“E$PN is paying the $EC $2.25 Billion over 10-years for their broadcasting rights.” was the previous quote, which you read as:
“One poster’s remark about ESPN getting $2.3 billion from the SEC is spot on. The conflict of interest is stunning.”
Your reading is 180 degrees out.
Thank you for the correction BwanaNdedge. You are exactly right and I thank you. I was on a roll writing that post and did not stop to check. The point is that ESPN has a huge, ongoing (indeed 10-year!) incentive to make its $2.3B prior investment pay off by making those teams seem better than everyone else; and moreover, part of the SEC’s interest in giving ESPN the rights in the first place is the implicit understanding that ESPN will favor the SEC in its coverage.
The leadership at ESPN and at the NCAA are corrupt but they are not idiots. They knew going in that this was a conflict. Not only did they not care, but they saw how this would benefit them financially and thought “Excellent! Good for our bottom line!” There could have been modest controls put in place at least to manage the conflict; and yet there is not even the simplest or most remedial measure. To repeat, for the good of amateur sports university presidents and athletic directors nationwide need to step up and impose some sort of discipline on two institutions that are negligent, derelict, and rotten to their cores.