Tom Holmoe Discusses Negotiations With ESPN At BYU Media Day
Jun 18, 2019, 9:05 AM | Updated: 9:12 am
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe talks with the media during a roundtable discussion on campus Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, in Provo. (Brandon Judd, Deseret News)
(Brandon Judd, Deseret News)
PROVO, Utah – One of the big storylines heading into BYU Football Media Day on Tuesday was the Cougars TV negotiations with ESPN.
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe addressed that topic first in a pre-recorded interview with Dave McCann on BYU’s State of the Program address at the BYU Broadcasting building on Tuesday.
“We’re in a good spot. We’re in the tail end. We’ve been with ESPN for a long time. They’ve done a lot of our games. We look forward to working with them in the future,” said Holmoe.
BYU Athletic Director @TomHolmoe gives an update on contract negotiations between BYU and ESPN, and says that "we are in a good spot." #BYUMediaDay #BYUFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/GqS4ilIQ2m
— BYUtv Sports (@byutvsports) June 18, 2019
It’s only a matter of time before BYU and ESPN are re-upping their partnership. The question at that time will then be, how long is the extension going to be for?
“You have the home games side of it and the bowl season part, but the bowl season is a little bit more nuanced,” said Holmoe in the State of the Program.
BYU and ESPN have a partnership that dates back over three decades. BYU provides ESPN west coast inventory and tremendous flexibility.
Former ESPN Vice President of Programming and current President of Gridiron, Dave Brown, discussed BYU’s value to ESPN.
“Time zone flexibility and the ability to get attractive teams to continue to come to Provo just makes it a match that really works great for both sides,” said Brown.
Brown was at ESPN when BYU announced their independence on September 1st, 2010. He’s always thought highly of the BYU football brand from their iconic performances airing over the years on their network.
The 2019 football season will mark year nine of BYU’s partnership with ESPN, but it definitely won’t be the last based on the comments we heard from Holmoe on Tuesday.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
