The new version of Conference USA is going with an old media strategy. #MACtion, but for Conference USA.
In a season of media deals, with the Big Ten and Big 12 inking medium-term agreements and the Pac-12 working on one as we speak, Conference USA also secured its medium-term future with a television deal. The league loses Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA to the American after this season, while adding Kennesaw State, Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State and Sam Houston.
Sports Business Journal reported Wednesday that C-USA has reached a 5-year deal with ESPN and CBS Sports Network to air its games, with a key part of that strategy being midweek football games.
From SBJ:
The new-look Conference USA will shift its entire slate of October football games to midweek evenings starting with the 2023 season. CUSA, which will add five new members for the 2023-24 academic year, will play most of its October league games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, with a handful of games also planned for Thursday and Friday nights.
The deal is viewed as an upgrade for the conference, given that many of its games air on Stadium and NFL Network, so midweek games on ESPN and CBS SN will put C-USA football on channels people actually get and on nights when they aren't overshadowed by the Power 5.
So that's what C-USA gets. What's in this deal for ESPN and CBS. It's basically free content.
SBJ reports each school will earn "in the neighborhood of $750,000 per year" from this contract, which is below what MAC and Sun Belt schools earn and roughly $100 million per year below what Big Ten schools will earn by the end of their deals.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.