Burke Magnus is the President of Programming & Original Content at ESPN and when he agreed to talk about some of the decision making behind some of ESPN’s recent media deals, it was going to be a fascinating listen.
Magnus appeared on The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast and did exactly that. John Ourand and Andrew Marchand peppered the ESPN executive on several recent newsworthy items including the network’s decision to not enter a new media rights deal with the Big Ten conference after this season.
Magnus mentioned that in the negotiations between the network and the conference really hinged on the price of what was being asked versus the inventory the network would receive and the two never really matched.
“What happened here was we were being offered half the number of games we currently have, lower selection priorities and essentially double the price,” said Magnus. “It really came down to what the component parts were of the big ten deal on offer and knowing that we had the SEC already in the house. The ACC already in the house. By the way two more years of Pac-12. Three more years of Big 12. The CFP for 4 more years.”
Magnus also said that even though the two sides couldn’t come to a deal, it was the right choice for ESPN.
“What we needed to get at the price that we needed to get it at, neither of those things were available to us,” Magnus said on The Marchand and Ourand Podcast. “As difficult as it was to go separate directions, it was the right decision for our company, there’s no doubt about that. We’re going to continue to be heavily invested in college sports. Nothing is forever in the rights-buying business. So you’ve got to be somewhat dispassionate about, and stick to your process, if you will. But it was hard. It was hard decision, but I think it was the right decision for us because of what was on offer for us to buy, which was not what we were hoping for.”
Magnus also wanted to dispel the rumors that ESPN has been behind the some of the recent conference realignment. He said he was surprised the Big Ten invited UCLA and USC because the Big Ten is “the Midwest” but he understood it.
“We don’t get involved until it happens. If conference X and says we’ve extended invitations to these two institutions, there are in every contract, we have usually very specific provisions about how a negotiation would then commence.”
“But it’s after the fact,” Magnus reiterated. “It’s not before. We don’t sit there and ever ‘hey you should do this school instead of that school and here’s why’. But downstream it’s our job to asses market value for institutions that are coming… I know people out there are looking for smoking guns and suspect involvement on the front end. But trust me when I tell you my day is full enough.”
