I've been thinking about the layoffs at the four letter network that everyone loves to hate. It occurred to me that the financial boon the SEC and other conferences have enjoyed lately could some day be in jeopardy. I wonder if there is a financial bubble in college sports, not unlike the mortgage bubble of 2008, and if the collapse of a giant like ESPN could crash the whole system. Of course, no one is predicting anything major like a collapse of ESPN, but that's the thing about bubbles...
The easiest story about revenues I could find was from 2015. It estimated payments to the SEC of well over 250 million through ESPN and the SEC network, which is tied to ESPN. CBS money was far behind at about 55 million. Of course, ESPN is also doing this for the other major conferences, too, further stretching the budget.
So, this raises a long term question. With the rapid changes in the cable market, plus well documented drops in revenue for ESPN over the last few years, is it possible that ESPN could be in real trouble?
So far, the cuts have been in personnel, not content. But how tight can this get? Is there a point where ESPN is paying more than it can afford for content? And if so, could college sports potentially lose a cash cow that they have grown completely dependent on? I love our facility improvements, but I'm surprised we haven't named a building or arena after ESPN yet, considering the many millions we get through them. It has become commonplace for us sports fans to complain about TV dictated start times, but we are often sitting on seats that were paid for by the TV networks, at least partially.
I don't know the answers, obviously, but I thought this would make a good discussion point if anyone wants a go. At the very least, it is a tightly intertwined relationship.
The easiest story about revenues I could find was from 2015. It estimated payments to the SEC of well over 250 million through ESPN and the SEC network, which is tied to ESPN. CBS money was far behind at about 55 million. Of course, ESPN is also doing this for the other major conferences, too, further stretching the budget.
So, this raises a long term question. With the rapid changes in the cable market, plus well documented drops in revenue for ESPN over the last few years, is it possible that ESPN could be in real trouble?
So far, the cuts have been in personnel, not content. But how tight can this get? Is there a point where ESPN is paying more than it can afford for content? And if so, could college sports potentially lose a cash cow that they have grown completely dependent on? I love our facility improvements, but I'm surprised we haven't named a building or arena after ESPN yet, considering the many millions we get through them. It has become commonplace for us sports fans to complain about TV dictated start times, but we are often sitting on seats that were paid for by the TV networks, at least partially.
I don't know the answers, obviously, but I thought this would make a good discussion point if anyone wants a go. At the very least, it is a tightly intertwined relationship.