Get ready college football fans. Your dream of hearing Pam Ward call the Fiesta Bowl just got a little more realistic. And that playoff thing? Yeah, not so much. Especially with negotiations for four more years of the BCS going on.
The whole system may be a frustrating mess, but the price of showing the games is going up, even in this crappy economy. Fox is paying about $82.5 million per year to show all of the BCS bowl games other than the Rose Bowl, but ESPN is reportedly bringing the heat in an attempt to gain control of all five games.
Fox’s deal expires after this season’s games. SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY says that the BCS is seeking $500 million for four years, which is about a 50% increase yearly, and that Disney (ESPN’s parent company) is interested at that price. Fox is reportedly offering about $100 million per year.
If ESPN gets the contract, they will then be able to move the Rose Bowl from ABC to ESPN as well, meaning that all five BCS games would not be on network TV for the first time ever. Although, at this point, if you’re a sports fan and don’t have cable or satellite, you’re just not even trying.
USA TODAY says there’s a very specific reason why Disney wants to put the games on ESPN, and not ABC:
ESPN, in bidding for big events such as NFL Monday Night Football, has a financial advantage of broadcast networks such as Fox, which gets all its TV sports revenues from ad sales. ESPN, like other cable networks, has an additional revenue stream: the fees they charge cable operators, which are the highest in the industry.
If the deal goes through, it will be interesting to see how many ESPN personalities magically decide that the BCS is fantastic and that the whole playoff idea is a bunch of garbage. The network has been milking the “BCS vs. playoff” argument for years, but the overlords at our nation’s six biggest conferences may not take too kindly to the system being trashed on their flagship network.
4:47 pm on November 11th, 2008
You can't spell "BCS" without "BS".
4:54 pm on November 11th, 2008
Does this mean more Lee Corso? Ugh.
4:59 pm on November 11th, 2008
One positive I see is no longer having to sit through commercials for "Prison Break", "Bones" or "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?".
5:07 pm on November 11th, 2008
Fine with me. I never watch these games anyway.
5:19 pm on November 11th, 2008
I can't wait to see more thrilling Illinois-USC and Hawaii-Georgia matchups!
5:31 pm on November 11th, 2008
Everybody complains about the BCS, unless their team is in the title running.
8:18 pm on November 11th, 2008
If there's anyone out there who truly believes the BCS was created for anything else besides making money, I have some oceanfront property in Nebraska I'd like to sell you.
8:27 pm on November 11th, 2008
Like it or not, the BCS is here to say. And I'd rather have it than a playoff. In the current system, the regular season is just one big playoff, and it makes for four months of excitement instead of a couple of weeks.
And I'll be smiling come January, when Texas Tech loses to Oklahoma & is upset by Baylor, and the Sooners get stomped by Oklahoma State, putting the Longhorns in the Big 12 title game & the BCS championship soon after.
8:44 pm on November 11th, 2008
Yeah, you keep thinking that, Horndog. While you're at it, why not wish for a pony?
8:52 pm on November 11th, 2008
We certainly enjoyed the BCS last year - at least up until gametime at the Sugar Bowl.
9:01 pm on November 11th, 2008
MinnyCooper:
You forget that ESPN is owned by Disney, which also owns ABC. And the network is not afraid to cross-promote with its fellow network, so you're sure to see plenty of ads for "Life on Mars", "Dirty Sexy Money" & "Extreme Makeover".
1:17 pm on November 12th, 2008
Hey Bermans 222 dealer, is the "oceanfront property" near Grand Island, Neb? That's funny! In all seriousness, though, this will cause me to watch ESPN less and less. Monday Night Football and the NBA are good, but otherwise the programming has really gone down the toilet.