ESPN keeps BCS for another 11 years

The costs of sports rights deals continue to shoot up.

After sharp increases in recent deals for pro baseball and football rights, ESPN has reached a deal that will increase the average annual price for the Bowl Championship Series by more than 20 percent, from a reported $500 million per year to $610 million.

The deal was signed Wednesday, following days of rumors that an agreement was imminent.

It begins in 2015 and runs through 2026.

ESPN began carrying the BCS in 2011, following a brief run on Fox. In its first year the BCS title game set a record for most-watched program ever on cable, drawing 27.3 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.

While that was down from past years, it was a huge coup for ESPN, which charges cable carriers a per-subscriber fee that’s based partly on demand for the network. With hugely popular programs like “Monday Night Football” and the BCS, ESPN has been able to raise its asking price.

The new BCS deal includes the BCS title game as well as the Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowl games.
 

Tags: bcs, bcs espn, bcs games, bcs rights, Bowl Championship Series, cable, deals, espn, espn bcs, espn bcs deal, following, monday night football, records, sports, sports rights deals, sports tv, viewers