They're just trying to offload an asset that's deflating at the speed of light onto another sucker.

game for a profit? They owned the rights, and they sold the game, but was it to "save' a few bucks, or did they think that money could get a better ROI somewhere else? Watch CBS moving forward. CBS Sports and TNT Sports will merge as a recent announcement revealed. keep in mind that CBS also has some BIG content, but they also have the Big East and March madness. TNT lost the NBA, and they ae circling around looking for content. As an aside, Yormark has recently doubled down on negotiating basketball separately from football on the next media deal around 2029 and 2030. The conclusions are all wrong. The demand and interest is there for college athletics, and the big boys will benefit IMO. The BIG and SEC have locked in the football dollars, no doubt - with the exception of ND and a few ACC schools. The question is, .... Is basketball worth more than they get now or not? Yormark seems to think that there is money in them thar hills, but I guess like anything in this mess, we will see,

the writing was on the wall...need a bag holder

to see what, if anything, he does with the ESPN properties moving forward. Watch the NFL when their contracts come up. There may be a shifting of the guard.

There are pockets a lot deeper than Mickey Mouse's these days....and they want content

Legacy media will still spend $$$ on NFL and potentially NBA but for other properties, they will be looking for a good ROI.

to NFL rights . Legacy media does not have unlimited budgets and they are going to give till they bleed out to retain the NFL. And that has to be funded somehow.

I think the SEC and B1G will eventually shoot themselves in the foot by alienating so many college football fans that their product will become much less valuable to TV networks. I don't think there are enough SEC and B1G fans to sustain the current TV deals by themselves without a lot of "outside" viewership.

states, the current model may not care about TV ratings or be depended upon Big Ten/SEC "fans" to survive. It may be driven on other factors which could delay when this mythical bubble will pop.

...funding these conferences in order to keep the betting interest high.

it has a deal with a company that runs a sports betting app. Depending on how much money is being generated from the app, it is possible the money generated from the linear/streaming channels for sports coverage (college and pros) eventually becomes chump change for the networks. At least I suspect the networks are in a transition period with how they structure their business model for sports coverage with gambling playing a far bigger role than people may realize. Also, I don't think the networks would ever publicly admit any of it because of the impact it would have on their ability to jack up their subscription prices or carriage fees when negotiating with the various providers. If the curtain was ever truly pulled back to unveil what is really going on behind the closed doors, then I suspect the public would see they are feasting on 2 fat hogs. 1 has gambling tattooed on its side and the other has subscription/carriage fee. When it comes to the idea of the bubble popping, I sometimes chuckle because I am not sure it will ever pop. I think there are enough clever people out there who work for the right companies and are in a position to come up with the "next thing" to sustain the status quo. Unless Congress or a snitch wants to pull back the curtain to show the public just how the sausage is made, the majority of the public will likely remain ignorant and allow the companies involved to keep raking in millions. If the bubble does ever "pop," then it probably won't look like what happened when the housing bubble popped. It likely will deflate a little because the networks will still find a way to come out ahead even when everything should come down like a house of cards.