DESTIN, Fla. - At this time last year, the SEC was pondering whether to start its own TV network.
Television again will be the primary topic as the league opens a four-day run of its annual spring business meetings here today at the Sandestin Beach Hilton. But this time, the talk will be how the conference will implement the extensive and lucrative new TV contracts it has signed with CBS and ESPN that take effect starting in the upcoming football season.
While those 15-year contracts were signed last August - CBS for $800 million and ESPN for a mind-blowing $2.25 billion - the best news came late last week when it was announced Comcast and DirectTV were picking up ESPNU and ESPN360.
That was huge for SEC viewers. ESPN wants to use every one of its outlets, even ESPN Mobile TV (live games shown on mobile phones), to telecast conference football, men's basketball and women's basketball, as well as increased exposure for Olympic sports.
SEC commissioner Mike Slive has said every football game involving an SEC team, whether it's league play or non-conference, will be televised, starting with the 12:30 p.m. ET game previously telecast to nine states by Raycom. Now, the 12:30 game will be done by ESPN Regional and will have the capability to be shown nationwide.
Also, each SEC school can reserve one game a year for a pay-per-view showing.
"We are about to become the most widely distributed conference in the country," Slive said.
Not to mention the richest. It is expected this year, the SEC will distribute a record $130 million or more in revenue to its members. Next year at this time, with the new TV contracts starting in the fall, that total should increase by $100 million.
Because of TV and the SEC's reputation as the nation's most powerful athletic conference, Slive reportedly will have pointed discussions with the league football and basketball coaches during these meetings.
Though he realizes the SEC is extremely competitive, he hasn't been fond of coaches trash-talking at booster clubs and in the media. He reprimanded new Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin almost immediately on national signing day in February after Kiffin said at a booster club signing-day rally in Knoxville that Florida coach Urban Meyer tried to cheat in attempting to sign recruit Nu'Keese Richardson.
Slive will remind the football coaches if they have a problem with each other, they should resolve it out of the watchful eye of the media or through the conference office.
This will be Kiffin's first SEC business meeting, his initial face-to-face with Meyer and several other coaches he has jabbed publicly.
Besides Kiffin, this is the first league meeting for new football coaches Dan Mullen of Mississippi State and Gene Chizik of Auburn, and new men's basketball coaches John Calipari of Kentucky, Anthony Grant of Alabama and Mark Fox of Georgia.
With the SEC getting just three men's basketball teams in the NCAA tournament - and the league would have had just two if Mississippi State hadn't been the surprise winner of the SEC tournament to get the automatic NCAA bid - Slive will advise men's basketball coaches to upgrade non-conference schedules.
This past season, Slive finished his term as chairman of the NCAA men's basketball tournament selection committee. It didn't help the SEC that the majority of league teams didn't have high RPIs that would have boosted their chances for at-large bids.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 17
TD_4_UT writes:
The SEC will have a lot more exposure across the country, good news.
smokyredbone writes:
Slive wears Teebows!
CoverOrange writes:
And yet I'll get to see less of UT. But that is my $13/$23 problem with DishTV.
hotrodvol writes:
Slive might say he doesn't want CLK talking, but how many more people will be watching UT-FL game this year. If UT is undefeated when we play the gators, the game will be hyped big time. Which mean big ratings. GO VOLS!
ArealVolFan writes:
The University of Florida has announced it will eliminate 430 faculty and staff positions and decrease funding for disability services, financial aid services, and internship opportunities. Student enrollment is declining by more than 1,000 at both Florida State University and the University of Florida. The legislature also has approved a statewide tuition increase for the current academic year of 6 percent; the University of Florida increased tuition for in-state undergraduates by 15 percent.
Everyone is going through tough times.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&...
tums writes:
I love this TV deal. I live in Washington State and all the Vols games I get to see are their bigger nationally televised games. I am surprised how often they are on TV up here, I hope this means even more. They were on quite a bit last year despite their record.
murrayvol writes:
If UT is not undefeated when we play UF, there will be no joy in Mudville or Knoxville or any other Ville in Tennessee.
99gator writes:
read somewhere that ucla has some major problems heading into the season.
it's not a quick fix out there either.
tennessee should get to gainesville without a loss.
old_number1 writes:
99, I've been waiting to catch up with you. Some of the Elite Vol posters say they want you to join us to help get rid of the trolls. I have said that you are not in their catorgory. Others agree. If you would like, I would make you an honorary member. We want to show that We enjoy thoughtful comments from other team's fans. You are tops on that list. What do you say?
