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It's no secret that the SEC has inked a deal with ESPN & CBS over the next 15 years that will put the SEC at the forefront of media exposure in the college sports market across the nation. The landmark deal with the two media outlets will add $3.05 BILLION to the coffers of the SEC schools. That's $17 million/year for each and every SEC school. Think about it, a member school could go winless every year and still pull down the equivalent of winning the BCS Championship Game for the next decade and a half.

• $2.25 billion over 15 years with ESPN.
• $825 million over 15 years with CBS.
• $17 million to each school starting in 2009.
• Comcast will add ESPNU to its base package to join ESPN/ESPN2.
• 5,500 SEC sporting events will be on CBS, ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN360.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FULL COURT, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, & ESPN Classic.
• ESPN/SEC will launch two new websites: SEC Digital Network & SEC Academic Network
• The network gets multi-platform rights to all live content while the schools retain the rights for local multi-media deals. 
• Game simulcasts on ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV will be possible.
• All national programming will fall under the branding "SEC on ESPN."

Waves Throughout the NCAA

This deal is HUGE and don't think any of the other conferences are turning a blind eye. I think AndyPanda of Building The Dam said it best, "Because the current television packages amount to a slingshot compared to the weapons of mass destruction currently being employed in the SEC." The following will give you an idea of how this deal plays out versus the other conferences:

• SEC - $3.05 billion (2023-24)
• Big Ten - $2.8 billion (2031-32), $1 billion (2016), & $20 million (2018-19, basketball)
• ACC - $558 million (2010-11)
• Big 12 - $480 million (2015-16) & $78 million through (2011-12)
• Pac-10 - $274.5 million (2011-12)
• Big East - $200 million (2013)
• Mountain West - $82 million (2013-14)
• Conference USA - $67.8 million (2010-11)

Note: End of contract year in parenthesis.

Source: Sports Business Journal

First off, note that the only conference that comes close to this deal is the Big Ten and their $2.8 billion Big Ten Network deal is drawn out over 8 more years than the SEC's. This is epic. Aside from the significant difference between the SEC and other conferences, also note that ALL of these conferences will begin negotiating new deals VERY soon, if they're not already in progress.

Last year alone, the SEC pulled in 77 million viewers on ESPN and that should only go up next year. Not only will the SEC be stealing air time and viewers from other conferences, they'll be stealing the eyes of recruits from around the nation. Don't think they're not making major plays either, there have been rumors of the ACC, Big 12, & Pac-10 joining forces in some fashion to create a national channel. Yeah, we've scared them into thinking WAY outside of the box (could you imagine the fight for primetime slots?). Needless to say, the SEC is making waves…tidal waves.

Football

ESPN is where you'll be watching the majority of your football in the coming years. ESPN has acquired the rights to every SEC home football game, with the exception of those chosen by CBS. Basically you'll be watching the same channels for SEC football, there'll just be a whole lot more of it.

Yes, I'm afraid the days of catching Dave^3 on JP/LF/Raycom are done for. ESPN has acquired the rights to show all games not picked up by CBS throughout the season, and they will be picking up all of them (except that single PPV game goshdernit!). They'll be keeping the subpar morning matchup and will be pushing other games to ESPNU and regional markets all over the US. (That's right! Crap SEC games will be in 73+ markets across the country, 11 of the top 13, or 66+ million homes.) Ex: All 12 SEC teams will be on television for the opening weekend with only Arkansas on PPV.

As for the main SEC channels ESPN & ESPN2 (oh, and hopefully a few , you'll see a minimum of 20 games/year, including two primetime Thursday night matchups and Saturday night matchups. The collegiate network ESPNU will also feature an SEC package each Saturday for the first time ever with a minimum of 13 mostly primetime games annually.  Finally, another minimum of 13 games will be broadcast over ESPN Regional TV at the old JP time of 11:30AM Central. These last games will be pushed over-the-air to regional stations across the nation.

Of course, with more games in more locations the powers at be at ESPN and brought on new talents to help cover the wide swath of games being broadcast. Some, like the team of Eric Collins & Brock Huard or the trio of Dave Neal, Andre Ware, & Cara Capuano, will be on SEC coverage all year, while others will cycle with games that are chosen for different primetime slots. Check out the announcer lineup here. 

Now is where the real nitpicking starts, the many smaller outlets and stations that ESPN runs. You'll be able to get games off the tube via the online ESPN360.com and your mobile phone's ESPN Mobile TV. The PPV games will also still be available out-of-market to ESPN GamePlan subscribers. The good 'ol ESPN Classic will still be bringing immediate encores as well as historic presentations of SEC games. Nonetheless, more new representation will be given to ESPN Deportes (including domestic Spanish-language right) and ESPN International (live and encore games). Finally, the end all of ESPN, ESPN.com will have extensive SEC content online for all to see.

