The ACC’s media rights deal with ESPN has been harshly criticized. That assessment is deserved too. The ACC’s base deal is the lowest among the power 4. While the ACC Network is a massive success, the base deal is the primary reason why Clemson and FSU currently have lawsuits against the conference. Let’s get that out of the way first, the deal isn’t good for the ACC.
Is it good for ESPN? Well, they decided to re-up. However you may want to dissect that, the ACC has some value to ESPN, because ESPN is dropping other sports
Surprisingly ESPN is opting out of the final 3 years of its agreement with major league baseball.
Manfred said the league ultimately decided to opt out of the TV deal because of “ESPN’s aggressive effort to reduce rights fees.”
“Over the past several months, ESPN has approached us with a desire to reduce the amount they pay for MLB content over the remainder of the term.
ESPN is also expected to drop its coverage of Formula 1.
According to PUCK’s John Ourand, ESPN is “getting out of the Formula 1 business” and is not expected to broadcast the racing series starting in 2026. ESPN’s current deal with Formula 1 ends this year,
Let’s not forget ESPN couldn’t stay in the Big 10 viewing business either.
We didn’t expect them to opt out of the ACC deal, and they didn’t, but it’s clear ESPN is feeling the financial pinch. Considering the Pac-12 couldn’t secure an open market deal before it collapsed, the day and age of uncontrollable media rights growth may be coming to an end.
That doesn’t mean ESPN is broke though, as they’ve re-entered the negotiations for the NFL Network and NFL Redzone. Let’s face it the NFL is exploding.
According to Ourand, ESPN and the NFL are discussing a deal that would see NFL Network and RedZone fall under ESPN’s auspices. The four-letter network would also get control of the league’s fantasy football offering, which would be folded into the new Flagship streaming service that ESPN plans to launch this fall.
The deal would give ESPN even more negotiating power with cable distributors than it already has,
What does it mean for the ACC? Well, it does mean there is less competition for ESPN dollars, though I’m not sure it doesn’t end up all in Greg Sankey’s conference. I’ll believe ESPN adds money to the ACC when it actually happens, but the possibility does exist and has been tossed around. Anything tied to ESPN and its ability to negotiate with cable distributors could indirectly help the ACC.
It’s too early to say if this helps the ACC, but ESPN does seem to positioning itself for the next few years, and the ACC is included.
