UF and Sun Sports, Florida's main sports TV network, have agreed to a multi-million dollar deal that is one of the largest media rights deals in the nation. The deal is said to be for 10 years and at least $80 million.
While Sun Sports Senior Vice President and General Manager Cathy Weeden said not much will change with the television landscape, the network now has significant rights on Gatorzone.com, the University Athletic Association's Web site.
UF and SunSports have been working together since 1996.
"When you're working closely with someone, you just continue to talk about different opportunities to enhance what you can do," Weeden said. "You're not going to see big changes to the amount of coverage on television. I think what's different about the arrangement is that it's now aggregated all of the multimedia ranks."
The deal will start in 2009, ending the UAA's reign of handling their own marketing. Before this deal, Sun Sports only handled the advertising on TV. Now, they'll have the whole world of television, radio and the Internet.
"Gatorzone is a strong site, and the Gator brand is a strong brand," Weeden said. "Certainly having that in the portfolio of opportunities that can be integrated across radio, television and Internet and the corporate sponsorships…is certainly something that's very strong for the advertising."
This new deal will allow Sun Sports to sell advertising on the radio and inside stadiums.
Weeden said this agreement will not hurt the possibility for the Southeastern Conference to have its own network, something that has been discussed recently. The Big 10 already has its own network.
"The television portion of this is very similar to what we've had in the past," she said. "This really has no impact on what the SEC does at any level."
Weeden said there won't be much of a change from the fans' perspective. She said they will look at everything that is available for changes, but she said "this product is not something that is broken in any way."
