HOW MUCH DO 35 LIVE TELEVISION SPORTS BROADCASTS COST?

The Mid-American Conference has agreed to a 13 year multimillion dollar broadcast contract with ESPN.   How much equipment does each university have to provide?  How many university personnel are involved?   How many students will participate?   How much technical expertise will be required, and what are the production standards for each broadcast?   Under the terms of the agreement, what do the universities have to do?  As MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher explains, the universities are obligated to produce a substantial amount of programming for ESPN.

For all those productions, how much do the universities get paid?   We'll just have to wait and see.  Once payments are made, those payments will be public record.  Until then, as MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher explains, how much public universities are paid for producing a substantial amount of live sports programming for ESPN isn't being publicly disclosed.

Is the 13 year $100 million plus contract between ESPN and the Mid-American Conference a good deal or a bad deal for Ohio MAC universities and the taxpayers of Ohio?   MAC Conference Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher doesn't see the connection between tax dollars and universities producing live sports broadcasts for ESPN.

What kind of business agrees to a 13 year multimillion dollar contract without having a copy of the contract?   Who does business like that?   According to Commissioner Steinbrecher, that's how the presidents and the athletic directors of MAC universities do business.  

Why don't reporters at local TV stations and newspapers ask questions about a 13 year $100 million dollar plus contract that's a secret?   When will sports reporters put down their pom poms and pick up their pens?    When journalism fails, bad things happen.

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