(12-18-2023 04:48 PM)cubucks Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:16 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:11 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 01:24 PM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  Right now, ESPN has FSU's content extremely cheap because they are on the backend of the awful ACC Media Deal.

Another round of realignment would be hazardous to ESPN.

B1G would likely go to market and get more money from NBC or add The CW. (which had a great first year)

What did NBC get for their ~ $350m to the B1G?

11/24 - PSU vs MSU - 3.38m viewers #10 that week
11/18 - Nebraska vs Wisconsin - 2.45m #7 that week
11/11 - MSU vs tOSU 3.57m #6 that week
11/4 - Purdue vs Michigan 2.6m #9
10/28 - tOSU vs Wisconson, 4.87m #2
10/21 - Michigan vs MSU 3.73m #4
10/21 - Minnesota vs Iowa 1.68m #10
10/7 - Michigan vs Minnesota 3.07m #6
9/30 - MSU vs Iowa 2.17m #9
9/23 - Maryland v MSU 1.24m #15
9/16 - Syracuse v Purdue 1.25m #12
9/9 - Charlotte v Maryland 665k #17
9/2 - WV v PSU 3.5m #5

Compare that with what they got from ND
11/18 - WF v ND 1.48m #13 for week
10/28 - Pitt v ND 1.89m #11 for week
10/14 - USC v ND 6.43m #2 for week
9/23 - tOSU v ND (at ND) 9.98m #2 for week
9/2 - Tenn St v ND 1.56m #15 for week
8/26 - Navy v ND 3.56m #1 for week 0

NBC got the ND vs tOSU game b/c it was at ND, but they didn't get the ND vs Clemson game (which hit 10m just a couple years ago) b/c it was @ Clemson. 2 ND games over 5m with one at basically 10m, those 2 are probably worth more than all the B1G games combined for NBC. Don't give any bonus for the couple of huge ND games and just add in total viewership for the 6 ND games vs the 13 B1G games?

ND: 24.9m
B1G: 34.3m

B1G cost ~ $350m
ND cost ~ $15m

It's hardly any wonder that NBC agreed to such a huge bump in ND's pay. Even with a so-so season, ND still delivered the ratings for NBC, while the 2nd or 3rd best weekly B1G game mostly didn't. In fact, NBC didn't get over 5m a single time in their 13 B1G contests, despite a bevy of games that looked solid on paper throughout the season. Their schedule doesn't look as appealing in 2024, with only FSU as a premier home game and potentially Louisville as another, but in 2025? They get USC, A&M and a couple of ACC games that look to be pretty interesting. ND's ratings seem likely to remain solid.

However, what about the B1G? Isn't CBS going to get more of those 2nd-choice B1G contests starting next year? NBC's slate of 2024 B1G contests seems unlikely to surpass what they got this year. If I was running the numbers at NBC, I'd want more ND home games and less of Purdue-Michigan and a whole lot less MSU games.

And all of that can be readily explained by saying football is a Southeastern and Southwestern sport for which the enthusiasm is shared in Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan. With Notre Dame it is merely the size of the base that identifies with their brand, more than any location. Post Boomers the comparison will be even more stark.

I don't think football is a southern sport. Maybe college football is, but football in general is a national sport. NFL stadiums in LA, Denver, San Francisco, Minnesota, Chicago, and Indianapolis have all been at that 100% attendance for 2023. If we include the three states you mentioned, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, they are all a touch over 100%. If the new look college football becomes more "NFL like", we may just pull a lot of professional sports fans back to the college game. Those NFL TV numbers make the college game look silly.

Right - I absolutely loathe the argument that somehow Southerners watch more football and care about it more because they only focus on the high schools on Friday and colleges on Saturday, but then forget that the largest football viewing numbers of them all come on Sundays. (I will grant the Dallas market as a key exception there as an across the board top tier football market at every level.) The NFL numbers show this where the top markets are generally the Northern Rust Belt cities with a huge overlap with the traditional Big Ten footprint. As you’ve noted, those NFL numbers dwarf any college football numbers. Every week of the NFL regular season so far has had at least 1 game with a larger viewership than Michigan-Ohio State and most weeks had at least 2 (and Thanksgiving weekend alone had 4).

