Conference Musical Chairs - How Television and the Development of RSNs are Altering the Collegiate Sports Landscape
Article in brief, By Irwin Kishner and Matthew Pace
Drastic changes in many of the largest NCAA Division I conferences have altered the
landscape of college sports. Schools long associated with particular conferences are
realigning themselves. Not surprisingly, money is driving the trend--primarily from the
development of regional sports networks (RSNs), which provide growing revenue to
conferences and schools.
Revenue generated from television isn't the only factor--some schools are seeking to
improve their academic image by associating with a particular conference--but it is the
primary factor. The launch of the Big Ten Network in 2006--the first internationally
distributed network dedicated to covering a single college conference--marked a
dramatic turn in college sports. Today, the Big Ten Network reaches approximately 40
million households across the Midwest and Canada. The Big Ten receives an estimated
88 cents per month for every subscriber to the network, and in 2008-09, the network
alone was responsible for distributing $6.4 million to each of the schools in the Big Ten.
The SEC, considered by many to be the strongest conference athletically, also boasts
extremely lucrative TV deals. While it does not yet have a RSN, the SEC's two 15-year
agreements with ESPN and CBS are worth more than $3 billion. What does that mean to
the SEC's member schools? Earlier this year the conference divided a staggering $209
million among its 12 member schools.
When the Big Ten announced earlier this year that it was seeking to expand, the effects
were felt throughout the collegiate landscape. Nebraska's decision to align with the Big
Ten caused a scramble that nearly spelled the end of the Big 12 Conference. Its ultimate
survival was due in large part to a restructuring of the conference's television agreement
that greatly increases the revenues guaranteed to each member school, while also
allowing Texas to pursue the establishment of its own RSN.
Expansion also gives conferences a footprint in markets where they may not otherwise
have a presence. When the SEC flirted with Texas A&M earlier this year, bringing an
untapped market into the conference was a primary motivator. Adding the fifth largest
and tenth largest television markets in the U.S. (Dallas and Houston, respectively) would
have allowed the SEC to generate more money by guaranteeing more viewers. Currently,
the Big Ten is eyeing Rutgers University as a possible addition to give it a presence in the
New York Metropolitan area. Expansion may also allow a conference to host a
conference championship game, which also guarantees increased revenues. Such
developments may ultimately lead to the development of a college football playoff at the
Division I level, which also has the potential to increase revenues dramatically, especially
for schools in the so-called "super conferences" that would likely have the most
participants in such a playoff.
Conference realignment, while benefitting the schools that move and the conferences that seek to expand, also has adverse effects, particularly on the conferences that are left behind. The Big 12 initially sought exit penalties from Nebraska and Colorado, which is also leaving the conference, of $20 million from each school and recently settled with Colorado for $6.8 million and Nebraska for $9.2 million, respectively, to allow the schools to leave the Big 12 one year earlier than initially expected. The Western Athletic Conference recently sued Fresno State and Nevada to keep the schools, which have decided to join the Mountain West Conference, in the WAC through the 2011-12 season.
The WAC felt that by attempting to hold these schools to their conference obligations, they could minimize disruption to the WAC and lessen the damage to its arrangements with sponsors and television partners.
The impact on sponsors and conferences of schools changing conferences can also be significant. While national brands may be able to adjust more easily to the new college landscape, regional sponsors, who may enter into certain arrangements based upon rivalries or matches that will no longer exist (e.g., Nebraska vs. Oklahoma), may be severely impacted. Realignment can also have the effect of shifting more power to the conferences, particularly stronger conferences like the SEC and Big Ten, which may seek better terms from sponsors and television networks. An expansion of the SEC, for example, would allow the conference to renegotiate its TV deal, which would likely provide even greater revenue to the conference. Sponsors and other entities involved in collegiate sports should continue to monitor these developments, since the game of conference musical chairs does appear to be over quite yet.
2. Impact of Globalization and Technology on Professional Sports
Technological advances are bringing sporting events to more people than ever before. Mobile devices, net books, laptops and satellite televisions have increased international viewership of sporting events. For the 2010 World Cup, ESPN3 (ESPN's broadband network for live sports programming) clocked nearly 7.4 million viewers, generating 15.7 million hours of viewing. The network's World Cup application was downloaded more than 2.5 million times and accessed by an average of one million users per day.
Though the World Cup may be seen as an outlier in terms of revenue generated and
number of viewers, the international fan base continues to grow--even for smaller scaled local sporting events--with the aid of ever-advancing technology. This is due in part to athletes playing abroad, which may generate interest in a player's native country, and in part to the relatively new ability to watch games taking place anywhere in the world through live web stream or satellite television. Cross-border deals are also part of the equation as foreigners increasingly purchase interests in local teams, such as Mikhail D. Prokhorov recently becoming the first foreign owner of an NBA team. The potential sale of Liverpool, a soccer team in the English Premier League, has drawn the interest of potential purchasers from across the globe. This influx of interest creates opportunities for local and foreign sponsors and advertisers. The increased globalization of sports has also increased the value of many sport properties as evidenced recently by the $2 billion price tag--double the previous contract--for overseas television rights for the next three years of Premier League games.
Globalization of the NBA is not a new phenomenon, but technological advances are
helping it continue. Today, the NBA finals are televised to more than 200 countries in
over 40 languages. More than half of all NBA.com traffic comes from outside of the U.S.
Due to its enormous popularity in China and because of high-profile players Yao Ming
and Yi Jianlian, the number of Chinese sponsors and advertisers in the NBA is growing.
Recently, the NBA announced a multi-year marketing partnership with the BBVA Group,
a leading Spanish bank. As part of the partnership, BBVA will serve as the official bank
of the NBA, WNBA and the NBA D-League in the U.S., Spain and Puerto Rico. MLB is
also seeing its brand grow. Thanks to players such as Ichiro Suzuki, a significant number
of Japanese sponsors, including Nintendo, MasterCard Japan, Ajinomoto, Sanyo Electric
and Hitachi, can be seen throughout MLB stadiums. The benefits of globalization are not
limited to foreign companies; many U.S. companies are also getting in on the action. The NBA's popularity in China is a significant reason for Nike's revenue growth in that
country, which rose 22% in 2009.
Many sports are using advances in technology to expand, driving an increase in
opportunities for advertisers and sponsors. Because international games are so easily
accessed, they reach more people in more countries than ever before. Sponsors and
advertisers are no longer limited to local markets or traditional forms of advertising and
should explore different markets and media to reach as many "local" sports fans as
possible.
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