ESPN and the ACC announced a 12-year, $1.86 billion deal to broadcast football, men’s and women’s basketball, conference championship games and Olympic sports.
The agreement, which was announced by ESPN and ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer and ACC Commissioner John Swofford last week, gives ESPN exclusive rights to approximately 4,800 sporting events beginning in the 2011-2012 season.
Under the new deal, ESPN will reportedly pay up to $155 million per year, putting the ACC third in payouts behind the Big Ten and the SEC.
In addition to increasing each school’s television revenue, the agreement will expand the ACC nationally.
The new agreement also included a sublicense agreement with Raycom Sports, giving the network continued access to ACC syndication rights for regional distribution.
For football, ESPN will serve as the national cable and broadcast television home for the conference and distributor of syndication telecasts via an agreement with Raycom Sports. With the agreement granting rights to every matchup, there is flexibility where games can be distributed on a weekly basis throughout the season.
The networks will televise ACC games each week, including Thursday, Saturday and a Labor Day Monday telecast each season.
In men’s basketball, ESPN will offer more ACC men’s basketball than ever before, including every intra-conference matchup and an extensive schedule of inter-conference action on one of its platforms or through sublicense agreements with Raycom Sports or other national outlets. The deal also includes the continuation of the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge event.
Highlighting the new basketball schedule will be a new weekly ESPNU Sunday telecast and the continuation of ACC action on ESPN’s Super Tuesday, Wednesday Night Hoops, Thursday Night Showcase and Saturdays.
ESPN will expand its coverage of regular-season women’s basketball across its platforms and televise the ACC tournament conference semifinals and championship game for the first time on an ESPN network, and they will televise more of the 22 ACC-sponsored Olympic sports increasing its coverage to include regular-season and conference championship events.
“The work that the Conference office and Commissioner Swofford has done is fantastic,” said Tech Athletic Director Dan Radakovich, courtesy of .
“The distribution of our athletic events by our partner ESPN/ABC will continue to enhance the reputation of our schools and showcase our student athletes,” Radakovich said.