SEC announces TV deal, cages contingent of millionaires in display of imperial power GIF: twitpic.com/cnultq—
(@teamcatlab) May 03, 2013
We were there, and if you didn’t get to watch the live stream, this is pretty much all you missed:
The SEC Network: Not short on money, or coaches who wish they’d worn more comfortable pants to this press conference. (AP)
Project X has been unveiled as the SEC Network at last, with a logo and a launch date and everything. We’re sure you have so many questions. We’re here to help.
• What’s all this, then? This is the SEC Network, introduced to the public this morning by a host of ESPN suits and assorted conference coaches, including Messrs. Bielema, Franklin, Freeze, Jones, Malzahn, Miles, Mullen, Muschamp, Pinkel, Richt, Saban, Spurrier, Stoops and Sumlin.
• Did all those football coaches have to perch up on those director’s chairs that whole time? Just long enough to get a good squirm, and for us to confirm that everyone in attendance was wearing socks.
• Did any coach interrupt the show to take a phone call? No, but when the network trailer showed Jadeveon Clowney’s infamous Michigan hit, Spurrier and Saban bent their heads together, presumably to share a chuckle at the Wolverines’ expense.
The new SEC Network announcement has been rescheduled for this Thursday, and as previously mentioned, there’s only one way it ends satisfactorily:
If it's 12:21 pm ET on a fall Saturday, you know what I'm watching, Nielsen. http://t.co/UxLyXkipkI—
Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) April 30, 2013
This post sponsored by the imaginary yet influential Jefferson Pilot Preservation Society.
In an official statement, Commissioner John Swofford highlighted the ACC’s solidarity and leadership. (Chuck Burton/AP)
By Zac Ellis
The ACC’s member schools have signed a 15-school Grant of Rights agreement through 2027, the league announced Monday. ACCSports.com’s David Glenn first reported the news.
“This announcement further highlights the continued solidarity and commitment by our member institutions,” said ACC commissioner John Swofford in a statement. “The Council of Presidents has shown tremendous leadership in insuring the ACC is extremely well positioned with unlimited potential.”
The move will likely halt conference realignment for the immediate future by drastically decreasing the odds of current ACC teams leaving for another conference. A Grant of Rights agreement involves teams surrendering control of TV rights to the league, meaning the ACC would retain rights to certain media revenue until the deal’s conclusion, even if a team left the conference. The ACC already has a $50 million exit fee in place — which Florida State voted against and which Maryland is currently fighting — but this would be a more definitive move toward enhancing the league’s stability. The Big 12 was the last major football conference to agree to a Grant of Rights.
MANDEL: Rejoice! ACC deal should halt conference realignment
Jeremy Fowler of CBSSports.com reports that the ACC is in talks with ESPN about establishing its own network, following the model of the Big Ten, Pac-12 and the soon-to-be-announced SEC network.
NBC and Notre Dame have extended their television deal through the year 2025. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
By Zac Ellis
NBC and Notre Dame have renewed their television partnership for 10 more years, through the 2025 season. The extension will bring the partnership to 35 years, the network announced on Thursday.
The new deal begins during the 2016 campaign and gives NBC rights to a minimum of seven Notre Dame home games per season. NBC Sports Digital will continue to live stream Irish home games, as the network has since 2009.
“While our relationship with NBC Sports is longstanding, the more recent merger between NBC and Comcast has opened up additional avenues to expand the breadth of Notre Dame-related sports programming on NBC platforms,” said Notre Dame vice president and athletics director Jack Swarbrick. “Specifically, the evolution of the NBC Sports Network has provided opportunities for special programming featuring inside looks at our football team and several other Notre Dame sports programs and in-depth profiles on the unsung heroes of Notre Dame athletics. These are examples of the growth of our partnership, and we look forward to collaborating on additional projects and distribution strategies in seasons to come.”
The school and the network first kicked off the partnership in 1991, when NBC began televising Irish home games. Revenues from the NBC contract have played a large role in Notre Dame’s scholarship fund, having provided more than 6,300 Irish undergraduate students with nearly $80 million in financial aid over the duration of the deal.
This post is sponsored by the imaginary but influential Jefferson Pilot Preservation Society.