(12-18-2023 01:37 PM)UpStreamRedTeam Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 01:07 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  I just had that thought while I was having lunch and mulling all of this FSU stuff over.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

Please show your work. What is ESPN doing to FSU that is harming the B1G?

FYI, this is in the same category as the "Why Files" on YouTube with AJ & Hecklefish, and I am the author. I put in the subject line "conspiracy theory" to clearly separate it as fiction from fact. Well, Hecklefish, I guess your aliens are real after all. If anyone needs me, I'll be out hunting for leprechauns, fairies, and, of course, aliens!!

(12-18-2023 07:35 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 01:37 PM)UpStreamRedTeam Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 01:07 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  I just had that thought while I was having lunch and mulling all of this FSU stuff over.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

Please show your work. What is ESPN doing to FSU that is harming the B1G?

FYI, this is in the same category as the "Why Files" on YouTube with AJ & Hecklefish, and I am the author. I put in the subject line "conspiracy theory" to clearly separate it as fiction from fact. Well, Hecklefish, I guess your aliens are real after all. If anyone needs me, I'll be out hunting for leprechauns, fairies, and, of course, aliens!!

I'm familiar with the Why Files, so the reference is not lost on me.

(12-18-2023 04:50 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:41 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:26 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:11 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 01:24 PM)ArmoredUpKnight Wrote:  Right now, ESPN has FSU's content extremely cheap because they are on the backend of the awful ACC Media Deal.

Another round of realignment would be hazardous to ESPN.

B1G would likely go to market and get more money from NBC or add The CW. (which had a great first year)

What did NBC get for their ~ $350m to the B1G?

11/24 - PSU vs MSU - 3.38m viewers #10 that week
11/18 - Nebraska vs Wisconsin - 2.45m #7 that week
11/11 - MSU vs tOSU 3.57m #6 that week
11/4 - Purdue vs Michigan 2.6m #9
10/28 - tOSU vs Wisconson, 4.87m #2
10/21 - Michigan vs MSU 3.73m #4
10/21 - Minnesota vs Iowa 1.68m #10
10/7 - Michigan vs Minnesota 3.07m #6
9/30 - MSU vs Iowa 2.17m #9
9/23 - Maryland v MSU 1.24m #15
9/16 - Syracuse v Purdue 1.25m #12
9/9 - Charlotte v Maryland 665k #17
9/2 - WV v PSU 3.5m #5

Compare that with what they got from ND
11/18 - WF v ND 1.48m #13 for week
10/28 - Pitt v ND 1.89m #11 for week
10/14 - USC v ND 6.43m #2 for week
9/23 - tOSU v ND (at ND) 9.98m #2 for week
9/2 - Tenn St v ND 1.56m #15 for week
8/26 - Navy v ND 3.56m #1 for week 0

NBC got the ND vs tOSU game b/c it was at ND, but they didn't get the ND vs Clemson game (which hit 10m just a couple years ago) b/c it was @ Clemson. 2 ND games over 5m with one at basically 10m, those 2 are probably worth more than all the B1G games combined for NBC. Don't give any bonus for the couple of huge ND games and just add in total viewership for the 6 ND games vs the 13 B1G games?

ND: 24.9m - 4.15m per game
B1G: 34.3m - 2.63m per game

B1G cost ~ $350m
ND cost ~ $15m

It's hardly any wonder that NBC agreed to such a huge bump for ND's next contract. Even with an almost exactly average season (9 wins so far this year before the bowl game, ND is averaging 9.5 wins per year over the past 12 years), ND still delivered the ratings for NBC, while the 2nd or 3rd best weekly B1G game mostly didn't. In fact, NBC didn't get over 5m a single time in their 13 B1G contests, despite a bevy of games that looked solid on paper throughout the season. Their schedule doesn't look as appealing in 2024, with only FSU as a premier home game and potentially Louisville as another, but in 2025? They get USC, A&M and a couple of ACC games that look to be pretty interesting. ND's ratings seem likely to remain solid.

However, what about the B1G? Isn't CBS going to get more of those 2nd-choice B1G contests starting next year? NBC's slate of 2024 B1G contests seems unlikely to surpass what they got this year. If I was running the numbers at NBC, I'd want more ND home games and less of Purdue-Michigan and a whole lot less MSU games.

