SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland says the conference-run digital streaming network has already paid both financial and viewership dividends in its infancy.
Speaking on Friday at the Southern University Board of Supervisors meeting on the eve of the annual Bayou Classic football game, McClelland indicated that SWAC TV, which launched in July, will be a significant part of the league’s future in driving interest and revenue.
“Where is the SWAC going? What’s the future of the Southwestern Athletic Conference?” “Well,” he continued, “I’m here to tell you today, the future is already here, and it’s called SWAC TV.”
SWAC TV is keeping up with ESPN
McClelland contrasted the league’s internal digital numbers with its longtime partnership with ESPN. “We calculated our ESPN viewership in the prior fiscal year,” he explained. “There were some 20,216,000 minutes watched on the ESPN platforms. That’s ESPN+ and linear television.”
“Now we’ve started SWAC TV,” McClelland said, noting that the first games kicked off in September. “Keep in mind that ESPN’s number was for the entire year. So far this year, SWAC TV, we’ve had 26,990,652 minutes watched.”
He added that the league’s internal data shows that figure translates into 895,000 unique viewers who watched the 42 live football games provided through the service. “There are more people watching SWAC TV for our games than there are watching ESPN,” though the majority of SWAC football games are found on ESPN’s subscription platform, ESPN+. SWAC TV, for now, is free to use.
Beyond raw viewership, McClelland emphasized the control that comes with owning the platform. “It is very liberating to be able to have your own television network where you can show your content, and you don’t have to be constrained by the major networks,” he said.
He pointed out that SWAC TV proves the league’s product can stand beside other platforms. The network, he said, allows the conference “to show definitively that our members, our viewers are as good as and better as some of our other networks.”
SWAC TV financial edge
McClelland connected the digital pivot directly to the SWAC’s bottom line. SWAC TV, he said, “is going to put us in a very unique position financially that no other FCS conference or HBCU conference will be able to recognize or even be able to match, given our current revenue.”
He made clear that the success of SWAC TV is rooted in the league’s institutions and their supporters.
“We have [a] great fan base, and they support our institutions,” he said.