The Big Ten and SEC are pushing back on one of the more popular narratives percolating in college sports these days. The leagues commissioned FTI Consulting to conduct research around consolidated media rights and attempts to reopen the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 -- efforts being pushed by Texas Tech billionaire booster Cody Campbell and his outfit Saving College Sports (SCS).
That research led to the release of a white paper on Thursday morning that strongly opposes both ideas, going as far to say it “would not save college sports but would actually introduce bureaucracy and legal chaos, and projections show it is likely to reduce revenue over the long term.”
A rep for the Big Ten and SEC’s interests declined to disclose who specifically authored the paper when asked by SBJ, noting it was multiple authors. When asked if that included Commissioners Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti, they reiterated it was “several authors involved on behalf of the two conferences.”
Among the points the paper outlines, it suggests:
- The current conference structure projects to provide value beyond increases SCS claims might come from consolidated media rights.
- The federal oversight committee proposed by SCS would take control over varying prongs of the current ecosystem that are currently controlled by the leagues, such as scheduling, rivalries and brand stewardship.
- Recent NBA media deal gains -- which SCS points to as a model for pooling of FBS media rights -- were not based on the pooling of rights but market dynamics and the “deft” way in which assets were packaged.
That people like Campbell and others have pushed for the consolidation of media rights and potentially revamping the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 comes from their belief that an amalgamation of rights and an antitrust exemption allowing college sports to do so would ultimately provide more cash to the ecosystem.
The white paper released on Thursday, however, attempts to dispel that notion. It specifically points to the growth of conference media rights over the last 30 years, noting the last cycle of college renewals (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Notre Dame, NCAA, CFP, Big East) producing a 2.8x AAV growth for those entities as rationale for why a consolidation of rights isn’t needed.
“By keeping control at the conference level, the system retains optionality to pilot new formats, adopt mid-week showcases, experiment with streaming exclusives, and iterate sponsorship models -- all of which could help generate substantial additional revenues that could be used to support other sports,” the paper concluded. “But this result can only be accomplished by market forces. A federally created single-seller sports media regime would reduce optionality, slow decision cycles, eliminate college and university autonomy over their own athletic programs without generating more revenue.”
The white paper -- presented as a reference for questions reps on Capitol Hill had for conference stakeholders -- also marks another layer in the ongoing clash between Campbell and the Power Four conference commissioners.
Campbell has increasingly gained the ear of influential lawmakers, despite some suggesting his efforts in D.C. are running counter to the ideas the Power Four conferences, among others, have spent millions lobbying for.
The former Texas Tech lineman-turned-oil tycoon had specifically targeted the commissioners in an ad that was slated for broadcast in October before being pulled by the networks.
“I’m not acting like I have all the solutions,” Campbell said during SBJ’s Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in December. “But what I would like to do is create a legal framework and a platform that would allow those folks who are the experts to come together and find ways to make college sports financially sustainable.”
