ESPN and BCS confirm agreement on four-year deal
MEDIA
Cable network will get broadcast rights to Bowl Championship Series title game and Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls starting in 2011. Plans for Rose Bowl remain unclear.
ESPN and the Bowl Championship Series confirmed Tuesday that they have reached agreement on a four-year television deal beginning in 2011 that gives the cable network broadcast rights to the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and the national championship game, which rotates among those three plus the Rose Bowl.
Sources from both sides said the contract is worth $500 million.
The agreement does not include the Rose Bowl, which has a separate television contract with ABC running until 2014. Both ESPN and ABC are owned by the Walt Disney Co.
According to the sources, however, there is a clause that allows for the Rose Bowl to be taken off ABC if the BCS ever signed a contract with a cable network instead of an over-the-air broadcaster. The sources asked to remain anonymous because of the confidential nature of the contract talks.
In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, ESPN President George Bodenheimer was asked about the game in Pasadena.
"The Rose Bowl will remain on ABC through 2010," he said. "We have not determined all of the scheduling beyond that."
Mitch Dorger, chief executive of the Rose Bowl, said he was "aware" of what Bodenheimer talked about Tuesday, including the 2010 statement.
"My understanding is that the energies of the company [ESPN] are of finalizing the details of the BCS contract and beyond that people will start thinking of how to strategically approach things with the Rose Bowl.
"Mr. Bodenheimer's words about 2010 were carefully chosen and beyond that I don't want to say anything else."
Dorger had said Monday that while the Rose Bowl's sentiments are to remain on over-the-air television and with ABC, he expected to be contacted by ESPN.
Dorger said Tuesday there had been no contact so far.
ESPN takes over broadcasts of the Sugar, Fiesta and Orange bowls plus the national championship game in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The 2014 championship game will be at the Rose Bowl and will be on ABC under the present agreements.
Over-the-air Fox Sports is in the middle of a four-year, $320-million deal with the BCS minus the Rose Bowl but withdrew from negotiations Monday after offering $400 million for a new four-year contract.
When asked if Fox would pursue the Rose Bowl when those negotiations open, Dan Bell, a vice president with the network, said, "The only BCS deal we were interested in was the one we just decided not to match."
diane.pucin@latimes.com