We will be in attendance Tuesday at the unveiling of the SEC Network. If anyone needs us, we will be the ones asking coaches to take inspiration from their Atlanta surroundings and explain which Designing Woman has most inspired them to live like a champion. And if this new undertaking does not contain at least three Daves of ESPN’s choosing, we will storm out in a mighty snit.
Responsible party for this video: Patrick Claybon, whom you should be following despite the fact that he is not named Dave.
Steve Spurrier, your thoughts on media coverage of South Carolina’s pro day?
Steve Spurrier: “I noticed both USCs had their pro timing day today. One of them finished No. 7 in the country, the other was not (1/4)—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) March 27, 2013
in the Top 25, yet ESPN decided to go out to the one in California which did not finish in the Top 25 and televise their day live. (2/4)—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) March 27, 2013
It’s interesting that (ESPN) doesn’t come around here on signing day, they don’t come around here on pro timing day, and yet (3/4)—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) March 27, 2013
they want us to play all these Thursday night games. Maybe we need to consider playing on that new network, FoxSports 1" (4/4)—
Josh Kendall (@JoshatTheState) March 27, 2013
The OBC has clearly not been briefed on the WWL’s Take A Sun Bowl Loser To Work Day initiative.
This is on the first page of image search results for Bill Dance. Look, we just work here. (AP)
This has to be Mike Slive’s plan, doesn’t it? To tease the formation and launch of an SEC network so many times over the course of so many months that by the time a date actually gets set, every possible fake TV show that we could ever hope to see on it has already been thought of, and we’re all too spiritually exhausted to protest whatever quality of product results.
Would Slive and his underlings borrow some of our ideas? We’ll believe they love us and want us to be happy when we see Bill Dance’s show airing in prime time. But what about borrowing from other conference networks? Let us look to the brave pioneers of the BTN, and the straightforwardly-named program “Step Into My Office,” in which “Mike Hall goes inside the office of the Big Ten’s top football coaches for a revealing, exclusive one-on-one conversation.” The SEC is characterized by nothing so much as a deplorable excess of personality; any such show in God’s Chosen Conference would need to be adapted on a team-by-team basis. A modest list of suggestions follows after the jump:
We have at least three weeks’ worth of Sebastian photos on hand, in case this Miami story keeps dragging on. (AP)
Assorted newsy bits — of varying degrees of importance — you might have missed over the long weekend:
• Didn’t we already do this headline a week ago? ”Imminent” can mean a lot of things! In the cosmic sense, the NCAA’s investigation of Miami has spanned less than a fraction of an eyeblink, but here we are, riding on a human-speed space-time wave, just twiddling our bloggy thumbs until the ‘Canes’ notice of allegations drops. The latest rumblings, per Bruce Feldman, involve a very large book being thrown at ex-Miami and current Louisville assistant Clint Hurtt and other former ‘Canes colleagues. We’ll have more on this when we actually see the notice of allegations, unless we don’t see this notice of allegations, in which case we’ll be right back here next Monday writing a third variation on this same headline.
• And speaking of the NCAA: On the final day of the annual NCAA convention, the latest raft of changes — touted as an effort to streamline NCAA regulations — were unveiled. Your friendly neighborhood Bylaw Blogger takes a look at one proposal, regarding recruiting start dates, that was left out of the bundle.
Assorted bests and worsts from college football’s opening weekend:
Desmond Howard’s fashion sense was on full display this week on GameDay. (Image courtesy of Keri Potts, ESPN)
• Best dressed (individual). Desmond Howard took full advantage of the last Saturday in August to rock a white suit before Labor Day. Knowing the weather patterns around Dallas this time of year, Howard’s compatriots were surely envying his cooler selection by 10 a.m. or so.
• Best dressed (couple). Lulu and Junior, you’ve been replaced. Thank you for your service and meet your successors:
@jaysonswain from the game on Friday. This is a middle aged couple. twitter.com/kyleRbryant/st…— Kyle Bryant (@kyleRbryant) September 2, 2012
• Best air show. The NCAA single-game passing record was eclipsed Saturday by Division III quarterback Sam Durley of Eureka College, who completed 34-of-52 passes for 736 yards. Best of all, he wasn’t keeping track: “I thought maybe high 300s.”
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