A Lucrative Partnership

Dick Vitale - Photo Courtesy of ESPN

Valentine’s Day was over a week ago, but a lovey-dovey sports relationship was prominently on display over the weekend: ESPN and college athletics.

The 2010 ESPN BracketBusters weekend is one of the most exciting for die-hard fans of men’s basketball. It breaks up the grind of conference play by piting “mid-major” schools from different conferences against each other, providing fans and the media a glance at some sleeper schools that could potentially crash the party come March Madness.

ESPN, the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader In Sports, even has a special Web site promoting BracketBusters. As I was checking out the site this weekend, I was struck by the final paragraph in the “About BracketBusters” section. It reads: “BracketBusters is an example of ESPN college basketball franchise programming. Others include Rivalry Week Presented by Cisco, Feast Week Presented by Lowe’s, Holiday Hoops Presented by Kay Jewelers, ESPNU Campus Connection Week, Judgment Week and Championship Week Presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods.”

It was at that point where I was really struck by how much of an influence ESPN holds over college athletics. After all, what other media outlet actually determines a game on a team’s schedule, as is the case with the BracketBuster games?

This begs an interesting question for college athletic communication professionals: do we treat ESPN as just a regular media outlet or treat them as a partner?

The answer to this question seems pretty clear to me. ESPN is most definitely a partner in a way that no other media outlet can be. For better, and sometimes for worse, ESPN has a grip and an influence on today’s sporting culture that is unmatched. Nowhere is that more evident than in college sports, where ESPN broadcasts 21 championships on its family of networks.

The biggest example of this is ESPN’s College GameDay for college football and men’s basketball. If your school is picked as GameDay’s site for its weekly pre-game show, your game is viewed as the game of the week. You are legitimate if College GameDay comes and visits your town because it means your program is noteworthy enough to be so highlighted by ESPN.

ESPN College GameDay - Photo Courtesy of Penn State University

The hype surrounding GameDay has reached unbelievable levels. Thousands of fans pack college stadium parking lots or arenas hours before games start to be a part of the pre-game experience of GameDay. When GameDay’s basketball crew came to Champaign, Ill., earlier this month, the Illinois athletic communications department posted a press release announcing GameDay would be at the Fighting Illini’s game against Michigan State months in advance.

This is obviously a lucrative relationship that ESPN and college athletic departments enjoy. It’s great publicity for a school and these marquee primetime match-ups the network televises bring in a huge viewing audience. The games are also bound to help drive up ticket sales because everybody wants to say they were a part of the GameDay experience.

Could this relationship blur the line of ethical journalism? Perhaps. The bottom line is, though, that ESPN has become an essential partner in an athletic department’s public relations efforts. We need them. The truth is, no other media outlet has the pull or influence that ESPN has in sports. We have no choice but to treat them like partners. It’s not unethical; it’s sound business.

Tags: Athletic Communications, College Basketball, College Football, ESPN, ESPN BracketBusters, ESPN College GameDay