Disney, ESPN winning big on $3 billion SEC TV contract

When Disney announced its $3 billion, 10-year TV deal with the Southeastern Conference in December 2020, the 12-team College Football Playoff did not exist and Texas and Oklahoma were not in the league. Even then, ESPN agreed to pay the SEC $300 million annually for the TV rights, a significant increase from the $55 million CBS was paying.

Nearly four years after that TV contract was signed, the SEC and ESPN are seeing a major payoff. Despite the Big Ten landing a seven-year, $8 billion media deal with CBS, NBC and FOX, it is the SEC that is seeing a rise in TV viewership numbers. That $300 million annual number for the SEC deal was later altered, with the network adding pro rata shares for Texas and Oklahoma, roughly $21 million each.

The SEC has dominated the noon, 3:30 p.m. and primetime slots this season. Entering Week 13, seven of the top 10 watched games have been broadcast on ABC, and all involve at least one SEC team. In the last two years combined, ABC had five total games in the top 10 at this point in the season.

Not only is the contract paying off for Disney and ESPN, but more eyeballs are on SEC football. Just four games in last year’s top 10 most-watched games involved SEC teams. The 2024 numbers are similar to 2022, which had six games with SEC teams in the top 10.

The bottom line: The SEC and its partnership with Disney is running away with the 2024 college football season’s TV ratings. Under the old CBS deal, the SEC Game of the Week would have broadcast at 3:30 p.m. ET. And the No. 2 game would likely land on ESPN. The Sept. 28 Georgia at Alabama showdown brought in 12 million viewers, the largest viewership for a primetime regular season game since 2017.

Most-watched entering Week 13

GAME	VIEWERSHIP (MILLION)	CHANNEL
Georgia at Texas	13.19	ABC
Georgia at Alabama	11.99	ABC
Alabama at Tennessee	10.23	ABC
Tennessee at Georgia	10	ABC
Ohio State at Penn State	9.77	FOX
Ohio State at Oregon	9.6	NBC
Texas at Michigan	9.19	FOX
USC vs. LSU	8.62	ABC
Notre Dame at Texas A&M	7.92	ABC
Alabama at LSU	7.9	ABC

Speaking recently on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said it’s “really rewarding and encouraging” to see the success the TV contract has already achieved.

“When we struck that deal, I had hoped maybe one or two times, we’d have this noon, midday and primetime opportunity for the SEC on ABC,” he continued. “And we’ve seen that over and over.

“With CBS, we had 15 of those windows. I think we’re in the mid-20s now, so more of America has more access via broadcast TV to join in. I’m just so excited about how that’s played out. I’m really interested to see how the interest grows throughout the remaining weeks of the season.”

Because Disney and ABC have gone all-in on the SEC product, the ACC has only seen six games on ABC while the Big 12 has just one.

CBS’ contract with Nielsen ended midway through this season, making it tough to understand the data in recent weeks, but early viewership numbers from this season show CBS has seen a dip with its Big Ten contract. The selection and quality of games have differed, too. Outside of drawing 6.3 million for USC at Michigan, games like Notre Dame’s blowout win over Purdue and USC routing Wisconsin have averaged less than 3 million.

And while NBA viewership on ESPN is down 28% through Nov. 21, averaging 1.772 million viewers through the first 18 games broadcast on the network, Disney is seeing major wins with the SEC on ABC. Those numbers will only continue and rise. Starting in 2026, the national championship game will move to ABC as part of the College Football Playoff’s new $7.8 billion deal with ESPN.