ESPN acquired the rights to the BCS as part of a five year deal for approximately $125 million per year. This was big news, as it should have been. But perhaps there is more to be interested in than simply ESPN’s broadcast plans for the BCS games.

As I wrote when the story first came out, we are now at the mercy of the Worldwide Leader when it comes to all things sports. As frustrating as that is simply as a sports fan, there is even more to this as a consumer, and perhaps should be garnering as much interest from the non-sports fan.

Let me tell you why the non-sports fan, or even the casual sports fan should be interested in this.

ESPN charges cable and satellite providers more than the next top seven channels combined. Whether you watch ESPN or not, your cable or satellite’s biggest fee (on basic channels) comes from ESPN.

If you don’t watch ESPN at all, you should be concerned about this BCS deal because it puts ESPN one step closer to telling the providers that the have to keep ESPN because their viewers demand it.

The more control ESPN has over “essential” sports viewing, the more control they will demand when it comes to setting their prices. When your cable bill goes up each year, ESPN is as much (and likely more) to blame as anyone.

We saw similar situations in the past year or two with the Big Ten Network and the NFL Network, who were telling cable providers that they must carry the network to make their viewers happy, then charged exhorbatant fees to be allowed the privelage of airing the networks.

Sports fans are being held hostage via cable and satellite rates. Sports fans demand that all of their games are available to them, and in turn, ESPN, Fox Sports, and the other sports channels demand that their channels are offered in basic plans. With this, they charge more and more, knowing that DirecTV, Cox, Dish Network and whoever else are not going to drop these channels anytime soon.

So with the acquisition of the BCS games, there is more to fear for everyone. Not only is ESPN rapidly approaching monopoly status, they are probably going to bring down these sports with them.

The Doomsday Scenario

Imagine, if you will, the following worst case scenario in the ESPN sports world.

ESPN moves all BCS games to cable, and while they are at it, they land the next contract for the NCAA basketball tournament. They are already paying over a billion dollars a year for Monday Night Football, as well as having rich contacts with Major League Baseball and the NBA. There is a bit of a situation with the American economy right now.

All it will take is a major company like DirecTV to tell ESPN that it is no longer going to provide ESPN as part of its basic programming package. Viewers are far less likely to actually pay the $3 per month that ESPN’s prices actually come to (that number is based on all basic cable/satellite subscribers). ESPN would need to make back that money very quickly if it wants the checks to clear to all of the leagues it is paying to broadcast.

Getting knocked off of the basic platform would also drive advertisers away in droves, leaving the revenue at the WWL getting smaller and smaller. This would force ESPN to either drop out of its contracts or not renew them when they expire, likely after a loss of money.

The leagues depend on the television money. ESPN’s Monday Night Football contract is roughly a third of the television contract for the NFL. Losing that money would cause a huge backlash in the NFL. The salary cap would likely drop, messing up all of the structured contracts that are already in place. Your favorite team may have to let some superstar go. That results in a losing record. That results in lower attendence. That may cause a local establishment that counts on a full crowd at the stadium to go out of business.

You see where I am going with this.

I don’t think that will all happen. I’m quite sure none of it will. But the point remains that with their hand in so many sports, ESPN wields too much power in the sports world.

ESPN as a News Maker vs. News Reporter

There is a risk that ESPN gets too far involved in the business of sports that it is gone as a media outlet. You see it with HBO when it comes to boxing that they know have too much power in terms of making fights. They are no longer just a broadcaster of boxing, they are the top promoter.

What happens when ESPN gets to that level?

What happens when ESPN is scheduling games, rather than just airing them. We’ve already seen a taste of that with the MNF flex-scheduling, but that is just moving previously scheduled games to a different time.

Could ESPN veto a bowl matchup in favor of a “better” one? Perhaps someday.

Could ESPN force a realignment in baseball or basketball to force more games between two media markets it wants to air more of? I wouldn’t put it past them.

Will you be surprised when an ESPN version of a college football playoff is introduced, one that is slightly better than the BCS, but nowhere near what a playoff should actually look like? I won’t.

There are legitimate reasons for sports fans to fear the Worldwide Leader. Yes, they air a lot of sports and their production is second to only HBO. But they have gone rapidly downhill in the past decade when it comes to non-game programming.

It is impossible to watch a game on ESPN and not be bombarded with their much less enjoyable gimmicks. I don’t want to vote for Who’s Now, and I don’t want to read what Billy Bob in Tuscalusa has to say about the SEC while I’m watching a MAC football game on Tuesday night. I don’t want Mike or Mike’s opinion when I’m not looking for it. I want to watch the game.

Because I want to watch the game, I put up with quite a bit. Since I’m putting up with it, ESPN assumes that I approve of it. This, in turn, allows them to make a fortune on advertising with their cross-promotion situations. This is what landed them the BCS deal. Advertisers will learn soon enough that they are getting screwed on this deal. Most people don’t use the full arsenel of ESPN products, but that is their major selling point with the BCS and similar contracts.

They are promising an experience more than a simple game. But sooner or later, people are going to just want the game, and they won’t stand for having to pay for thirteen ESPN ventures when all they watch is live games.

The Death of Network Sports

Right now, we are entering the final years of being able to watch live sports on free network television. Currently, we have MLB on Fox on a few Saturdays and the World Series, everything else is on cable. The NBA airs 18 games on ABC as part of its contract with ESPN in 2008-2009, plus the NBA finals. NBC has Sunday Night Football. Network television (Fox, CBS) dominate the NFL still, with the majority of each week’s games on network TV. CBS also still pays a fortune for the NCAA basketball tournament. College football is also still prominent on network television.

It’s not out of the question that ESPN lands March Madness, and they are already on their way to eliminating NBA games on network TV. Football has less and less Sunday games each year as the NFL Network picks up more and more games. ESPN is landing more and more college football games each year, and the addition of the Big Ten Network, ESPNU, and CBS College Sports are allowing for more and more games to be shifted to cable.

It really isn’t out of the question that we are witnessing the final days of sports on network television. And with the move to cable comes lower ratings, which brings in less advertising, which will ultimately result in damage to the sports themselves. This is not the direction we should be going in.

The Inevitable Bursting of the Bubble

They said there could never be a real estate bubble burst. They were wrong. In fact, quite a bit that people thought they knew about the economy turned out to be wrong in the last twenty years. After watching what happened in real estate and the Internet, why should anyone be surprised when the sports world collapses under the weighty contracts that are getting thrown around. From overpaid players to overpriced television contracts, the money all comes from the same place — the fans and viewers. When that money dries up, watch out.

The day will come when the cable and satellite providers fight back, and when that day comes, ESPN is going to be in a financial nightmare. Once that happens, don’t be surprised to hear about the unforseen “sports boom” that caused the sports economy to collapse unto itself.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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