What if I told you the ESPN-ACC contract contains a clause whereby the ACC must surrender/release its GOR ownership rights in member schools that leave the conference if those member schools move to another conference whose media rights are also exclusively with ESPN. To be clear, the ACC and SEC meet this criteria and are exclusive with ESPN going forward.
Now do you see why ESPN paid so much more than CBS for the exclusive SEC rights this past year? With that out of the way, ESPN can move the members of the ACC and SEC around as it wishes without extreme GOR penalty concerns for both the schools and itself.
Bottom line - what ESPN wants, ESPN gets.
Now do you see why ESPN paid so much more than CBS for the exclusive SEC rights this past year? With that out of the way, ESPN can move the members of the ACC and SEC around as it wishes without extreme GOR penalty concerns for both the schools and itself.
Bottom line - what ESPN wants, ESPN gets.
