ESPN's practices drawing attention

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

ESPN trumpets itself as the "World Wide Leader in Sports" and when it comes to college athletics, in particular, there is no doubting who the 800-pound gorilla is on this block.

ESPN airs more games on more days, has contracts with more major conferences and casts the biggest shadow of any of the networks in a crowded and competitive market.

"The engulf and conquer network," KFVE sportscaster Jim Leahey has often pointedly called it, usually after ESPN's contract with the Western Athletic Conference has cost his station the opportunity to do a University of Hawai'i football game.

But is ESPN's marketplace dominance the result of sound business practices and shrewd dealing or something else?

It is the kind of potentially landscape-altering question college athletics will be following closely after the New York Times reported the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division has begun inquiries into the network's business practices. Specifically, the Times said the government has begun contacting conferences for information on how ESPN contracts for, and dispenses, its college football and basketball programming.

An ESPN spokesman yesterday refused comment on the report and the WAC said it has not been contacted.

History tells us that major change in college athletics is driven by the money behind its television deals. It was the Supreme Court's overturning of the television package 20 years ago that took football contracts out of the NCAA's hands after 33 years and began the shake-up of conferences.

More recently, the scramble for better television deals has been behind the expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference, a 20-school domino effect that has recast the WAC with the coming departure of Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas-El Paso and Tulsa and entrance of Idaho, New Mexico State and Utah State.

On the heels of the Times report, speculation has been that the Justice Department might zero in on how ESPN uses its position in the market to acquire contracts and build inventory in a manner some call "warehousing."

In the case of WAC men's basketball, for example, ESPN's contract gives it the rights to nearly 250 games a year. Yet, the network chooses to air only a handful, meaning that more than 90 percent of the games are unavailable to other networks. Expand those figures by the variety of conferences ESPN has contracts with and there are a significant number of games taken out of play.

Of course, ESPN could argue that once it has paid for the rights it is free to do what it pleases. And, anyway, Fox, TBS and the rest were free to make better offers.

Good business or bully? A lot of eyes are on ESPN now, only it isn't for what's on camera.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.