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RandomAsianGuy OP
Mar 09, 2026 at 11:18 PM ET
Patrick Crakes on the Future of College Sports Media Rights
I found this interview was informative. Basically he echoed the article @SMU Pony had posted a few days ago. He talked about other issues but the main thing was about broader economic headwinds facing non NFL media rights deals (particularly college sports). Below is Grok’s summary: - Declining traditional pay-TV subscriptions - Streaming platforms still losing money at scale or not generating sufficient profit (Disney reportedly $20B in losses) - Consolidation among big media companies (e.g. potential Paramount-Warner type mergers) reducing the number of serious bidders for rights - NFL and NBA mega-deals setting high benchmarks that college football may struggle to match in the next cycle He doesn’t seem to believe the college sports media revenue would continue to grow exponentially. I still think the B10 and the SEC will see significant revenue growth. But not sure about other conferences. We will see.

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SMU Pony
4mo
My thoughts....
....the SEC is probably the most undervalued media rights contract right now (even moreso than the ACC). Think about how many of the top-rated games each week were SEC games last year....they destroyed the Big Ten in ratings. I think the SEC will see a considerable jump when their deal is up in 2034. The Big Ten, perhaps not so much. Somehow they make more in TV revenue than the SEC does now. Warren really outflanked Sankey on that one last time around.