The NCAA has announced a new 14-year agreement with Turner Sports that would allow the broadcast network to manage the association’s digital assets.
The new arrangement, called NCAA Digital, would allow Turner to present coverage of the NCAA’s 88 championship tournaments across various digital platforms, including mobile and Web applications, and enhance the technology behind live video streaming, stats, and highlights on NCAA.com.
NCAA Digital coincides with a $10.8-billion contract the association inked in April with Turner and CBS. That agreement, which also spans 14 years, gives the two networks joint broadcast rights to the Division I men’s basketball tournament.
Greg Shaheen, the NCAA’s interim executive vice president for championships and business strategies, negotiated both deals for the association. He declined to say in an interview how much the new digital venture is worth. But he emphasized that the amount is not included in the existing broadcast deal and would be in addition to the payout guaranteed by that agreement.
Talk of having Turner digitize NCAA content first surfaced during broadcast negotiations this year, when the media company indicated its interest in developing a customized digital platform for the association, Shaheen said.
But Turner wasn’t the only suitor with an eye on the NCAA’s digital content. Multiple broadcast and digital-media companies had expressed interest in managing the association’s digital assets, Mr. Shaheen said. Ultimately, the NCAA chose Turner because of the “synergistic benefit” of aligning with the broadcast deal, and because of the company’s expertise in the area, he said. (Since the NCAA’s digital rights are held separately from its broadcast rights, the association was not obligated to go with Turner.)
By giving Turner control of some of its digital assets, the association is taking the same route of many major conferences. In recent years, some Division I leagues have regained control of their digital rights from broadcast networks like ESPN, ABC, and Fox Sports. By doing so, they are now able to repackage and redistribute their content and open up new revenue streams. The Southeastern Conference, for instance, partners with XOS Technologies to manage the SEC Digital Network.
Shaheen said the NCAA will still retain control over much of its digital content, including the rights to monetize its video archives.
So of all the revenue streams this new deal might open up, which does Shaheen think will be the most lucrative?
“It depends on how you define ‘lucrative,’” he said. “To capture revenue is certainly meaningful to our membership. But what we really considered the upside was the opportunity to have really a home-team Web site where we can develop our own broadcasts of various NCAA championships that might not otherwise be covered.”
