September 05, 2022

What College Presidents Need To Know About The Billion Dollar Media Landscape-A Conversation With Bob Thompson, former President of Fox Sports

47 minutes

With the Big Ten Conference signed a brand-new media rights contract worth $1.23 billion annually, all of college sports took notice. Exceeding the NCAA’s March Madness contract, the Big Ten will soon deliver between $70 and $100 million to each school in the conference. It’s a staggering number and has positioned the conference as one of the top two in all of Division I sports.

My guest today is former Fox Sports President and CEO of Thompson Sports Group, LLC, Bob Thompson. Bob and I first spoke when I was researching the formation and financial structures behind the Big Ten Network for my dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a wealth of information then, and this conversation extends that discussion to 2022. Mr. Thompson is considered one of the most knowledgeable authorities in the sports television industry. During his more than 25 years at Liberty and Fox Sports, Mr. Thompson negotiated more than 200 television rights agreements with professional sports teams, leagues, and collegiate conferences and has been directly involved in the launch of 18 regional and national cable networks.

Presidents must understand this enormously influential landscape-while you may bring in consultants and lawyers to navigate the details, having a fundamental appreciation of the how this world is changing and where your school sits in the pecking order is crucial in how you approach the outsized expectations of your coaches, alumni and boosters.

One of the key points comes near the end—we talk about the issues surrounding data and data acquisition by media companies. Presidents should understand all the innovative (and some would argue intrusive) data gathering techniques that add the true financial heft to these contracts. While it may seem secondary when you sign the contract, as gambling becomes more ingrained in our ecosystem, this will create the need for serious ethical conversations about who owns the student-athlete’s personal data.

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