/ 07.08.2010 12:00AM
ESPN $1.86 Billion ACC Deal Includes 3D Coverage
BRISTOL, CONN.: ESPN today confirmed its new 12-year deal with
the Atlantic Coast Conference, which will include 3D game coverage. Reports
first emerged in May that ESPN and ABC Sports had reached a $1.86 billion
agreement for the broadcast rights to select ACC college sporting events.
Details were announced today by George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC
Sports, and John Swofford, ACC commissioner; and reported by ESPN’s Heather
Dinich.
“ESPN and the ACC have reached a 12-year agreement for exclusive rights to
every conference-controlled football and men’s basketball game, plus women’s
basketball and Olympic sports matchups, and conference championships,” Dinich
wrote at the sports network’s
blog
site.
The agreement commences with the 2011-12 season and continues through 2022-23.
“It will result in approximately 4,800 ACC events over the 12 years on ESPN’s
television outlets, digital and mobile platforms, syndication and more,” Dinich
said. “The college football portion of the agreement includes games on Saturday
afternoons and nights, primetime Thursdays, 
Labor Day Monday and the ACC
championship game.”
Select ACC games will be carried live on ESPN 3D and across the various ESPN
networks, including the primary, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, International and
Desportes. ABC will also broadcast games and carry the conference championship
matchup.
Mobile, digital and syndication rights are included in the agreement. The deal
provides for continued broadcast syndication of the games by Raycom Sports
through a sublicense, and adds regional cable syndication.
The deal will yield around $155 million a year for the ACC collective, up from
around $67 million annually under the current agreement with ESPN and Fox
Sports.
Conference officials started shopping for a better deal last summer after the Southeastern
Conference scored one for $3 billion, yielding $205 million annually over 15
years. The SEC struck its broadcast deal, which started this year, with CBS,
ABC and ESPN.
Swofford told news outlets last July that he intended to seek a better deal for
the schools so they could continue to compete. Each of the SEC schools receive
roughly $16 million a year from the current contract. The ACC schools averaged
around $3.1 million from the expiring contract. Clemson, for example was reported
to receive $6.5 million. Under the new contract, ACC schools will receive an
average of $12 million a year.
--
Deborah D. McAdams