To be sure, this looks totally different with Oregon, Washington and USC games integrated. More importantly, it was the USC/UCLA expansion that got NBC to come back in and get the winning bid for the prime time package over Amazon. NBC wasn’t looking at paying a premium for the 14-school Big Ten (at least compared to Amazon or ESPN), but that changed with the USC/UCLA move.

Agreed. It's reasonable to expect a boost in the mid/upper tier of B1G highly rated games, but the pie will also be split more ways next year with CBS picking every week instead of just 5 times throughout the entire season. Those 5 picks were above the average of NBC's 13 games, with ratings ranging from 2.75m to 4.6m.

Hilariously, as I was scrolling back, I looked at CBS's last 6 SEC broadcasts this season:

SEC CCG: Georgia v Bama - 17.5m
11/25: Bama v Auburn - 9m
11/18: Georgia v Tennessee - 5.7m
11/11: Tennessee v Missouri - 3.6m
11/4: LSU v Alabama 8.8m
11/4: Missouri v Georgia - 7.0m

51.6m over their last 6 SEC contests, with scant prospect for even 1 CBS game a year in the B1G to beat that 6 game average. Nice job CBS.

CBS had no shot at the SEC contract signed with ESPN. And everyone needs to remember that this came well into a contract with the SEC that everyone in the industry recognized was grossly undervalued. The pro rata would have been simply a head nod to the rottenness of the existing contract and would have been accepted with some grace. CBS tossed away all of their good will with the SEC for the refusal to pay what at the time was a little over 7 million more annually for their share of the pro rata on the A&M and Missouri additions. Perfect illustration of penny wise and pound foolish. And we are now rid of Danielson to boot! But that said we still face a Mowins problems.

https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-the-bitt...45854.html

CBS was definitely penny wise but pound foolish, but despite that Sankey seems to be saying that he gave them first crack at the new deal.

In the end, two entities vied for the SEC’s weekly top football game rights: CBS and ESPN.

Sankey describes the negotiations as “straightforward rights conversations,” and while he declined to reveal specifics, he told Yahoo Sports that he entered with the “first priority” as renewing with CBS.

What happened?

“I respect that CBS had to make decisions. CBS understands we had to make decisions,” Sankey said. “Everybody makes decisions. I’m a more forward-looking person.”

McManus said the separation was “amicable.” The financials just didn’t make “sense” for both parties.

“There was no hidden agendas,” he said. “We went into it trying to make a deal that we thought benefited both sides. It was as simple as that.”

ESPN and ABC made an aggressive play. Toward the end of the negotiations, the network’s offer increased to at least $300 million for the 15-game package. But talks went beyond money. Having all of a league’s broadcasting rights under one single network umbrella provided flexibility and control for the conference when it comes to kickoff times — a key issue in the decision, Sankey said.

ESPN ultimately landed the package.

And then, just one day later, McManus reached out to then-Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.

“I called him and said, ‘I want to do for the Big Ten what we successfully have done with the SEC,’” McManus said.

Days later, at Big Ten headquarters in Chicago, the CBS team made an elaborate presentation during a pitch for Big Ten broadcasting rights. McManus said his message to Warren was clear: “We want to be your partners and are not talking to any other conferences for the 3:30 window.”

For decades, the SEC and Big Ten have waged battle on the field as well as away from it. It’s a sort-of Cold War of college football, two of the industry’s richest and most successful leagues attempting to one-up the other.

Sankey said that CBS was the "first priority". That tells me that CBS at least had a chance.

(12-18-2023 08:26 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:50 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:41 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:26 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:11 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  What did NBC get for their ~ $350m to the B1G?

