Coleman’s take on EPSN-SEC deal

September 5, 2008 – 6:00 am

The recent agreement between the SEC and ESPN for a reported $2.25 billion surprised lots of people, but national basketball recruiting analysts Van Coleman of CBS College Sports wasn’t one of them. Coleman thinks ESPN is reacting to the Big Ten Network and upping the revenue to the other conferences.
“I think what ESPN has figured out is to keep things like the Big Ten Network from happening,” Coleman said. “They really sweetened their packages and made them a lot better for the schools themselves. ESPN realizes they’re competing with the mentally that a lot of the conferences will look to do their own thing if this thing doesn’t get corrected.”
Coleman, who lives in Iowa, said the quality of the Big Ten Network is lacking.
“I don’t think their programming is very strong yet,” Coleman said. “There’s a lot of repeat and a lot of programming that doesn’t go anywhere. They don’t have people that are knowledgeable in areas they need. In recruiting, I don’t see knowledgeable people. They’re trying to do it by copying what people put on the Internet. They’re not going out and hiring those people on the football or basketball side.”