark agreement for a broadcast and national cable television package that extends and expands long-time partnerships with both media companies.
At the same time, Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott announced the creation of a new media company, Pac-12 Media Enterprises, which will own the Pac-12 Network, the Pac-12 Digital Network, and Pac-12 Properties. This new company will control and distribute on its platforms and on all devices, the Pac-12 games not licensed to ESPN and FOX Sports, and will hold other media and event rights. This entity will be wholly owned and controlled by the Pac-12 Conference and will exist side-by-side with the newly announced ESPN and FOX Sports arrangements.
Although terms of the ESPN and Fox Sports agreements were not disclosed, Scott called it a “landmark deal” on several fronts. He pointed out that the Pac-12’s member institutions would, for the first time ever, share equally in the revenue from the new arrangement, and that the equal revenue distribution would start immediately when the deal goes into effect in 2012.
Expressing his satisfaction with the agreement, Commissioner Scott said, “We are especially delighted to be strengthening and expanding our relationship with ESPN and FOX Sports to deliver an unprecedented level of innovative sports programming to large national audiences across the country. With this agreement, we will deliver our events over two broadcast networks and at least five premiere national cable platforms. In addition, we will have our own Pac-12 National Cable TV platform and Pac-12 Digital Network platform.”
Pac-12 Network Will Expand Reach
Scott also further explained the decision to move forward with Pac-12 Media Enterprises: “We are equally excited by the creation of Pac-12 Media Enterprises, which will enable us to launch our own Pac-12 television and digital networks, providing significantly more exposure for women’s sports and Olympic sports in which the Pac-12 excels, in addition to academic and other campus programming of interest to our fan base. These new platforms will also provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to control the distribution of our intellectual property rights in sports, education and other Conference and membership initiatives.”
Scott clarified that Pac-12 Media Enterprises will independently manage and sell all of the sponsorship and licensing rights controlled by the Conference, as well as the Pac-12 Football Championship Game and the Men’s and Women’s Championship Basketball tournaments. FOX Sports previously managed the activities. The partnership with ESPN and FOX Sports will be a natural compliment to our future plans, which we look forward to sharing soon.” ESPN and FOX Sports will have the rights to sell a presenting sponsorship to the Pac-12 football championship game as well as the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament. Pac-12 Properties will retain all other conference controlled sponsorship rights.
Also expressing his enthusiasm for the agreement was Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University, who is Chairman of the Pac-12 CEO Group: “At a time when universities, and especially state universities, find themselves greatly challenged to meet budget commitments, an arrangement that will secure an important revenue and exposure stream over a 12-year period is especially helpful, not only for athletics but for our academic programs as well. While we recognize that contributions from donors and other sources remain critical, this agreement is welcome. We are especially proud of the commitment it reflects to equal revenue sharing across all our member universities, reflecting the core values of our Conference. This is truly a great day for our students, alumni, and fans everywhere.”
Extended National Exposure
The new 12-year deal goes into effect in 2012, and includes “TV Everywhere” platform rights for the broadcast, national cable and Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Digital Network packages (the ability to distribute games on any and all available platforms, including the computer, mobile and tablets). Its content highlights include:
- 44 regular-season football games televised annually on select ESPN and FOX broadcast or national cable networks, including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOX broadcast network and FX.
- 10 regular-season football games per year will be on a combination of the ABC and FOX broadcast networks with full national clearance with a substantial commitment for primetime coverage.
- 34 regular-season games on national cable networks, FX, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.
- The remaining regular-season football games, an average of approximately three games per week, will be featured exclusively on the Pac-12 Network.
- The Pac-12 Football Championship Game, starting with FOX Sports in 2012 (FOX already has rights to the inaugural 2011 game) and then rotating between FOX Sports and ESPN each year. The game will take place on a Friday night primetime.
- 68 regular-season men’s basketball games, appearing on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and Fox Sports Net.
- The balance of regular-season men’s basketball games, over 120 each year, will be featured exclusively on either the Pac-12 Network or Pac 12 Digital Network.
- The Conference’s men’s basketball tournament (quarterfinals, semi-finals and the championship game) will be shown on ESPN/ESPN2 or FOX Sports/FX. ESPN will broadcast the first basketball championships and then rotate with FOX/FX each year thereafter. The balance of the tournament will be featured exclusively on the Pac 12 Network. Fox Sports Net continues to hold all rights to the 2012 tournament.
- Five women’s basketball games, including the Championship game of the Pac-12 women’s basketball tournament, plus 10 more Olympic sports events, on the ESPN family of networks.
- The Pac-12 Network will exclusively feature approximately another 200 live Olympic sports telecasts across 30 men’s and women’s sports annually.
- The Pac-12 Digital Networks will feature several hundred other live Pac-12 athletic events on an annual basis, not covered by ESPN, FOX Sports or the Pac-12 Network.
To ensure a fair distribution of games, ESPN, FOX Sports and the Pac-12 Network (which in July adds the University of Utah and the University of Colorado) will share pre-determined football and men’s basketball selection rights.
The Pac-12 Conference retained Evolution Media Capital (EMC), an affiliate of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), as its media and financial adviser and Proskauer Rose as legal counsel.
“Significantly enhancing premier content from a conference with the tradition, passion and excellence of the Pac-12 strengthens our networks,” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president, content. “As we grow our longstanding relationship with the Conference, fans will be able to watch ESPN’s Pac-12 coverage on any screen they choose.”
“Today’s announcement with the Pac-12 reaffirms FOX Sports Media Group’s long-term commitment to college sports programming,” said Randy Freer, president of FOX Sports Networks. “We believe that this rights package provides tremendous value across a variety of platforms, including FOX Sports, which will offer its first-ever slate of over-the-air, regular season college football games.”
And that is it.