11/24 - PSU vs MSU - 3.38m viewers #10 that week
11/18 - Nebraska vs Wisconsin - 2.45m #7 that week
11/11 - MSU vs tOSU 3.57m #6 that week
11/4 - Purdue vs Michigan 2.6m #9
10/28 - tOSU vs Wisconson, 4.87m #2
10/21 - Michigan vs MSU 3.73m #4
10/21 - Minnesota vs Iowa 1.68m #10
10/7 - Michigan vs Minnesota 3.07m #6
9/30 - MSU vs Iowa 2.17m #9
9/23 - Maryland v MSU 1.24m #15
9/16 - Syracuse v Purdue 1.25m #12
9/9 - Charlotte v Maryland 665k #17
9/2 - WV v PSU 3.5m #5

Compare that with what they got from ND
11/18 - WF v ND 1.48m #13 for week
10/28 - Pitt v ND 1.89m #11 for week
10/14 - USC v ND 6.43m #2 for week
9/23 - tOSU v ND (at ND) 9.98m #2 for week
9/2 - Tenn St v ND 1.56m #15 for week
8/26 - Navy v ND 3.56m #1 for week 0

NBC got the ND vs tOSU game b/c it was at ND, but they didn't get the ND vs Clemson game (which hit 10m just a couple years ago) b/c it was @ Clemson. 2 ND games over 5m with one at basically 10m, those 2 are probably worth more than all the B1G games combined for NBC. Don't give any bonus for the couple of huge ND games and just add in total viewership for the 6 ND games vs the 13 B1G games?

ND: 24.9m - 4.15m per game
B1G: 34.3m - 2.63m per game

B1G cost ~ $350m
ND cost ~ $15m

It's hardly any wonder that NBC agreed to such a huge bump for ND's next contract. Even with an almost exactly average season (9 wins so far this year before the bowl game, ND is averaging 9.5 wins per year over the past 12 years), ND still delivered the ratings for NBC, while the 2nd or 3rd best weekly B1G game mostly didn't. In fact, NBC didn't get over 5m a single time in their 13 B1G contests, despite a bevy of games that looked solid on paper throughout the season. Their schedule doesn't look as appealing in 2024, with only FSU as a premier home game and potentially Louisville as another, but in 2025? They get USC, A&M and a couple of ACC games that look to be pretty interesting. ND's ratings seem likely to remain solid.

However, what about the B1G? Isn't CBS going to get more of those 2nd-choice B1G contests starting next year? NBC's slate of 2024 B1G contests seems unlikely to surpass what they got this year. If I was running the numbers at NBC, I'd want more ND home games and less of Purdue-Michigan and a whole lot less MSU games.

To be sure, this looks totally different with Oregon, Washington and USC games integrated. More importantly, it was the USC/UCLA expansion that got NBC to come back in and get the winning bid for the prime time package over Amazon. NBC wasn’t looking at paying a premium for the 14-school Big Ten (at least compared to Amazon or ESPN), but that changed with the USC/UCLA move.

Agreed. It's reasonable to expect a boost in the mid/upper tier of B1G highly rated games, but the pie will also be split more ways next year with CBS picking every week instead of just 5 times throughout the entire season. Those 5 picks were above the average of NBC's 13 games, with ratings ranging from 2.75m to 4.6m.

Hilariously, as I was scrolling back, I looked at CBS's last 6 SEC broadcasts this season:

SEC CCG: Georgia v Bama - 17.5m
11/25: Bama v Auburn - 9m
11/18: Georgia v Tennessee - 5.7m
11/11: Tennessee v Missouri - 3.6m
11/4: LSU v Alabama 8.8m
11/4: Missouri v Georgia - 7.0m

51.6m over their last 6 SEC contests, with scant prospect for even 1 CBS game a year in the B1G to beat that 6 game average. Nice job CBS.

CBS had no shot at the SEC contract signed with ESPN. And everyone needs to remember that this came well into a contract with the SEC that everyone in the industry recognized was grossly undervalued. The pro rata would have been simply a head nod to the rottenness of the existing contract and would have been accepted with some grace. CBS tossed away all of their good will with the SEC for the refusal to pay what at the time was a little over 7 million more annually for their share of the pro rata on the A&M and Missouri additions. Perfect illustration of penny wise and pound foolish. And we are now rid of Danielson to boot! But that said we still face a Mowins problems.

https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-the-bitt...45854.html

CBS was definitely penny wise but pound foolish, but despite that Sankey seems to be saying that he gave them first crack at the new deal.

In the end, two entities vied for the SEC’s weekly top football game rights: CBS and ESPN.

Sankey describes the negotiations as “straightforward rights conversations,” and while he declined to reveal specifics, he told Yahoo Sports that he entered with the “first priority” as renewing with CBS.

What happened?

