NCAA and ESPN ink 8-year, $920 million media rights deal

The NCAA and ESPN have reached a new eight-year media rights deal worth more than $115 million annually, as the value of sports media rights reaches new heights.

Click here to read the story at cnbc.com.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is a media rights deal?
2. Why do you think live sports can command such high dollar rights deals? Why are live sports so valuable to broadcast companies?
3. Why are rights deals important to broadcast companies like ESPN?
4. Why are they important to the NCAA?
5. What are television ratings?
6. Why are they important to ESPN and the NCAA?
7. Why are they important to advertisers?
8. What events does ESPN have the rights to as part of its newest deal with the NCAA?
9. How might streaming play a role for ESPN moving forward?
10. Why do you think women’s college basketball was an important part of the deal?
11. According to this news story, what percentage of the value of the deal is tied to women’s college basketball?
12. How might the revenue generated from this deal give women’s sports a boost? How can that revenue help those sports to grow?