ESPN’s flagship channel will be bringing its cameras to UB Stadium for the first-time ever when the football team hosts Baylor on Sept. 12.
It’s possible that the football team and other UB sports squads will see more coverage on the network after a recent deal between ESPN and the Mid-American Conference.
On Aug. 19, it was announced that the MAC, UB’s conference for all sports teams except for women’s rowing, and ESPN agreed to a 13-year media rights agreement, the largest and most extensive agreement in the 68-year history of the conference.
The new deal makes provisions to the previous deal, which was set to expire in three years, and adds an additional 10 years. The ESPN Network, which includes stations such as ESPN2 and ESPN3, has exclusive television and distribution rights to all MAC sporting events. The new deal guarantees coverage of every football game and select men’s and women’s basketball games and Olympic events on one of its platforms.
“It’s a landmark opportunity for the conference as a whole because we’ll see unprecedented coverage as a whole on the ESPN platform with football, men’s and women’s basketball but also a lot of our Olympic sports,” said Athletic Director Danny White.
White believes the extension is a reflection of the conference’s recent success. Two MAC football players, including the Bulls’ Khalil Mack, have been selected among the first five picks of the NFL Draft in the past two seasons. The Akron men’s soccer team won a national championship in 2010 and the Ohio men’s basketball team made a Sweet-16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2012.
White believes the MAC’s midweek football games and the conference’s midweek games in November as opposed to the weekend, also led to the extension.
"When you think about midweek football in particular, the MAC has a really unique niche and is drawing great ratings nationally with our midweek football games,” White said. “All of our athletes in all of our sports are competing at a high level and the rest of the country is starting to see that.”
The ESPN Network will continue to broadcast MAC midweek football games, which will include 14 for this season. The Bulls made an appearance on ESPN2 last season when they hosted Ohio at UB Stadium for a mid-week game.
ESPN reported that the previous deal paid the MAC about $1 million a year and that the new deal is worth more. White said he was not at liberty to discuss the finances of the deal.
White said the new deal might cause more changes in the game times for football, but he does not expect the deal to significantly change how the athletics department is operated.
The deal will provide upgrades to the MAC and its individual school’s in-house production capabilities. This will help MAC schools increase their coverage of other sports, like volleyball, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s soccer and wrestling.
White said UB will combine staff and student involvement to produce coverage of their sports teams so that can be featured on ESPN3 this season. White said UB has already begun to improve its on campus production capabilities with the addition of weekly press conferences for volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer which are streamed onto the team’s website.
White said the ESPN3 player will soon be embedded on the UB Athletics website as well.
“We are looked at as a leader in [on campus production] in our conference,” White said. “It’s important for us to showcase all the hard work for these student-athletes. We’ll continue to find ways to be on the cutting edge of video production and as a result we’re going to have a lot of opportunities for exposure.”
White believes coverage of UB’s teams on ESPN will help with recruiting for all sports, as the friends and families of student-athletes will want ways to view from across the country.
White does not believe that the deal will affect UB’s future in the MAC.
“We’re excited to be in the Mid-American Conference,” White said. “We need to show that we can be a consistent winner in the Mid-American Conference and that’s what we’re focused on right now. I think we’re in the process of doing that right now. We have a lot of programs that are on the cusp of competing for conference championships and we’re excited about that.”
email: sports@ubspectrum.com