“I respect that CBS had to make decisions. CBS understands we had to make decisions,” Sankey said. “Everybody makes decisions. I’m a more forward-looking person.”

McManus said the separation was “amicable.” The financials just didn’t make “sense” for both parties.

“There was no hidden agendas,” he said. “We went into it trying to make a deal that we thought benefited both sides. It was as simple as that.”

ESPN and ABC made an aggressive play. Toward the end of the negotiations, the network’s offer increased to at least $300 million for the 15-game package. But talks went beyond money. Having all of a league’s broadcasting rights under one single network umbrella provided flexibility and control for the conference when it comes to kickoff times — a key issue in the decision, Sankey said.

ESPN ultimately landed the package.

And then, just one day later, McManus reached out to then-Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.

“I called him and said, ‘I want to do for the Big Ten what we successfully have done with the SEC,’” McManus said.

Days later, at Big Ten headquarters in Chicago, the CBS team made an elaborate presentation during a pitch for Big Ten broadcasting rights. McManus said his message to Warren was clear: “We want to be your partners and are not talking to any other conferences for the 3:30 window.”

For decades, the SEC and Big Ten have waged battle on the field as well as away from it. It’s a sort-of Cold War of college football, two of the industry’s richest and most successful leagues attempting to one-up the other.

Sankey said that CBS was the "first priority". That tells me that CBS at least had a chance.

Outside of the ESPN-NFL relationship a few years ago (where it was super icy), the general rule is that there’s a direct correlation between “good relationships” and how much they’re paying you when it comes to TV rights.

(12-18-2023 08:26 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:50 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:41 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:26 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(12-18-2023 04:11 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  What did NBC get for their ~ $350m to the B1G?

11/24 - PSU vs MSU - 3.38m viewers #10 that week
11/18 - Nebraska vs Wisconsin - 2.45m #7 that week
11/11 - MSU vs tOSU 3.57m #6 that week
11/4 - Purdue vs Michigan 2.6m #9
10/28 - tOSU vs Wisconson, 4.87m #2
10/21 - Michigan vs MSU 3.73m #4
10/21 - Minnesota vs Iowa 1.68m #10
10/7 - Michigan vs Minnesota 3.07m #6
9/30 - MSU vs Iowa 2.17m #9
9/23 - Maryland v MSU 1.24m #15
9/16 - Syracuse v Purdue 1.25m #12
9/9 - Charlotte v Maryland 665k #17
9/2 - WV v PSU 3.5m #5

Compare that with what they got from ND
11/18 - WF v ND 1.48m #13 for week
10/28 - Pitt v ND 1.89m #11 for week
10/14 - USC v ND 6.43m #2 for week
9/23 - tOSU v ND (at ND) 9.98m #2 for week
9/2 - Tenn St v ND 1.56m #15 for week
8/26 - Navy v ND 3.56m #1 for week 0

NBC got the ND vs tOSU game b/c it was at ND, but they didn't get the ND vs Clemson game (which hit 10m just a couple years ago) b/c it was @ Clemson. 2 ND games over 5m with one at basically 10m, those 2 are probably worth more than all the B1G games combined for NBC. Don't give any bonus for the couple of huge ND games and just add in total viewership for the 6 ND games vs the 13 B1G games?

ND: 24.9m - 4.15m per game
B1G: 34.3m - 2.63m per game

B1G cost ~ $350m
ND cost ~ $15m

It's hardly any wonder that NBC agreed to such a huge bump for ND's next contract. Even with an almost exactly average season (9 wins so far this year before the bowl game, ND is averaging 9.5 wins per year over the past 12 years), ND still delivered the ratings for NBC, while the 2nd or 3rd best weekly B1G game mostly didn't. In fact, NBC didn't get over 5m a single time in their 13 B1G contests, despite a bevy of games that looked solid on paper throughout the season. Their schedule doesn't look as appealing in 2024, with only FSU as a premier home game and potentially Louisville as another, but in 2025? They get USC, A&M and a couple of ACC games that look to be pretty interesting. ND's ratings seem likely to remain solid.

However, what about the B1G? Isn't CBS going to get more of those 2nd-choice B1G contests starting next year? NBC's slate of 2024 B1G contests seems unlikely to surpass what they got this year. If I was running the numbers at NBC, I'd want more ND home games and less of Purdue-Michigan and a whole lot less MSU games.

