beIN Sports is a relatively obscure cable network and they're now expanding into American college sports.
They'll have CUSA games this Fall.
Here's why I think this is relevant to the P5...
CUSA is having to deal with a significant drop in revenue for their new contract. Instead of partnering with FOX, who opted to abandon the league, they will be back with ESPN, CBS Sports, and the ASN. It was announced today that beIN is a part of the package.
1: The allegedly endless pool of money for live sports isn't so endless. FOX is still down when it comes to content, but they didn't bother re-upping with CUSA for filler content. Obviously, they're putting a lot of money towards buying the Big Ten and it's certainly a better investment, but it proves that FOX is playing with limited funds as well.
2: I believe the CUSA is the first league to hit a regression in funds. Not that this is about to happen to the major leagues, but it's a sign that everyone is being a little more judicious with their money. How long before the major leagues start to see no significant bumps in payouts?
3: If ESPN didn't mind tossing a few bucks towards CUSA, albeit for a limited number of games, then are they as broke as has been forecasted by certain biased parties? Doubtful. They will spend for products they really want as long as a strong rate of return is there. It's the same with any business. I believe that is why ESPN didn't make a competitive bid on the B1G contract and why they might even lose out on the entirety of the B1G rights. Not that they don't want the B1G, but they can't afford to pay for full control of the SEC and ACC along with half of the Big 12 and Pac 12 and then go all in for what is the 2nd most valuable league in college sports.
With the new layers of competition in the sports broadcasting world, they have to pass on certain meals. With the amount of content that ESPN currently has, they can't get a solid rate of return on absolutely everything. So the smart thing to do is reserve your cash for what you need rather than everything you could possibly want. You also don't want to make competitive bids for products you don't want and drive the price up for yourself when you need to compensate another party on the back end.
FOX has a greater need for content and therefore a greater willingness to outspend the competition for that content. In short, the B1G was worth more to FOX than it was to ESPN. I highly doubt, however, that ACC and Big 12 properties are worth more to FOX than they are to ESPN.
BTW, a little nugget for the politically minded...beIN is owned by al Jazeera.
