"Tier" games for TV

[Costa]

Can someone explain what these different "Tiers" are for TV rights for football games with conferences? I dont understand it and I keep hearing about it, so any knowledge would be appreciated.

[gibbsak]

All about $. Has do do with who controls the rights to broadcast.

I found this: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2012/06/04/the-accs-third-tier-rights-and-why-theyre-killing-the-conference/

goes into vague explanation of tiers

[Apis Bull]

Here's a synopsis:

Tier one broadcaster (a national broadcaster) for a conference selects the games they want to show.

Tier two broadcaster (also usually a national broadcaster) for a conference then selects the games thew want to show from the ones not selected by the tier one broadcaster.

That leaves all other games as tier three games. Schools like to have control of those games and sell them to local broadcasters themselves.

Tiers one and two are sold by the conference. In the ACC, the conference also controls the tier three games.

[gibbsak]

Here's a synopsis:

Tier one broadcaster (a national broadcaster) for a conference selects the games they want to show.

Tier two broadcaster (also usually a national broadcaster) for a conference then selects the games thew want to show from the ones not selected by the tier one broadcaster.

That leaves all other games as tier three games. Schools like to have control of those games and sell them to local broadcasters themselves.

Tiers one and two are sold by the conference. In the ACC, the conference also controls the tier three games.

Then why was the Longhorn Network such a sore subject? It was for tier 3.

[Apis Bull]

I think the rest of the Big 12 wanted to control that as a conference. The tier 3 broadcast rights are obviously more valuable to popular teams than they are the less popular teams. Baylor would want a cut of Texas' tier three broadcasts, where Texas wants it all to them selves. That's why FSU and Clemson want their tier rights, but teams like Wake Forest want them to stay within the conference and shared.

[cmhatter]

in a nutshell this is it from ESPN:

RIGHTS AND TIERS -- AN EXPLANATION

First-tier rights are for football and/or basketball games broadcast nationally.

Second-tier rights are for football and/or basketball games not selected by the first-tier rights holder.

Third-tier rights are any games not selected by the first- or second-tier rights holders and rights for all sports other than football and basketball. These rights are often sold on a per-school basis (not negotiated by the conference as a whole) and often go to regional networks (Comcast Sports Southeast, Raycom, or SportsNet New York, for example). They can also be reserved for networks like the Big Ten Network and the Texas Longhorn Network.

Deals are now being done for multiple tiers, though. For example, the Pac-12's new deal with ESPN and FOX covers first- and second-tier rights. And the ACC's deal covers football, men's and women's basketball, Olympic sports and all conference championship games. Basically, it's an all-inclusive package with a sublicensing arrangement in place with Raycom for games not broadcast by ESPN.

[slick1ru2]

Holtz said they are finishing with the tier games that they don't want to play and are going to be able to schedule the games they want to play. Now what games are those? The night games during the week? The Miami series?

[Costa]

Ok thanks y'all