The University Daily Kansan
Monday, July 22, 2013
Page 15
UNIVERSITY
Athletics signs deal with ESPN3, Time Warner
NATHAN FORDYCE
nfordyce@kansan.com
Earlier this month, Kansas Athletics signed a deal with Time Warner Cable Metro Sports and then followed that up with a seven-year deal with ESPN3.
Although the numbers weren't released, it is one of the largest deals ESPN3 has ever signed.
The deal with Time Warner finished up the tier three television rights.
Time Warner will air at least 50 live events each year which include one football game, six men's basketball games, up to 16 women's basketball games, nine volleyball matches, eight baseball games and up to 12 softball, soccer and track and field events.
ESPN3 will also air an additional 20 live contests that will be viewed nationwide.
All of those numbers can change by the year depending on what the tier one and tier two decide to broadcast.
"It's terrific exposure around the country for all of our sports," said Jim Marchiony, the University's Assistant Athletic Director of Public Affairs. "This is key, this doesn't
have to be confined to be just Kansas Athletics. We want to find ways to publicize the great things that are happening around the University, and this is a way we can do that."
Through the two deals, the University will garner hundreds of hours, approximately 300-500 hours, of live programming.
TIME WARNER
The long-term deal between Time Warner and Kansas Athletics and IMG College, which is the multimedia rights holder for KU Athletics, was an opportunity to gain the most exposure for the University.
The general manager of Jayhawk IMG Sport Marketing, Jason Booker, looked at the overall size and reachability of the market to get the most out of the television deal.
"If you look at the size, comparative to other cable providers on the market, they are the dominate provider. Between Time Warner and Comcast, they have a large percentage of the market share. In addition, having Metro Sports and programming, they have a heavy concept on local programming and they have a full-time production staff."
Metro Sports is a 24/7 sports net-
worke based in Kansas City. As a part of Time Warner, millions of viewers nationwide will be able to see live events from the University.
"Time Warner Cable Metro Sports is extremely excited to partner with Kansas Athletics and IMG to bring Kansas programming to Time Warner Cable subscribers in Kansas City and across the country," said Chris Huwe, general manager, Time Warner Cable Metro Sports, in a press release. "We know how much KU
"We wanted to look and see what was unique about Kansas and what can we do that will benefit us the most."
JASON BOOKER
Jayhawk IMG Sport Marketing
general manager
fans care about the Jayhawks and are proud to produce live games and extensive Kansas Athletics programming on Time Warner Cable Metro Sports.
One of the biggest draws for the University was to be able to get all sports, especially the Olympic sports
— swimming, soccer, track and field,
etc. — suitable coverage. 0 "I think
it's very important to get exposure
for all of our sports," Marchiony
said. "It helps the overall strength
of our athletics department. It helps
recruit really good student athletes to
Kansas and it also helps raise the
visibility of the University which may
help recruit the general student body
as well.
"Because part of this deal, we can highlight the University programs. We can devote some of these hundreds of hours to things that are going on at the University of Kansas."
The University is the last of the Big 12 members to agree to their tier three rights. Texas has their Longhorn Network, which is ESPN-backed; Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech have deals with Fox. Iowa State and West Virginia have agreements with local networks in their regions.
"We wanted to sit back and look at all of our options and we didn't want to jump on the first opportunity that we looked at," Booker said. "We wanted to get a good feel of how everything is working at Texas,
Oklahoma and the other schools with their Fox deals. We wanted to look and see what was unique about Kansas and what can we do that will benefit us the most."
Kansas volleyball coach Ray Bechard, whose team will get some of the first coverage under the deal, said it's great for the University to get the extra publicity outside of the local area.
"It's a whole different kind of following, not just a region basis but a national one," Bechard said. "It's good for Kansas athletics and good for Kansas volleyball."
Under the contract, the volleyball team will have nine games aired over Metro Sports, starting on Sept. 22 against Notre Dame.
Other than the 50 live events that will air, there will be hundreds of hours of Kansas-themed programming. This includes pregame and post-game shows and a weekly magazine-type show that will focus on the athletics and the University.
For the full version of this story, visit kansan.com
Edited by Allison Kohn
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