To be sure, this looks totally different with Oregon, Washington and USC games integrated. More importantly, it was the USC/UCLA expansion that got NBC to come back in and get the winning bid for the prime time package over Amazon. NBC wasn’t looking at paying a premium for the 14-school Big Ten (at least compared to Amazon or ESPN), but that changed with the USC/UCLA move.

Agreed. It's reasonable to expect a boost in the mid/upper tier of B1G highly rated games, but the pie will also be split more ways next year with CBS picking every week instead of just 5 times throughout the entire season. Those 5 picks were above the average of NBC's 13 games, with ratings ranging from 2.75m to 4.6m.

Hilariously, as I was scrolling back, I looked at CBS's last 6 SEC broadcasts this season:

SEC CCG: Georgia v Bama - 17.5m
11/25: Bama v Auburn - 9m
11/18: Georgia v Tennessee - 5.7m
11/11: Tennessee v Missouri - 3.6m
11/4: LSU v Alabama 8.8m
11/4: Missouri v Georgia - 7.0m

51.6m over their last 6 SEC contests, with scant prospect for even 1 CBS game a year in the B1G to beat that 6 game average. Nice job CBS.

CBS had no shot at the SEC contract signed with ESPN. And everyone needs to remember that this came well into a contract with the SEC that everyone in the industry recognized was grossly undervalued. The pro rata would have been simply a head nod to the rottenness of the existing contract and would have been accepted with some grace. CBS tossed away all of their good will with the SEC for the refusal to pay what at the time was a little over 7 million more annually for their share of the pro rata on the A&M and Missouri additions. Perfect illustration of penny wise and pound foolish. And we are now rid of Danielson to boot! But that said we still face a Mowins problems.

https://sports.yahoo.com/inside-the-bitt...45854.html

CBS was definitely penny wise but pound foolish, but despite that Sankey seems to be saying that he gave them first crack at the new deal.

In the end, two entities vied for the SEC’s weekly top football game rights: CBS and ESPN.

Sankey describes the negotiations as “straightforward rights conversations,” and while he declined to reveal specifics, he told Yahoo Sports that he entered with the “first priority” as renewing with CBS.

What happened?

“I respect that CBS had to make decisions. CBS understands we had to make decisions,” Sankey said. “Everybody makes decisions. I’m a more forward-looking person.”

McManus said the separation was “amicable.” The financials just didn’t make “sense” for both parties.

“There was no hidden agendas,” he said. “We went into it trying to make a deal that we thought benefited both sides. It was as simple as that.”

ESPN and ABC made an aggressive play. Toward the end of the negotiations, the network’s offer increased to at least $300 million for the 15-game package. But talks went beyond money. Having all of a league’s broadcasting rights under one single network umbrella provided flexibility and control for the conference when it comes to kickoff times — a key issue in the decision, Sankey said.

ESPN ultimately landed the package.

And then, just one day later, McManus reached out to then-Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren.

“I called him and said, ‘I want to do for the Big Ten what we successfully have done with the SEC,’” McManus said.

Days later, at Big Ten headquarters in Chicago, the CBS team made an elaborate presentation during a pitch for Big Ten broadcasting rights. McManus said his message to Warren was clear: “We want to be your partners and are not talking to any other conferences for the 3:30 window.”

For decades, the SEC and Big Ten have waged battle on the field as well as away from it. It’s a sort-of Cold War of college football, two of the industry’s richest and most successful leagues attempting to one-up the other.

Sankey said that CBS was the "first priority". That tells me that CBS at least had a chance.

LOL! Lipstick on a pig! Sankey let CBS make an offer to see if they were even serious. They knew the state of relations between the two parties. Their final offer was 307 million. ESPN exceeded that. The CEO of the add agency that handles both Disney and Coco-Cola is an Auburn grad who appeared on the Finebaum show when the deal was reaching the final stages. He had privy to the information and stated that in the end all facets of the deal which had not been made public would take the total closer to 375 million than 350 million. We'll see if he was right. Nice bit of gloss and fiction to the fairy tale that was released to the press. That too is S.O.P.

^^^^^^
Good lord. All this for... Is ESPN using FSU to try to get the B1G back??