Men's Basketball

Ahhh, the second most important college sport for television ratings. While I won't make a case for the SEC being a powerhouse of basketball, we do have some great teams and they'll definitely be easier to watch in the coming years.  ESPN will have the rights to air all inter- and intra-conference SEC games, excluding those already guaranteed to CBS.

The big news is the return, in a major way, to ESPN/ESPN2.  The SEC will see televised action three nights a week with a minimum of 30 games (24 intra-, 6 inter-) being broadcast throughout the season.  The SEC games will come on ESPN's Super Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday as well as an annual inter-conference basketball challenge event.

I find it a bit more exciting that ESPN on ABC is going to pick up a good bit of SEC coverage. They're going to have two regular season games and nationally televise both the SEC Tournament Semifinals and Championship game.  Of course, since ESPNU is now pushed into so many new homes, there will be more content here as well. They will throw up a minimum of seven intra-conference games as well as five non-conference games each season.

Finally, the lesser games will be on ESPN's JP equivalent: ESPN Regional Television.  People across the country are going to have a minimum of 37 intra-conference games thrown at them yearly (suckers!). These will come across the wire in the form of Wednesdays and doubleheaders on Saturdays. Interestingly enough, the first two rounds of the SEC Championship will be found here with a studio show. It looks like they didn't forget about the first games after all.

The rest of ESPN's collection of stations will take the same roles as they do in football, so no real surprises there.

Women's Basketball

As one would expect, this basically breaks down into a 'little sister' version of the men's basketball deal. ESPN will broadcast 16 games featuring an SEC team as well as the conference championship game. ESPN2 will back that up with 16 additional games and the conference championship semifinals. The rest of the games to be broadcast will be on ESPN Regional Television. There you'll find one game a week as well as the early rounds of the conference championships.

Other Sports

Baseball & Softball will see at least three games on ESPN or ESPN2. Gymnastics fans will see three regular season matches live (a nice change) so expect to see UA/UGA/UF here. Of course, the conference championships will also be thrown onto one of these two networks so be prepared to catch some primetime off-season college sports!

The largest number of random games will be found over on ESPNU. Here there will be a mix of 25 regular-season games from any thing from baseball to track & field, or even swimming & diving. If it doesn't make ESPN/ESPN2 then expect to see it here if televised at all.

New Multimedia Experiences

There are two major additions coming to the way we bide our time between games. The SEC & ESPN, in cooperation with individual universities, will be launching an SEC Academic Network. In the other direction, in cooperation with XOS Technologies, the SEC & ESPN will be launching the SEC Digital Network. The latter is what I'm the most excited about, and you'll soon see why.

There are very few details that have come out about the SEC Academic network. Basically the universities will have a good deal of leeway in how each of their sites will be developed. Some may want to delve more into hardcore academics, including showcasing research and other accomplishments, while others may use it more as a marketing/advertising tool for their school. This should launch soon (mid-August) and we'll all get to see where they're headed.

Now to the juiciest tidbit! The SEC Digital Network will change the way you use your downtime. From the sound of it, we are all going to be drooling in front of our computers for hours on end. It starts with a totally redesigned SECSports.com. Utilizing ESPN360 technology the plan is to launch an iTunes-esque site with the following:

• Game Replays
• Game Highlights
• Tailgating Events
• Post-game Interviews
• Press Conferences
• Behind-the-Scenes Pep-talks
• Real-time SEC News

Now, viewing the content will be free, but you'll also have the option to purchase content for download or on DVD. Pretty nifty, right? Doesn't seem mind-blowing yet? What if I said that this is supposed to cover all men's and women's sports? Still not enough? Well, that's where XOS Technologies steps in. XOS recently acquired Collegiate Images, and they are the content distribution rights-holder for 11 SEC schools (No, I don't know who the 12th is, nor do I know how it affects things). Combine that with the ESPN deal bringing all rights to their broadcasts back to the schools and you've got one hell of a resource.

 XOS is not only going to have games posted shortly after they air (which is badass in and of itself), they're also going to post EVERY GAME THEY CAN GET THEIR GRUBBY LITTLE HANDS ON! The plan is to have over TEN THOUSAND hours footage from games going back to the '60s & '70s. They even have the technology to scan 16mm film from as far back as the '20s. It seems that come hell or high water they'll be digitizing it all, even coaches' game film for games they can't get broadcasts of. How the hell awesome is that?