Tony Barnhart of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that two major things can be taken from the new SEC-CBS pact:
1) This mega-deal seals Mike Slive’s legacy as SEC commissioner.
A couple of weeks ago, Phillip Fulmer, upset that Brandon Warren had yet to be declared eligible, threw a barb toward the commissioner saying that he must be up to his eyeballs in tv contracts to not have given a ruling on Warren.
Apparently he WAS up to his eyeballs in tv contacts.
(Of course, Warren’s fate was and is in the hands of the NCAA anyway, so the comment about Slive was off-base to begin with.)
To hammer out a 15-year deal, the longest in tv sports history, has to have taken a lot of hours and a lot of negotiating. The only word to use is “unprecedented.”
Now, back to Barnhart… he writes that Roy Kramer brought the SEC into the modern age financially during his tenure as commish. And now Slive has done it all over again… and his legacy is secure.
2) There will be no SEC Network.
That’s the thinking of Barnhart anyway. Why would there be an SEC Network? This new deal is the king of contracts. And when the financial numbers are released, expect to be astounded all over again.
I agree that this probably spells the end of SEC Network talk. But I’ve said that on this site since May. There are too many schools with their own 10-year multimedia deals worth $50-100 million each.
The SEC would have to gain control of all those rights to launch a network. That’s a lot of negotiations and a lot of buy-outs.
This deal, with its length and cash, should render all of those negotiations and buy-outs unnecessary.
(Sidenote — Barnhart also adds that he agrees with Forbes Magazine’s rank of Nick Saban as sports’ most powerful coach: “… based on my experience there is no coach I know whose fingerprints are on every moving part of a football program the way Saban’s are at Alabama.”)
