University of Hawaii athletics negotiating extention of radio contract with KKEA

The University of Hawaii is in negotiations with KKEA (1420-AM, 92.7-FM) for an extension of their radio rights contract to air UH sports, the first of the athletic department’s media deals up for renewal in coming months.

Radio, television and pay-per-view account for about 7% of the athletic department’s revenue.

The current five-year radio agreement is scheduled to expire June 30, and the station, which brands itself as ESPN Honolulu, has an exclusive negotiating window for a three-year extension, after which the school would have an option to seek additional bids.

UH is contracted to earn $200,000 this year on a contract that had a five-year value of $900,000.

“We are in discussion with them for the future,” UH athletic director David Matlin said. “We’ll go through the negotiating process with them and, after that, determine what our next step is.”

The station owner, Blow Up LLC, which is the Federal Communications Commission licensee, has held the UH rights for more than 15 years.

Meanwhile, UH’s local television and pay-per-view rights are held by Spectrum, whose eight-year contract enters its final year July 1. That agreement grants Spectrum an exclusive 90-day negotiating window during the final year.

The Mountain West Conference’s negotiations in the coming months with its primary TV partners, CBS and ESPN, for 2020 and beyond could have an impact on its local inventory.

With Spectrum, UH is contracted to receive at least $2,489,594 for the fiscal year that expires June 30 and $2,539,380 for the final year, provided key elements of the contract are met.

At least seven of UH’s 13 regular-season football games must be made available to Spectrum for UH to collect the guarantee, a number that is currently on target, with the Rainbow Warriors’ games against Oregon State, Central Arkansas, New Mexico, Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada-Las Vegas and San Diego State available to Spectrum and six others controlled by various networks.

CBS Sports Network has three games (Arizona, Air Force and Army), while two (Nevada and Boise State) have been claimed by ESPN. The Pac-12 Network has secured UH’s game at Washington.