BYU & ESPN have agreed on 7-year deal thru 2026

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I ran some numbers on what games were shown on which channel for BYU's home schedule of games that were part of the ESPN deal:



ESPN 15

ESPN2 14

ESPNU 10

BYUtv 10

ABC 4

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ESPN3 2

ESPN+ 0

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TOTAL 55 games over 9 years



If the tv deal part of independence was to get the games where all can see them, taking advantage of BYUtv, and making more money taking the rights to the games directly to market instead of adding to the conference tv pool, this looks pretty successful.



The 2 ESPN3 games shown here were a 2011 Idaho State game (no BYUtv game that first year of independence) and a 2015 Fresno State game (BYUtv had already shown Wagner that season). You could see them, just on the streaming platform.



Well done Tom Holmoe!

My thoughts:



1. I really do appreciate the past deal and the ease of watching BYU football games on TV. As someone who has mostly lived outside of Utah this was huge for me. I also really want to get back into a conference but I'm afraid that will come with a horrible TV deal that will require the highest tier subscription package for access to a crappy conference network.



2. I hope the amount of ESPN+ games are limited. I mean it's a better deal than what UMass was offering but it seems like a step in the wrong direction if we're getting on this channel multiple times a year.



3. It would be great to have tiered bowl games. Perhaps that motivation to get to win 8 instead of just 6 wins for a better bowl will help keep Sitake invested all season long?

I don't think anyone can complain about the TV access we've had in Independence. In fact, it's brilliant. We are on National television as often as anyone in the top 10. When BYU eventually joins a P5 program it will be a huge blow to TV access. For example, I only see about 2 or 3 Utah games a year, before DirecTV doesn't have the PAC channel. It's easier for me to watch Virginia than Utah.

Coming off of the MTN fiasco, the ESPN deal was perfect. BYU previously could not even rebroadcast its own home games, there were basketball games that had no television coverage, that BYU couldn't broadcast on BYUtv. Simply put, the MTN was the opposite of everything that ESPN has given BYU. Having the ESPN contract in place moving forward is a great thing.



I'm much less worried about ESPN + games today than I was 3 months ago. Every Latter Day Saint probably has Disney+, and ESPN + is only like a $2.00 add on to that anyway.

No Disney+ in my household, haha.

Now we just have to win significantly more than when lose with all this TV/media access. All the eyeballs on us in the world isn't really fun when you're putting on a mediocre show.

I am interested when the numbers will be "leaked" for the deal. I would hope BYU would get paid more than what the highest G5 school gets and then some. I would also hope for fewer 8:30pm starts, but I know that isn't going to happen.



I do like the guarantee of a bowl by ESPN if BYU is bowl eligible, that along is huge. I remember last year I was telling my :utard: coworker that BYU would go to a bowl game because of their contract with ESPN and he guaranteed me they wouldn't because ESPN couldn't make it happen with all the bowls having contracts with all the conferences. I told him ESPN would find a bowl for BYU and when they did the :utard: wouldn't even acknowledge it was because of ESPN.

KingCoug wrote:

Now we just have to win significantly more than when lose with all this TV/media access. All the eyeballs on us in the world isn't really fun when you're putting on a mediocre show.

Actually, BYU has taken nice advantage of many of its big-stage games...for instance, this year, we beat USC in an exciting game on ABC. The over-time win against Tennessee was on ESPN during Eastern primetime. Last year's road win over Wisconsin was on ABC. The exciting Hail Mary win at Nebraska was on ABC. The casual football fan was either able to watch these games live or saw the highlights repeatedly throughout the day.



And, if you remember, the ugly loss to Toledo was on ESPN-Plus. South Florida and SDSU were on CBSSN, which doesn't get good enough viewership to even report ratings to Nielsen. The ugliest losses in 2017 were also CBSSN (Utah State and ECU) and the SEC Network and BYUtv (UMass).

blue42 wrote:

I am interested when the numbers will be "leaked" for the deal. I would hope BYU would get paid more than what the highest G5 school gets and then some. I would also hope for fewer 8:30pm starts, but I know that isn't going to happen.

I have heard that the ESPN deal includes only 4 games per year on ABC/ESPN/2/U, for about $8M/year. No link available yet. That's a bit above the AAC pro rata payout and well above anything the MWC will get. But, still well below the P5 contracts.



The two BYUtv games will ensure at least a couple of afternoon kickoffs each year.



Plus, our future schedules have a lot of quality road games, so BYU will see plenty of coverage both home and away.

blue42 wrote:
I do like the guarantee of a bowl by ESPN if BYU is bowl eligible, that along is huge. I remember last year I was telling my :utard: coworker that BYU would go to a bowl game because of their contract with ESPN and he guaranteed me they wouldn't because ESPN couldn't make it happen with all the bowls having contracts with all the conferences. I told him ESPN would find a bowl for BYU and when they did the :utard: wouldn't even acknowledge it was because of ESPN.

We will have access to some decent bowl matchups against P5 and AAC teams in the Armed Forces and First Responder bowls...if we deserve it. Also, potential access to Birmingham and Gasparilla bowls, if the SEC or ACC doesn't have enough bowl-eligible teams to fulfill their commitments. I wish ESPN Events had a California bowl.

byufan4ever wrote:

No Disney+ in my household, haha.

same.