Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini Pans ESPN-SEC Ties

By Phil Watson | Oct 20, 2014

Aug 28, 2014; Columbia, SC, USA; SEC Network Analyst Tim Tebow talks during halftime of the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Texas A&M Aggies at Williams-Brice Stadium. Texas A&M defeated South Carolina 52-28. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini is not a fan of the close association between the Southeastern Conference and the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN.

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini voiced what a lot of people in and around college football have to be thinking when he called the relationship between ESPN and the Southeastern Conference into question Monday.

At his meeting with the media on Monday, Pelini said, per Mike Welch of 93.7 The Ticket in Lincoln:

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The ownership arrangement between the entities

reportedly

calls for ESPN to own 100 percent of the network while the SEC owns the content aired.

The Big Ten Network, conversely, reportedly has an ownership split of 51 percent to Fox Entertainment Group and 49 percent to the conference.

ESPN is also involved with the University of Texas’ Longhorn Network, having an ownership share along with the university and IMG College.

Pelini’s not wrong. ESPN cuts a wide swath across the college football landscape and its commentators and analysts are opinion makers within the sport.

Four of the top five teams in the latest Associated Press poll are from the SEC (No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 3 Ole Miss, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn).

Auburn is ranked sixth in the coaches’ poll.

If nothing else, it creates the perception that ESPN is firmly in the pocket of the SEC and that both the coverage and the opinions offered by the network are executed in order to promote a pro-SEC agenda.

And as anyone in the public eye knows, reality doesn’t matter nearly as much as the perception of that reality.

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