Obviously, the ACC's new television deal (12 years, reportedly $1.86 billion) was the big news of the week for Maryland fans. And that just goes to show you how slow things are during the first full week of July.
In any case, the notable development was each school's average haul from television revenue over the course of the contract will more than double from the previous deal.
(That doesn't mean the money will immediately double, since schools were presumably getting more than the average value of the previous deal in its final years and almost certainly will receive less than the average value at the start of this contract. In short, each school doesn't immediately receive a huge pot of gold starting a year from now).
Anyway, enough of those details. The dollars, huge though they might be, tend to be forgotten about when the actual impact of the contract becomes obvious to all.
For Maryland fans, that would mean discovering whether the recent trend of ESPN3.com (formerly ESPN360) serving as the unofficial network of Terrapins football will dissipate.
First, let's look at where Maryland's games have landed over the course of the last 10 years, a stretch that covers the current television deal and a few more seasons as well.
| Outlet | 00 |
01 |
02 |
03 |
04 |
05 |
06 |
07 |
08* |
09 |
TOT |
| ESPN | 1 | 2 | 4 |
4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 27 |
| JP/LFS/Raycom |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 19 |
| ABC | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 19 |
| None | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| ESPN360 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 14 |
| ESPN2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| ESPNU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Comcast PPV |
0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| NBC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| FSN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| CSTV | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| CSN (CSS) |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
*-2008 season opener against Delaware aired both on ESPN and ESPNU
The last contract effectively got every game some sort of broadcast venue; the last time the Terps didn't appear on any outlet (even one available only on the Internet) was the 2006 game against Middle Tennessee.
But what about a new deal?
At the least, it will provide enough opportunities for Maryland to play its way back into a more favorable television situation.
Those seven ESPN360 appearances last year were no coincidence. Maryland had seven ESPN/ESPN2/ABC appearances in 2006, six in 2007 and seven in 2008. It's not as if the Terps were consistently buried in an untelevised abyss. It took a 2-10 headache for that to happen.
So, sure, a lot of folks want to know if Maryland fans will be better off with this deal. That's almost certainly the case --- assuming, of course, the Terps can recover and become at least a bowl contender in the coming years.
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