Editing Southeastern Conference (section)

=== History ===
The SEC created the [[College Football Association]] in 1977 with other major conferences to negotiate contracts for broadcasting college football games.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Exploring the history of college football media rights |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/college/cowboys/2013/08/25/exploring-the-history-of-college-football-media-rights/60887384007/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=The Oklahoman |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Jefferson Pilot Sports]] began syndicated television coverage of men's basketball games in 1986 and football games in 1992, which were picked after the CFA allocated games for its national contract.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-08-25 |title=ESPN signs 15-year TV coverage deal with SEC |url=https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=3553033 |access-date=2023-05-31 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 1994, the SEC became the first conference to leave the CFA when it announced a deal with CBS to televise one game each week. CBS paid about $17 million per season for the right to show the best game of the week. The network was required to televise each team at least once per season. The Conference soon reached a deal with ESPN to broadcast games in primetime.<ref name=":2" />

In August 2008, the SEC announced an unprecedented 15-year television contract with CBS worth an estimated $55 million a year. This continued the previous deal that made CBS the exclusive over-the-air broadcaster of SEC sports.<ref name="about" /> In the same month, the league also announced another landmark television contract with ESPN worth $2.25 billion or $150 million a year for fifteen years. The ESPN deal replaced the syndicated contract and ensured that all SEC football games would be televised nationally. The deal also committed ESPN and the conference to the creation of the SEC Network, which was finally created in 2014 and allowed for a significant increase in television coverage of SEC sports. Together, these contracts helped make the SEC one of the most nationally televised and visible conferences in the country.<ref>{{cite web |title=www.secspors.com – ESPN, SEC Reach Unprecedented 15-Year Agreement |url=http://secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=3&url_article_id=11428&change_well_id=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829213225/http://www.secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=3&url_article_id=11428&change_well_id=2 |archive-date=August 29, 2008 |publisher=Secsports.com}}</ref>

In 2020, the SEC announced a new deal that made ESPN the sole televisor of SEC sports starting in 2024. The ten-year contract was reported to be about $300 million per year and will allow ESPN to broadcast the SEC on ABC as well as rights to the SEC Championship Game.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Dellenger |first=Ross |date=2020-12-10 |title=Inside SEC's 10-Year Deal With ABC Starting in 2024 |url=https://www.si.com/college/2020/12/10/sec-espn-abc-tv-contract-leaving-cbs |access-date=2023-05-31 |magazine=Sports Illustrated |language=en-us}}</ref>