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Fox and ABC are refusing to run a new commercial that criticizes power-conference commissioners, according to Texas Tech booster and oil billionaire Cody Campbell.
A friend of President Donald Trump, Campbell has been lobbying Congress against the NCAA-backed SCORE Act. He believes a new governing body should replace the NCAA, and that the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 should be amended to allow all college football media rights to be pooled and sold together. He has said that the extra revenue generated could help pay for women’s and Olympic sports.
A representative for Fox did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ESPN, which shares rights with ABC under their parent company Disney, declined to comment.
An ESPN source, however, said the decision reflects their standard review procedures. The network requested “more supporting documentation” regarding the ad, but because none was supplied in a timely manner, the network couldn’t air it this weekend, according to the source. ESPN has run Campbell’s ads in the past.
Campbell has been running ads all season advocating for his lobbying efforts regarding college sports policy. His newest ad, unveiled Friday, specifically targets the power conferences commissioners.
“To conference commissioners, it’s all about money and control,” Campbell says during the 30-second video showing him on a jumbotron and a football field. “Their greed is bankrupting all but the biggest schools—and women’s sports and Olympic programs everywhere are paying the price.” The ad then goes on to advocate for one of Campbell’s policy on the Sports Broadcasting Act, and showcases his petition and lobbying website for a 501(c)(4) he launched called Saving College Sports.
On Saturday, Campbell said in a lengthy post on X/Twitter that ABC and Fox had specifically declined to run his ad even after had sent “a large wire” to pay for the ads. “No good reason given as to why—just ignoring us or telling us to contact their attorneys,” Campbell wrote. “The General Council for one major network told me it was a ‘business decision.’”
Fox and Disney/ESPN own at least partial rights to every power conference between them. Fox (along with CBS and NBC) owns rights to the Big Ten. ESPN has exclusive rights to the SEC; it owns the majority of the rights to the ACC and shares rights with Fox for the Big 12, outside of a sublicensing deal with TNT.
On Saturday, ABC is broadcasting Kentucky–Georgia, Vanderbilt–Alabama, and Miami–Florida State. Meanwhile, Fox’s biggest matchup is Wisconsin–Michigan.
Meanwhile, the SEC has been running advertisements on TV and in stadiums advocating for the SCORE Act, and power conferences have been posting on social media in support of it. The SCORE Act would give the NCAA antitrust protections to halt a flood of lawsuits; deem athletes amateurs, rather than employees; and create a national NIL (name, image, and likeness) standard.
The SCORE Act has been stalled in Congress, partially because of Campbell’s lobbying efforts to block the bill—but power conferences and the NCAA haven’t given up on it yet.
