SEC strikes 10- year football deal with ABC, ESPN starting in 2024

The Southeastern Conference’s signature mid- afternoon Saturday game will move from CBS to ABC starting in 2024 as part of a new 10- year contract with ESPN and the powerhouse football league announced Thursday.

The deal makes ESPN t he exclusive media rights holder of SEC football and men’s basketball, and will end the conference’s relationship with CBS after three decades. CBS has been airing the league’s Saturday afternoon centerpiece game and football championship since 1996.

“The SEC has now, has had and will have a 3: 30 p. m. Eastern Time broadcast network game. The change will be from CBS to ABC,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told The Associated Press. “So that’s a point of consistency.”

The SEC championship game also will air on ABC.

The SEC and ESPN are already in the midst of a 20- year deal that includes a partnership on the SEC Net work. The new deal will line up so both will end at the same time.

The difference i n the new deal: The mid- afternoon game is less likely to be the SEC’S game of the week. For the first time, ESPN will be able to place SEC games in its Saturday prime- time slot, too.

“So Saturday night, prime time on ABC is the highest- profile window, the biggest stage in terms of college football. And we love the fact that we can now bring the ABC platform into the mix, starting in 2024,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro told AP.

The new deal also gives ESPN the right to place one nonconference football game and two nonconference basketball games from each school per season on ESPN+, the network’s subscription- based online st reaming ser vice. The company said ESPN+ has 11.5 million subscribers.

“It’s a recognition of ... the changing dynamics around media availability and media consumption,” Sankey said.

Sankey said moving the SEC’S media rights under one roof will allow the conference to set start times for more games much further out. The conference hopes that’s a boon for both TV and online viewers as well as fans going to the games.

“I think more than half of our games we can set up ( kickoff times) during the summer,” Sankey said. “There are still going to be some of the 12- day and even maybe narrower adjustments, but those will be limited.”