| | The Road to the Final Four just got a whole lot richer for the NCAA -- and much more expensive for CBS.
The network retained the rights to the NCAA men's basketball
tournament well into the next millennium after the two sides agreed
Thursday to a staggering $6 billion, 11-year deal.
CBS, which was left out of last week's NASCAR TV contract, won
the rights over Disney's ABC-ESPN and Fox.
"This agreement keeps one of the nation's most important
sporting events on free, over-the-air television, where it can be
enjoyed by the greatest number of people," said Leslie Moonves,
president of CBS television.
The contract more than doubles CBS' $1.73 billion, seven-year
pact that runs through 2002. It begins in 2003 and averages about
$545 million a year.
The three weeks of basketball will cost CBS more than an entire
season of football, not counting for inflation. The network agreed
to a $4.1 billion, eight-year deal with the NFL in 1998.
The NCAA package also includes rights to marketing, corporate
sponsorship, licensing, Internet, radio, satellite, digital TV and
other NCAA sporting events.
"That reaffirms my belief in the increasing value of major
sports properties," said former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson,
who runs a consulting firm. "But the deal was $1 billion higher
than I thought."
Industry sources told The Associated Press that Fox's bid was $1
billion less than what CBS offered. It was uncertain how much Disney
offered.
Formal presentations were made Wednesday and Thursday at the
NCAA's Indianapolis headquarters.
The NCAA elected to open up negotiations early and ended CBS's
exclusive bargaining period in August. The network has broadcast
the tournament since 1982, when it acquired the event from NBC. It
added the early rounds, which had been broadcast by ESPN, in 1990.
ABC-ESPN was believed to be CBS's main competitor, after also
losing out on NASCAR last week. ESPN, which televises more auto
racing programming than any network, is also faced with the possibility of losing Major League Baseball. The two sides are in a dispute scheduled to go to court Dec. 6.
"The ABC-ESPN bid offered the best opportunity for exposure and
growth of the NCAA men's basketball tournament," ESPN spokesman
Mike Soltys said.
Fox landed the first half of the NASCAR's $2.4 billion, six-year
agreement last week and also has the NFL and Major League Baseball.
NBC and TBS have the other half.
The NCAA men's championship game between Connecticut and Duke
last season drew the lowest rating ever on CBS, 17.2. The overall
tournament mark of 6.8 also was a record low.
Ratings have fallen 28 percent this decade, a bigger drop than
the Super Bowl, World Series or NBA Finals. But while the rating
for the title game was low, it had a larger audience than most
sports programming.
"NASCAR and the tournament are valuable because major sports
franchises are a very scarce commodity," Pilson said. "There
aren't a lot of them around. People think there's so much sports on
the air, but there really isn't."
However, the early rounds are far from a ratings winner. CBS
posted numbers in the 5s for the first two rounds, and in the 7s
for the regionals.
In less than three years as president of CBS Sports, Sean
McManus has returned the network to prominence. He acquired the
rights to AFC football, retained a comprehensive golf
package -- including the Masters and PGA Championship -- and now kept
the NCAA tournament.
As for the NCAA, the agreement almost certainly ensures it will
remain intact with all its power. Major conferences, such as the
Big Ten and SEC, have had informal discussions of breaking away in
recent years.
The major schools for decades have resented being lumped with
smaller programs that don't make money but get some of the revenue
generated by the major powers. Now, though, there should be enough
money to make everyone happy.
The NCAA is the latest organization to more than double its TV rights fees in the last two years.
The NFL is in the second year of an $18 billion, eight-year
contract with CBS, Fox, ABC and ESPN; the NBA is in the second year
of its $2.64 billion, four-year contract with NBC and Turner
Sports; and the NHL is in the first year of a $600 million,
five-year contract with ABC and ESPN.
Baseball might open up negotiations on its new TV deal this
winter. The sport just completed the fourth year of a $1.7 billion,
five-year pact with Fox, NBC and ESPN.
ABC has a $525 million, seven-year agreement to show the four
Bowl Championship Series games. | |
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