Houston Chronicle: C-USA agrees to $38 million with Fox Sports
Conference USA switched television partners Wednesday, agreeing to a five-year, $38 million deal with Fox Sports that will begin with the 2011 football season.
The agreement with Fox, which continues through the 2015-16 school year and includes rights to the conference football and basketball championships, replaces a six-year, $22 million agreement with ESPN that expires at the end of the 2010-11 season. C-USA and its member schools, including Rice and the University of Houston, earlier signed a six-year deal estimated at about $42 million with CBS College Sports.
“This is a huge step forward for our conference, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to work with Fox,” said C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky. “Our interests are aligned, and we are very excited about the potential of this partnership.”
Fox networks – including Fox Sports affiliates such as KRIV (Channel 26), Fox Sports Net regional networks such as Fox Sports Houston, and FX – will air an annual minimum of 20 regular-season football games, 10 men’s basketball game and three women’s basketball games. The current deal with ESPN covered 10 football games, six men’s basketball games and three women’s basketball games each season.
Most football games will be on Saturdays, with the occasional Monday, Thursday or Friday games, replacing the less desirable midweek dates the league received from ESPN.
University of Houston athletic director Mack Rhoades said the Fox deal improves revenue and exposure for C-USA schools.
“The University of Houston has seen its number of television games rise dramatically in the past few years, and that has resulted advantages in recruiting, facilities and overall resources for our student-athletes,” Rhoades said.
At Rice, athletic director Rick Greenspan said the agreement “to significantly enhance our rights fees as well as increase the number of televised events represents a win-win situation for us.”
The agreement also will bolster FS Houston’s presence as the Rockets and Astros prepare to leave the network in 2012 to launch Comcast SportsNet Houston in partnership with Comcast.
“Combined with the local program and marketing agreements we already have in place with the University of Houston, adding marquee C-USA football and basketball events further enhances our commitment to the Houston market,” said Steve McNair, general manager of FS Houston.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/spor...67052.html