You know the NCAA is doing something right when they are able to negotiate a 8-year, $920 million dollar contract with ESPN which comes out to $115 million annually, which represents a 300% increase from their previous 14-year deal that ESPN was paying the association worth $500 million, for an average of $35.7 million per year.
What’s this new deal cover you might be asking? Great question! We dove into the details and found this new 8-year contract will cover:
- 21 women’s and 19 men’s sports, adding tennis, track and field, men’s gymnastics
- women’s Division II and III volleyball and basketball championships
- men’s DII and DIII basketball championships.
- national championship events in Division I women’s basketball, women’s volleyball, women’s gymnastics, and the second-tier of Division I football known as FCS will be aired on ABC
Want to know one of the most interesting facts to come out of this new contract?
An estimated 57% of the value of this deal, which breaks down to $65 million annually, comes from the women’s March Madness tournament, according to the NCAA’s media consultants Endeavor’s IMG and WME Sports
The popularity of the women’s NCAA tournament has been increasing while ESPN has been carrying their tournament, and has been setting new viewership records. As an example, the title game between LSU and Iowa drew in nearly 10 millions viewers.
This new NCAA contract with ESPN does not cover the men’s basketball tournament, who’s media rights are owned by CBS and Warner Brothers Discovery in a deal that pays the association about $900 million per year and runs through 2032.
This new deal was negotiated during ESPN’s exclusive rights bargaining window, and wasn’t shopped around publicly. Could the NCAA gotten a better deal if they had opened up the negotiations to other media outlets? They didn’t think so. ESPN brought an offer that bundled a number of top-tier championships in addition to the golden-crown of the women’s NCAA championships. History was also on ESPN’s side, with their NCAA’s relationship having lasted more than 45 years, since ESPN first launched in 1979.