If you have questions about what we're trying to do, click on my username and read some earlier posts. Thanks
bhjohnso#207063 writes:
slightly off topic, but why didn't mr slive reprimand spurrier for his "kiffin didn't take the test" nonsense? probably because he bows before the great jeremy foley?
99gator writes:
i have no problem helping get rid of "trolls". don't know how that can be accomplished, but, again, i have no problem with it.
i will say that there will be times where i post something that the people here do not agree with.....but, hey, dcflorida and gatorzz do not believe i am a real gator fan for the same reason.
i would suggest that you have some vols posters who would also classify as "trolls". the ones who think peyton manning was the worst qb in the history of tennessee football.
UTandETSUfan writes:
yeah 99, bobbeavol is on the troll list. haha. Anyways, how do you see the game shaping up in gainesville (I'm tired of this 63-3 BS the trolls keep posting)?
99gator writes:
on paper, the game should not be close.
it's hard to imagine that whatever improvement tennessee makes as a football team will be present by the third week of the season.
the players have new systems to learn and that can take time.
add to that the fact that i can't remember the last time tennessee played well on the road against a ranked opponent.
the only thing i see that can help tennessee is that florida may take some time to adjust to life without percy harvin. they've won without harvin, but it's different not having him at all for a season. in addition, last year, i think it was noticeable that florida took some time getting rolling offensively despite the level of talent they had on the field.
so, there may be some minor kinks or adjustments florida will have to work out in the early part of the season.
but, forget tim tebow or the florida offense.
tennessee has to find a way to score points, on the road, with jonathan crompton at qb, against what i think may be the best defense in the country in 2009. there are a lot of gator folks who believe this may be (on paper) the best florida defense ever.
so tennessee finding a way to put points on the board is going to be difficult.
i anticipate that brandon james will not be allowed to return another punt for a td and that tennessee will not have the same level of special teams problems that they have had in the early part of the season the last few years.
i think the 63-6 stuff is pretty far fetched. but, if florida won by three touchdowns or more, it would not surprise me. i would not be surprised if las vegas has florida favored by 21 or more.
you have to look hard to find a matchup where tennessee has an advantage over florida that can be exploited.
i think it's important to remember though that florida is going to beat several different opponents pretty badly. so, if it happens to tennessee, tennessee will have company by the season's end.
florida beat georgia, lsu, south carolina, florida state, kentucky, vanderbilt (all teams who went to a bowl game) by worse margins than what tennessee suffered in 2008.
but, they play the games for a reason.
TnScooby writes:
Folks who post reasonable opinions and thoughts aren't real "trolls' but i get SICK and TIRED of the trash spewed forth by idiots like DC and gatorz...99 you seem to have plausible opinions and ADD to discussions but I REFUSE to respond to morons who are here to stir up trouble and SUBTRACT from our discussions...IMO, those who take the bait apparently aren't interested in a legitimate forum to discuss things RELEVANT to UT.....hopefully everyone still agrees...........DONT' FEED THE TROLLS!!!!!!!!!!!!
old_number1 writes:
For now, just pulling together to ignore them is all We're hoping for. Later I have plans to contact Kns about the site with a list of 100 posters backing me up. And I'm working on a few other ideas for later. So sinse you want to help, I am adding you to the list. That makes 62 on our list. Thanks.
old_number1 writes:
Luvr, I understand your point. But what We say is that We welcome all fans from any team, as long as they aren't nasty and rotten.For instance, I enjoy getting a different take on things from time to time. It's the trolls we want to ignore, not the real football fans. So, do you want to join us in this?
GayTorz52 writes:
I just started reviewing and participating in these threads a few months ago and really find the trolls (and troll comments) annoying. While some of the articles are good to read and help keep up, I'm to the point where I may just read the articles and look no further. It is frustrating because I would like to have meaningful conversations with Vol fans or even Gator fans with a brain. Frustrating... to the point where I did some research and found the true identity of Gatorz. I have created this new account for this purpose only. Gatorz lives in MS. It is either him or his ex wife posting. I have both their names. However, it wouldn't do any good to identify them nor would it keep them from posting to this site.
I am interested in having meaningful conversations but will be looking elsewhere for that if there's no way to control the situation. These people are pathetic and nothing we say will change that. Even if you tell everyone to ignore them (they won't/can't). It still detracts and will not cause them to stop posting.
You also can't make exclusive. Not fair to those who happen not to be your friend or agree with you. They could require more stringent sign-up information, assign a moderator and kick off trolls based on IP address (permanently).
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.