Pro and College Sports Affiliation

[Nate Wesley]

If folks familiar with the subject would be so kind--I'm interested in the basics involved in radio sports affiliation. How does a station become a radio affiliate of a pro or college team?

I'm sure arrangements vary based upon the popularity of a team, the amount of games/content to be broadcast, and the mix of local and network spots, media 'territories' determined by the league, and also the popularity and broadcast footprint of the radio station itself. I know you have stations paying $$$ for the rights to air some games, while others are paid by the athletic department/front office for airtime.

My specific interest is in college football. Living in Alabama, it's a no-brainer that Tide and Tiger football can be heard statewide across the dial, and I obviously understand why. I happen to be a fan of the UAB Blazers, and my brother attends Troy University (the other two I-A/FBS programs in the state). Yet given the overall popularity of college football, I don't understand why there aren't more Blazers' and Trojans' affiliates than there are currently.

It's no wonder that Alabama and Auburn usually get the best and biggest possible affiliates on stations in urban metros and the rural parts in between. But what's necessarily stopping small FMs and small AM stations located in the same places from hooking up with Troy or UAB? I imagine it has to be a little deeper than just lower popularity of those two football programs;I can't imagine it would be that difficult for these stations to affiliate with other SEC teams just for the casual interest in common conference opponents.

I hope I haven't asked too difficult a question!

 

[NE Miss Radio]

I am not sure what your question is, so I'll answer a few based on possibilities.

For the station, it's all about the Benjamins. We would have carried the Quilting Network if it had enough sponsors (small FM with almost no agency biz).

If you're asking who to call, ISP is the one for both Troy and UAB. http://www.ispsports.com/?DB_OEM_ID=17200

If you want to know how to get a station to air UAB or Troy, just find them some sponsors. No, it's probably not that easy.

 

[nolaradiobuff]

The first thing that we looked at when trying to determine which College (or even High School) Sports to carry was the alumni base. The schools can tell you what prominent alumni they may have in the signal area. If there are several business owners, you've got some sponsors. If the local Hospital CEO is an alum, you've struck gold. Insurance Agents, particularly State Farm and Allstate, and investment advisors like Edward Jones, have individual advertising dollars that they need to spend or lose every year. Again, find out where they went to school (any good salesperson should know where I client graduated from).

Smaller stature schools like UAB and Troy are probably barter, although you might have to also carry other sports (Women's Basketball) and Coach's Shows. Alabmama and Auburn are probably locked out anyway but they, most likely, are cash plus barter. Many of ISP's Teams are straight barter.

In Louisiana, when they were distributed by the Louisiana Network, stations that wanted LSU Football had to carry Louisiana Network News at the Top of the Hour, and some had to carry Farm Reports too, in addition to cash plus barter plus Coach's Shows.

If there's enough alumni though, College Sports can generate some serious dollars for a usually unsold time period.

As I said, the first place I'd start is with the College Alumni Association and picking the brain's of the sales staff.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Sports contracts are usually something close to market exclusive. So if there was a class C station in Montgomery carrying Auburn sports, you probably wouldn't find another UAB affiliate within a 30 mile radius or so.

Normally the schools that pay their affiliates are the ones that are less desirable (non-BSC conferences). Their affiliate networks are necessarily limited because the athletic cash is limited.