Southeastern Conference football and basketball games not shown on ESPN networks will be available in more than 54 million homes on the SEC Network, the new name for the league’s syndication deal with ESPN.
The package is part of the 15-year contract reached last year between the conference and ESPN.
The two announced Tuesday that the SEC Network will televise the Saturday morning football games that had previously been done by regional syndicator Raycom. The new network has affiliates in 23 states reaching 54 million households or 47 percent of the United States in 73 television markets.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said the league’s two new 15-year TV contracts with CBS for $800 million and ESPN for $2.25 billion has grabbed the attention of competing conferences.
With an already decided recruiting advantage, the rest of college football’s Football Bowl Subdivision programs are worried the SEC has almost every game on TV every week.
Unlike the other BCS conferences regional TV coverage, the SEC will enjoy nationwide coverage as a result of its new SEC Network. In addition to the new network, the SEC will also have games on Fox Sports Net and College Sports South.
In the first three weeks of the coming season, there are 27 TV games involving SEC teams.
The SEC Network, which will also show league men’s basketball games on Wednesdays and Saturdays starting in January, and women’s games on Sunday, has added a majority of the major TV markets.
Among them are New York, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio.
“The SEC will be the most widely distributed conference in the country,” Slive said. “ESPN will carry about 5,500 SEC events in the next 15 years. That’s about about 366 events per year.”
In conjunction with the SEC Network, the league is kicking off a new website in late August called SECNetwork.com.
Slive’s next order of business is to finalize extensions on bowl contracts. The SEC has agreements with nine bowls, all of which expire after this season. The new agreements will be for four years starting in the 2010 season.
