The Southeastern Conference plugged a gaping hole in the CBS sports lineup Friday with a football and basketball television deal worth more than $85 million over five years.
The network, which lost both pro football and major-league baseball in the last year, will televise about 12 football games involving SEC teams annually from 1996 through 2000. At least two of those games will be shown nationally each year.
CBS will show between 18 and 20 men’s and women’s basketball games each season beginning this fall, with the men getting the vast majority of the exposure.
“It certainly enhances the coverage of SEC football, which has long been the premier sport of this conference,” Commissioner Roy Kramer said. “Now, basketball is elevated to this same national level.”
CBS’ gain was the College Football Association’s loss, however.
The Southeastern Conference-a founding member of the CFA-will pull out of the association’s television package after the 1995 season, when the CFA’s current deal with ABC and ESPN runs out. The contract is worth some $300 million, and the SEC makes up about one-quarter of the package.
