The MAC and ESPN will hold a joint press conference at 9:30AM today to announce signing a new much more lucrative broadcast agreement.

"According to Sports Illustrated the new deal puts the MAC in the neighborhood, if not head, of the GO5 Schools "it (The Deal) does favorably position the MAC ahead of other members of the Group of Five (the American, Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt and MAC)."

http://www.ubbullrun.com/2014/8/18/57634...ision-deal

its a 13 year deal. too long. sure they make a lot upfront but the dollar is worth less over time and in 10 years that payout per school wont look so good.

(08-19-2014 05:34 AM)bladhmadh Wrote:  its a 13 year deal. too long. sure they make a lot upfront but the dollar is worth less over time and in 10 years that payout per school wont look so good.

They may also know something like they may add schools, or lose some to force a renegotiation at some point.

(08-19-2014 05:34 AM)bladhmadh Wrote:  its a 13 year deal. too long. sure they make a lot upfront but the dollar is worth less over time and in 10 years that payout per school wont look so good.

Signing a long term deal is probably the only way they were able to get the contract they got. I'm sure they put re-evaluation periods in there.

I see lots of people on the CUSA board saying they hope we don't sign a deal that long when the time comes, but I doubt we have a whole lot of choice.

Take the long term deal, but put clauses in there for re-evaluation every 5 years or so.

Even if they won't do that, I don't see how you can turn it down.

The MAC, CUSA, and SBC don't really have a lot of leverage. AAC and MWC don't have a ton of leverage, but they do have considerably more than the other 3 G5 conferences.

(08-19-2014 05:18 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  The MAC and ESPN will hold a joint press conference at 9:30AM today to announce signing a new much more lucrative broadcast agreement.

"According to Sports Illustrated the new deal puts the MAC in the neighborhood, if not head, of the GO5 Schools "it (The Deal) does favorably position the MAC ahead of other members of the Group of Five (the American, Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt and MAC)."

http://www.ubbullrun.com/2014/8/18/57634...ision-deal

ESPN is paying the AAC $20 million per year. To be the best G5 deal, the MAC deal would have to be better than that. If that were the case, that would be good news for the SBC and the other G5 conferences.

I hope that Karl Benson is keeping a close eye on this deal.

Yep, the landscape always changes and if they got a good deal that bodes well for us when we renegotiate.

With the demise of the WAC, and with CUSA contracted with Fox Sports 1, you would think it, coupled with this MAC deal, bode very well for us when we can renegotiate. ESPN will need midweek content that the WAC was a big part of and the Sun Belt can provide that.

(08-19-2014 09:13 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  With the demise of the WAC, and with CUSA contracted with Fox Sports 1, you would think it, coupled with this MAC deal, bode very well for us when we can renegotiate. ESPN will need midweek content that the WAC was a big part of and the Sun Belt can provide that.

Agreed. The MAC's footprint is totally separate from us and we stretch into GA, NM and NC now with several schools that have strong followings.

(08-19-2014 09:13 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  With the demise of the WAC, and with CUSA contracted with Fox Sports 1, you would think it, coupled with this MAC deal, bode very well for us when we can renegotiate. ESPN will need midweek content that the WAC was a big part of and the Sun Belt can provide that.

It will be interesting what the MAC announces here shortly but even midweek slots are becoming more scarce on ESPN. Keep in mind the AAC is playing Thursdays and Fridays and the MWC is now back on ESPN for part of their package. If the MAC goes big on the Tuesday and Wednesday slots it could really lock the Sun Belt out of a good chunk of the midweek slots.

(08-19-2014 09:06 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  Yep, the landscape always changes and if they got a good deal that bodes well for us when we renegotiate.

Not necessarily. They have no competition in their footprint. CUSA and SBC do.

(08-19-2014 09:30 AM)ark30inf Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:06 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  Yep, the landscape always changes and if they got a good deal that bodes well for us when we renegotiate.

Not necessarily. They have no competition in their footprint. CUSA and SBC do.

I don't think schools in the G5 really "compete" for viewers. I don't watch CUSA games and honestly have turned to FS1 maybe once. I think most SBC fans watch their team, their conference teams and probably the high resource team from their area. There is always some crossover from the hardcore football fan but for the most part I think we all have our limited audiences that don't mix.

(08-19-2014 09:13 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  With the demise of the WAC, and with CUSA contracted with Fox Sports 1, you would think it, coupled with this MAC deal, bode very well for us when we can renegotiate. ESPN will need midweek content that the WAC was a big part of and the Sun Belt can provide that.

The MAC owns Tuesday and Wednesday night. In November, they have 14 ESPN televised conference games scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday night. That is a little too much for me.

I think the SBC would be better off on Thursday thru Saturday. They can play the occasional game on Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe even a Sunday game the week before pro football starts. I just don't want to see the SBC become a Tuesday Night League.

