NEW YORK – ESPN and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have agreed to a US$920 million (S$1.22 billion), eight-year extension to their media rights deal that covers 40 championships, including international rights to the “March Madness” college basketball tournament.
The agreement has an annual average value of US$115 million, which more than triples the amount ESPN paid on average each year under the previous 14-year agreement, the NCAA said.
The deal deepens ESPN’s commitment to college sports, which have been part of the network’s DNA since its launch in 1979.
The new NCAA deal includes domestic rights to 21 women’s and 19 men’s championship events, including the women’s basketball championship game, which in 2023 drew 9.9 million viewers.
It adds coverage of Division I men’s and women’s tennis team championships and the collegiate men’s gymnastic championships.
However, Bruin Capital founder George Pyne, a former Ivy League offensive lineman, believes college football should get special treatment.
“College football is the No. 2 sport in America – in attendance, in television ratings,” he said on Jan 4 on Bloomberg Television.
“It generates US$6 billion to US$8 billion a year, and those players deserve to be paid. And I think you see the courts now recognising that.”
The sport trails only the National Football League in United States popularity. While paying college athletes remains a hot-button issue, even after the so-called name-image-likeness rule cleared the way for endorsement revenue.
On the NCAA-ESPN’s deal, he said: “That’s for 40 sports. Meanwhile, rights to the College Football Play-off might go for more than US$2 billion. It just shows the disparity between college football and all the other college sports.”
In total, the deal encompasses 24,000 college games spanning more than 20 conferences – enough to provide content across a portfolio of media properties, including the ABC network, ESPN and the ESPN+ streaming service.
Live sports have proven a resilient audience draw, even at a time when television audiences are shrinking. In October, ESPN clinched the US broadcast rights for TGL – a new prime-time golf league created by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
The new NCAA agreement expands ESPN’s digital rights, setting the stage for the network’s eventual transition to streaming. Disney has said it is seeking minority partners, as the marquee sports network makes its digital leap.
“The NCAA has worked in earnest over the past year to ensure that this new broadcast agreement provides the best possible outcome for all NCAA championships, and in particular women’s championships,” said NCAA president Charlie Baker.
With the increase in the agreement’s value, the association will explore revenue distribution units for the women’s basketball tournament, the NCAA said.
The tie-up between the association and ESPN began in 1979, the year of ESPN’s original network launch. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
