The Southeastern Conference and ESPN announced a 20-year agreement and rights extension on Thursday for a 24-hour-a-day television network that launches in August 2014. The deal includes a new television network and digital platform that will show SEC sports 24/7, including more than 1,000 events in the first year.
The network will include 45 football games, more than 100 men's and more than 60 women's basketball games, 75 baseball games and selected events from the other 17 SEC sports. The network will also feature studio shows and coverage of special events such as signing day and football pro days.
The digital network will launch nationally with AT&T U-verse and will show hundreds of additional events. Each SEC school will have the opportunity to produce and develop content for various platforms. The network will be based in ESPN's offices in Charlotte, N.C.
The extension also means the SEC will have its games on ESPN's family of networks, as well as the SEC Network, through 2034.
"The SEC Network will provide an unparalleled fan experience of top quality SEC content presented across the television network and its accompanying digital platforms," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said in a statement. "We will increase exposure of SEC athletics programs at all 14 member institutions, as we showcase the incredible student-athletes in our league. The agreement for a network streamlines and completes an overall media rights package that will continue the SEC's leadership for the foreseeable future."
The SEC has been the most successful conference in college football since the NCAA adopted the BCS format. Since Tennessee's inaugural BCS national championship, the SEC has won nine of the 14 BCS championships, including the last seven consecutive.
The Southeastern Conference set a modern record with 63 total draft picks in last week's NFL Draft, with the SEC East alone representing 32 total picks, one more than the ACC's second-best ranking of 31. The SEC broke the Pac-10's previous record of 55 set in 1983, which represented one-quarter of all players drafted.
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