(08-19-2014 09:35 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:30 AM)ark30inf Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:06 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  Yep, the landscape always changes and if they got a good deal that bodes well for us when we renegotiate.

Not necessarily. They have no competition in their footprint. CUSA and SBC do.

I don't think schools in the G5 really "compete" for viewers. I don't watch CUSA games and honestly have turned to FS1 maybe once. I think most SBC fans watch their team, their conference teams and probably the high resource team from their area. There is always some crossover from the hardcore football fan but for the most part I think we all have our limited audiences that don't mix.

No, but they compete for broadcast slots. If CUSA demands money...start talking to SBC. If SBC demands money...talk to CUSA.

(08-19-2014 09:35 AM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:13 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  With the demise of the WAC, and with CUSA contracted with Fox Sports 1, you would think it, coupled with this MAC deal, bode very well for us when we can renegotiate. ESPN will need midweek content that the WAC was a big part of and the Sun Belt can provide that.

The MAC owns Tuesday and Wednesday night. In November, they have 14 ESPN televised conference games scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday night. That is a little too much for me.

I think the SBC would be better off on Thursday thru Saturday. They can play the occasional game on Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe even a Sunday game the week before pro football starts. I just don't want to see the SBC become a Tuesday Night League.

It's either that or you're not gonna be on at all, or stuck on espn3 or espn news somewhere. Take your pick.

ESPN is taking the whole banana no more league second or third tier deal making. If the TV station in Toledo wants a Rockets game they have to cut the deal with ESPN rather than the game belonging to the league or Toledo if no one takes it.

Very similar to what ESPN did with Major League Soccer. They are clearly paying a premium to get as much stuff on ESPN3 as possible. ESPN is setting the stage for taking control of delivery or (more likely) making internet providers the new revenue source by upping carriage fees to them by offering so much content that customers demand ESPN3.

(08-19-2014 09:38 AM)ark30inf Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:35 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:30 AM)ark30inf Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:06 AM)Crump1 Wrote:  Yep, the landscape always changes and if they got a good deal that bodes well for us when we renegotiate.

Not necessarily. They have no competition in their footprint. CUSA and SBC do.

I don't think schools in the G5 really "compete" for viewers. I don't watch CUSA games and honestly have turned to FS1 maybe once. I think most SBC fans watch their team, their conference teams and probably the high resource team from their area. There is always some crossover from the hardcore football fan but for the most part I think we all have our limited audiences that don't mix.

No, but they compete for broadcast slots. If CUSA demands money...start talking to SBC. If SBC demands money...talk to CUSA.

Yeah but with ESPN3 and all the regular TV slots on ESPN there are more than enough slots to go around. The younger crowd is moving away from cable and satellite.

(08-19-2014 09:43 AM)AlwaysSunny Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:35 AM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:13 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  With the demise of the WAC, and with CUSA contracted with Fox Sports 1, you would think it, coupled with this MAC deal, bode very well for us when we can renegotiate. ESPN will need midweek content that the WAC was a big part of and the Sun Belt can provide that.

The MAC owns Tuesday and Wednesday night. In November, they have 14 ESPN televised conference games scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday night. That is a little too much for me.

I think the SBC would be better off on Thursday thru Saturday. They can play the occasional game on Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe even a Sunday game the week before pro football starts. I just don't want to see the SBC become a Tuesday Night League.

It's either that or you're not gonna be on at all, or stuck on espn3 or espn news somewhere. Take your pick.

ESPN News is available in 75 million homes. I will take that anyday. I did say that I am okay with the occasional game on Tuesday or Wednesday night. The MAC has three consecutive weeks in November where 4 of their 6 weekly conference games are on either Tuesday or Wednesday night. I just think don't think that would be good for the SBC.

ESPN is reporting that the deal is worth about $8 million per year. Better than the SBC, but not quite up there with the AAC, MWC and CUSA.

(08-19-2014 09:24 AM)HuskieTap22 Wrote:  

(08-19-2014 09:13 AM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  With the demise of the WAC, and with CUSA contracted with Fox Sports 1, you would think it, coupled with this MAC deal, bode very well for us when we can renegotiate. ESPN will need midweek content that the WAC was a big part of and the Sun Belt can provide that.

It will be interesting what the MAC announces here shortly but even midweek slots are becoming more scarce on ESPN. Keep in mind the AAC is playing Thursdays and Fridays and the MWC is now back on ESPN for part of their package. If the MAC goes big on the Tuesday and Wednesday slots it could really lock the Sun Belt out of a good chunk of the midweek slots.

Not really. Our contract guarantees us the Two Tuesday Night Games and 6-7 Thursday Night ESPNU Games as a minimum. ESPN has to offer that.

As a league, we've never really pushed for more than the two Tuesday slots. Fans hate playing on Tuesdays. What this does is put us in a situation where we may have to consider negotiating with another network when our contract does come up a few years down the road to ensure broadcast slots.