Rose Bowl ESPN Bound In 2011

Cabler will have secured all BCS bowl games

By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/12/2009 1:02:08 PM

ESPN, which secured the rights to all BCS bowl games except for the Rose Bowl in a blockbuster $500 million deal last year, is finishing what it started, adding the Rose Bowl to its lineup beginning in 2011.

The 2010 Rose Bowl will remain on broadcaster ABC, which has a separate deal to televise that game through 2014. ABC is the broadcast sibling to ESPN, and the possibility of shifting the game to the sports cabler was floated with last year's deal.

With the Rose Bowl as part of its college football lineup, ESPN will televise all the major bowl games starting in 2011, including the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange and BCS Championship.

"Having all BCS matchups on one home, especially within ESPN's year-round college football environment, is the very best scenario," John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president, programming and acquisitions said. "Fans will welcome ESPN's all-encompassing approach, and the additional opportunities and value resulting from our multi-platform presentation will benefit the college football community and our business partners."

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This is total BS and this was the main reason why I never liked the incorporation of ABC into ESPn from the start of this in 2006. I knew this was a bad deal to not allow ABC Sports to have their own identity and the coverage has been awful, as if I wanted to see an ESPN evernt, I'd see it on their flagship anot on ABC.

ABC needs their own sports identity back before this idiot idea was put into place in 2006. Allow ABC Sports to televise their own events without platering the ESPN logo all over the place and ESPN can do their thing and with the Rose Bowl now going to cable, that destroys the tradition of this bowl game that was a mainstay on three networks throughout its storied history. If Disney is smart, they end this fiasco starting in September of this year and ABC has its own name brand once again.

Richard - 6/12/2009 4:43:51 PM EDT

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