The SEC on CBS has been an institution for years, but it appears that will be coming to an end in 2023.
According to John Ourand of Sports Business Daily, CBS bid $300 million per season in an attempt to renew its TV contract with the SEC, but bowed out when the bidding went beyond that. In a statement, CBS said it would instead “aggressively focus on other important strategic priorities moving forward.”
The network was outbid by ESPN/ABC, who are reportedly paying north of $330 million per season for the rights to SEC football. One of their major selling points was the ability to be more flexible in terms of scheduling as opposed to CBS’ exclusive window for the week’s best game, meaning that multiple games can be shown on broadcast TV and the best ones can be flexed into primetime.
CBS has carried the SEC since 1996, and has been the exclusive home of the title game since 2001. This marks a big change for college football broadcasting, and adds to ESPN’s hefty portfolio of properties in the sport.
