AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -- As he sat down with a small media contingent here Thursday following the conference’s annual spring meetings, ACC Commissioner John Swofford began by saying the reporters could just copy and paste his previous non-committal comments about the league’s negotiations for an ACC television channel.
“I’m kidding,” he then deadpanned. “Sort of.”
Swofford, who has been the subject of growing skepticism for failing to broker a deal for a channel similar to the highly profitable networks developed by the SEC and Big Ten, insisted that the ACC and television partner ESPN are still “bullish” about their prospects in that regard. But until a deal is finalized, he said, nothing could be discussed publicly.
The ACC and ESPN have been in discussions about an ACC-specific channel for at least three years, but there has been little tangible progress -- at least that has been shared with the public. And in recent months, officials from a few member schools have expressed concerns about being left behind financially by other conferences.
When asked about those concerns Thursday, Swofford said he believes the conference athletic directors were comforted by what they heard from ESPN executives during meetings this week.
“That [comfort] comes with the development of what we anticipate doing,” Swofford said. “That’s why we’re doing it. That’s why ESPN is in the discussions with us. They like to make money, too. And we like to make money as well … and need to.
“I think everybody is extremely bullish [about the ACC’s future]. … We’ve just got to hit it right. We’ve got to make the right decisions. And we’re talking about decisions that are not only very important, but they’re for the long term. So getting it right is a lot more important than expediency.”
Swofford did hint that when the deal is done, it might not be as simple as establishing a channel on existing cable or satellite platforms.
“It might not look exactly the same,” he said. “The days of everything being just a rights-fee negotiation -- there still is some of that -- but there’s a lot more negotiations about developing businesses together under our partnership. As opposed to a guaranteed rights fee. …
While there has been discussion in the industry that ESPN will be reluctant to invest in any major initiatives while tightening its belt due to substantial losses in the numbers of cable subscribers nationally, Swofford said that is not a concern.
He said ESPN is a perfect partner in a changing media landscape.
“When you’re a partner with ESPN, they’re cutting-edge people,” Swofford said. “They always have been, and we don’t foresee that changing. … I think they’ll continue to be aggressive about college sports, about live events. And I think they’ll continue to be very aggressive in terms of how they distribute those live events. And that could be very important going forward … to have a partner of that nature.
