Paul Finebaum explains what the Big Ten's media rights deal means for the SEC

The Big Ten conference announced their ground breaking media rights deal with multiple networks such as CBS, FOX, NBC and NBC’s Peacock last week set to make upwards of $7 billion dollars for the conference. A deal like this made some wonder where that leaves the powerhouse SEC, and college football insider Paul Finebaum answered just that on a recent episode of McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.

“Well I think Greg we’ve spent the last five or six years debating the last deal by the SEC, the one that was done by Mike Slive in 2008 and it turned out to be, lets be honest, a terrible deal. It was way too long and it was with one conference and I think you’ll hear critics say similar things about this,” Finebaum said. “We all know people inside that office and they will rightly push back and say circumstances are different, but what I think it really does point to is is how significant the move of SC and UCLA, especially SC to the Big Ten, because it just brought not only tradition, but it brought the Los Angels area into it which is just beyond critical.”

The SEC’s 15-year, $2 billion deal Finebaum is referring to certainly pails in comparison to the Big Ten’s latest move. The addition of the Los Angels market certainly played a major role in the deal, and Finebaum believes the SEC’s future additions to the conference will have an impact in their future media dealings.

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“Nobody’s going back and saying the SEC didn’t do well with Texas and Oklahoma, we did, but it’s been such a long, drawn out process and I think more than anything it won’t make Texas and Oklahoma come into the league yet. But I think it adds enormous pressure Greg to getting Texas and Oklahoma into the SEC by ’24 when this goes into effect and I think that will happen. I don’t think that’s red flash, breaking news but I think it’s more important now than ever to expedite that deal,” Finebaum said.

McElroy also asked Finebaum about how the combination of the SEC relationship with ABC and the Big Ten now taking the 3:30 p.m. time slot for CBS could impact or accelerate that process for the SEC.

“You’re going to be closer to that than I am, but I don’t hear anything immediate on that and what it really does is it just annoys me and some of the other people that those of us that love SEC football just have to acknowledge, at least as of this moment, are stuck with CBS for two more years. This is not the time nor the place to start agonizing over listening to that broadcast team versus listening to Joe Tess and Greg McElroy or Cole Cubelic or anybody else at ESPN and ABC. But I do think it should remind everybody of one thing that I think is often left out, we talk about ESPN proper and too often it’s left out the fact that these games are going to be on ABC which is a major network,” Finebaum said.

It will surely be interesting to see how the SEC moves forward with their media rights dealings in the future in the aftermath of the recent Big Ten deal, especially as the college football landscape continues to evolve in this latest era of conference realignment.