E"SEC"PN

I was displeased with the news yesterday that ESPN will have the television rights to the BCS games until 2014. First and foremost, this weakens any stance of a playoff system. ESPN has also reportedly put a moratorium on all columnists and radio personalities from even mentioning the word "playoffs" when it comes to college football. That is a little extreme, but I guess they can control their employees. Note to ESPN, just because your network is prohibited from mentioning it doesn't mean that the topic will just go away.

Being the PAC-10 guy that I am, this makes me even more furious. It has been difficult enough living on the East Coast the last 5 years and never even watching PAC-10 teams play unless USC was involved. Factor in the time zone difference and people on the East Coast would be lucky to watch 5 minutes of Oregon or California every year. People on the East Coast would be shocked to hear that Oregon State has won 19 games the last two seasons and have won 4 consecutive bowl games. No wonder they are generally an afterthought to mid-level SEC teams that are constantly on national TV. Back on topic....

I have always thought there was some bias on ESPN since they televise a lot of SEC games. They want to constantly promote the league so their ratings will increase. With both ESPN and CBS broadcasting games, essentially every SEC football game will be televised nationally. Well, I came across this note on collegefootballnews.com yesterday and it hit home for me:

"ESPN appears to be on the verge of getting the rights for the BCS games for 2011 and beyond. Meanwhile, the network has ponied up $2.5 billion for the rights to televise the SEC games other than the one CBS will snag for its game of the week. That means ESPN will be the equivalent of the SEC Network during football seasons. As if the $55 million a year the SEC will be getting from the deal ins’t enough, let’s just say it’ll be in the Boo-Ya’s best interest if the league just so happens to be promoted all the time when it comes to lobbying efforts to get an SEC team into the national title. Also, be prepared for any and all critical thought when it comes to BCS discussion to be gone from the Worldwide Leader, and for any hint of the P-word, be it for an eight-team tourney or a plus-one format, to be squashed like Harold Reynolds."

This should bother anyone who is a fan of a team in another conference. ESPN will be pushing hard on a weekly basis to get SEC teams ranked higher since that will increase their ratings. If you think I am the only one bothered by this, consider these words from Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops during the 2004 season:

"I'm aware of what their contracts are with. Whether people are directed in certain ways, I'm not going to say that. I think all the people ought to be aware who their contracts are with and what some of their agendas may be. I just understand TV and what happens with programs. Ratings matter. I think it's fair to say, too, they have a contract with the SEC. I'm fully aware of that. I can't be the only one who recognizes that. It's impossible to remove agendas. They have producers and ratings. I don't know what impact they have, but I'm sure they have some."

For those of us who can't take any more of ESPN shoving the SEC down our throats, it's only just begun.