ATLANTA, GA (July 27, 2018) – Collegiate Consulting, which has worked with more than 575 college athletic departments and conferences in its 12-year history, has announced a new service offering centered on media rights analysis and negotiations.
The service, which will be headed up by Collegiate Consulting Partner Jeff Cravens, will focus on providing services to NCAA, NAIA and other collegiate sports content owners to navigate the ever-changing world of content distribution.
“Today’s media environment is evolving at a rapid pace,” Cravens said. “Conferences and institutions need to work together and anticipate the world of direct-to-consumer content, while strategically focusing on the two key areas for content owners: revenue and exposure.”
Cravens has been involved in linear and digital rights negotiations and strategy for both ESPN and the NBC Sports Group. While at ESPN, Cravens developed digital strategy to support the launch of ESPNU, and later served as VP/GM of ESPN360 (now ESPN3), including launching the service’s live event programming strategy.
He later served as a Senior Digital Consultant for more than five years at the NBC Sports Network, where he also served as the GM of the Golf Channel digital media business and worked on overall digital strategy as NBC Sports grew its successful live streaming business.
A 20-year veteran in sports content distribution production and distribution, Cravens has a heavy focus on digital media. He oversaw the growth of the FANSonly Network as the largest network of Official Athletic Sites, building to more than 160 universities and conferences, including more than 60 partnerships in Power Five Conferences.
“There is tremendous value in live sports in both the linear and digital marketplace,” Cravens said. “There are more potential outlets and business models that are emerging. That’s both exciting and daunting for conferences and schools that have live content. Collegiate Consulting has a history of understanding and delivering value to the collegiate athletic marketplace and we are positioned to understand the need and deliver value to our customers.”