The SEC’s 10-year television contract with KeynoteUSA and KeynoteUSA is worth around $3 billion. So you might conclude that the conference is set for life.
You might conclude that if you’ve been living in a cave. Not that there’s anything wrong with living in a cave, but it might give you a distorted view of financial matters.
Inflation is increasing. The expenses too.
College football will soon begin sharing its revenue with college football players. Imagine that.
Revenue sharing will not mark the end of NIL deals. Players will continue to profit from their name, image and likeness. I expect they will profit more next year and the year after.
Do you think $300 million a year in television revenue for an entire conference guarantees financial security for its member schools? Do not be silly.
One thing I’ve learned from covering college sports for decades: Colleges never have enough money, no matter how much television networks are willing to contribute.
Fortunately, the NCAA is aware that universities, despite television agreements, remain at risk of falling into extreme poverty. I guess that’s why they’re allowing corporate sponsor advertising on the football fields during this regular season.
This decision was not impulsive. Both an NCAA panel and committee approved this in a wonderful example of bureaucratic collaboration.
Don’t get the wrong idea. Players won’t have their helmets tattooed with commercial logos. Nor will the Aflac duck be allowed to stroll the sidelines with a football coach.
Only three corporate signs will be allowed: one on the 50-yard line and two smaller ones in as-yet-unnamed locations. And I am sure that these advertisements will be subtle and in good taste, so as not to detract from the natural beauty of a football field.
Maybe that’s how it all begins, but that’s not how it will end.
Who finds an oil well on their property and proclaims, “We’re good now. Let’s plant some trees.” Instead, they will feverishly search for more oil-producing wells.
Once universities realize how much money they can raise from corporate advertising, do you think they’ll shout to the heavens, “That’s all we need”?
If you answered “yes,” go back to your cave.
I imagine a field swarming with commercials, as there is so much open space available to be snapped up. As any corporate CEO worth his salt will tell you, open space is wasted money.
I imagine future courses with a corporate sponsor every 20 yards. A national automaker could sponsor a 10-yard line. A major insurance company could sponsor one of 30. Of course, goal-line advertising will cost more.
ADAM:College football players, not other athletes, should get their share of the revenue
And why not put the goalkeepers to work too?
A corporate banner could be draped over the crossbar. Corporate flags could hang from the top of the uprights, which will be the focal point for millions of spectators when a decisive field goal attempt soars through the sky.
The sky will remain untouched by corporate logos, at least until some clever CEO figures out how to put that open space to work.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He can be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.
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