Tennessee football: Big Ten outsmarted SEC with TV deals; it may hurt Vols

It’s honestly time to start talking about how often the SEC gets outsmarted. The most recent example could have a ripple effect that devastates programs like Tennessee football, one that makes the conference clearly second-tier in the era of SEC and Big Ten dominance.

After the SEC signed a 10-year deal with ESPN set to go into effect in 2024 and then expanded to add the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners, it seemed like Greg Sankey was on top of the world. This offseason has changed all of that.

The Big Ten added the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins. Then they negotiated with three separate networks, FOX, CBS and NBC. Those negotiations were confirmed this week, and CBS tweeted out its college football music that Tennessee football and SEC fans know so well, only it was with Big Ten teams.

Make no mistake, this was a finesse move by the Big Ten. It’s a seven-year deal that begins in 2023. The SEC’s is a 10-year deal that begins in 2024. Despite three more years on the deal, Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal reports that the expected estimated payout for the Big Ten is almost $1 billion more.

Once again, the SEC got played. Remember, their exclusivity deal with ESPN and ABC was made because they were already getting finessed by CBS. They are still in the midst of a 15-year deal in which CBS pays out $55 million annually, chump change considering the league’s value.

By going for shorter deals and waiting until expansion was confirmed before signing them, the Big Ten has been able to negotiate a lot better. They were the first to launch their own network as well. Jim Delany and now Kevin Warren have just been that much smarter.

This time, though, it’s a big deal. NIL money is already neutralizing recruiting advantages, which does help Tennessee football relative to other SEC schools but won’t help it outside of the state. With this deal, the Big Ten teams now can use giant recruiting budgets to recruit the South.

On top of that, it’s pretty clear the Big Ten is eyeing further expansion. With this TV deal, they’ll likely be able to move into territories the Vols recruit real soon, including Virginia and North Carolina. Both conferences probably covet those markets.

That doesn’t even take into account the fact that the league can sell to recruits the number of chances they have to be on TV since they’re on different networks. Oh, and the Big Ten schools will simply be more visible by having teams on so many networks.

In every way, the Vols are in trouble, as is the rest of the SEC. All of a sudden, the advantage they may have gotten with NIL deals is neutralized. If we’re being honest here, Greg Sankey got played the same way Larry Scott did in the past.

Let’s look to history. The SEC has been signing these long-term deals to avoid the potential fallout from cord-cutting. That’s exactly what Scott and the Pac-12 did over a decade ago. It was hailed at the time, but then it wrecked the league after TV deals increased and the Pac-12 was stuck in bad contracts it can’t get out of.

As a result, Scott stepped down, is now a pariah, and USC and UCLA have bolted. Well, to be honest, the SEC has done the same thing. Their leaders get away with it simply because they have more valuable programs, but they’re still getting played the same way the Pac-12 is.

Add in the jokes that fall on the ACC, which has deals going through 2036, and the SEC has been following the same business model of conferences everyone deems to be failing. Simply put, the Big Ten is the only forward-thinking conference, and the SEC is just lucky to have large brands to get better deals than other leagues.

At some point, Tennessee football may have to re-examine its relationship with the SEC. Yes, that sounds crazy, but the Vols are one of the top revenue-generators in the league, and they allow that league to negotiate terrible deals. It’s going to hurt them in the long run, and they need to get out ahead of it.