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

It's the last 3 of the current deal plus 10 new years.

There is still no mention from any party as to the compensation. But it sounds like ESPN can still lock MAC first tier rights with ESPN3..

SI is saying it puts the MAC with the Other G05 conferences... I assume that means between 1-2 million per school. (12-24 million)

There is some chatter the dollars involved will exceed the AAC. That would not be a surprise due to the length of the contract

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(08-18-2014 04:28 PM)Kittonhead Wrote:  There is some chatter the dollars involved will exceed the AAC. That would not be a surprise due to the length of the contract

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The words being used mean either the MAC will be smack in the middle of the GO5 are just ahead of the AAC... Given the MAC essentially gave ESPN all rights to all MAC it's reasonable (but not likely) that we come out at close to 2 Million per team.

The si.com article (which reads like it's parroting a statement from the MAC office) claims "Although the continuation of the MAC’s deal with ESPN in no way rivals the mega-TV deals of SEC, Big Ten and other major conferences, it does favorably position the MAC ahead of other members of the Group of Five (the American, Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt and MAC)."

Agreed that this is wordsmithing that really only claims the MAC is ahead of some of the G5, while trying to lead less careful readers to think the MAC money will be ahead of all of the G5.

(08-18-2014 04:42 PM)Wedge Wrote:  The si.com article (which reads like it's parroting a statement from the MAC office) claims "Although the continuation of the MAC’s deal with ESPN in no way rivals the mega-TV deals of SEC, Big Ten and other major conferences, it does favorably position the MAC ahead of other members of the Group of Five (the American, Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt and MAC)."

Agreed that this is wordsmithing that really only claims the MAC is ahead of some of the G5, while trying to lead less careful readers to think the MAC money will be ahead of all of the G5.

Hard to tell if it was intentionally vague or not. For this to be a success the MAC needs to be somewhere over 1mil per team per year. For it to be a huge success they need to be up around the AAC..

Anything said at this point is just speculation but the conference will hold a presser tomorrow morning with ESPN.

Keep in mind that the MAC spends far less on travel and coach's salaries than other conferences. Even if we were to make the same money as another G5 conference, it could be considered 'more' when you consider where that money is going towards.

(08-18-2014 04:56 PM)Love and Honor Wrote:  Keep in mind that the MAC spends far less on travel and coach's salaries than other conferences. Even if we were to make the same money as another G5 conference, it could be considered 'more' when you consider where that money is going towards.

I once calculated the difference between playing in a pure bus league vs. a pure flight league like what Marshall was up against in CUSA 2.0.

The difference is something like 1.2 million dollars. The additions of WKU, MTSU and Charlotte help cut that number down to maybe 800,000 for Marshall but that is still a significant sum. The CUSA TV deal is only worth 1 million per school anyways so its long been a disinterest for a MAC school to want to join that conference.

The real question i think are:

1) Does this MAC deal include a GOR? I wouldn't be surprised if it did and a GOR would greatly inhibit movement from the MAC to the AAC.

2) What is the money relative to the AAC? We know that no MAC school wants to be in CUSA 3.0 with all the no name football schools in that conference. If the MAC can do better than the AAC financially or within striking distance (within 500k) the AAC is off the table too.

The AAC's ESPN contract is written anyways with language that says it can be voided if it loses 2 members. Its very possible a big shake up with that conference is on the horizon.

Another takeaway is this TV deal puts the kibosh on any MAC expansion for 13 years.

(08-18-2014 04:42 PM)Wedge Wrote:  The si.com article (which reads like it's parroting a statement from the MAC office) claims "Although the continuation of the MAC’s deal with ESPN in no way rivals the mega-TV deals of SEC, Big Ten and other major conferences, it does favorably position the MAC ahead of other members of the Group of Five (the American, Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt and MAC)."

Agreed that this is wordsmithing that really only claims the MAC is ahead of some of the G5, while trying to lead less careful readers to think the MAC money will be ahead of all of the G5.

lol...I was a careless reader. Though it would not really be all that shocking if the MAC got around 2 million a school for locking their rights up for 13 years. The rumors have been that the new deal would be around million a year per school. If they are even a little over 1 million a year, that would put them ahead of the Sunbelt and CUSA. Depending on the year, it might even put them ahead of some MW schools that didn't do well with the MW national TV bonus system.

I don't think anyone in any G5 conference is signing a grant of rights agreement. These are all schools that inherently do NOT want to be tied down.

Long Contract. I wonder how many weeknight games, Tues and Wed, they had to agree to. Those really hurt the game day atmosphere in the MAC stadiums and attendance I suspect. I also wonder how big a player ESPN 3 is in this?

(08-18-2014 05:35 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I don't think anyone in any G5 conference is signing a grant of rights agreement. These are all schools that inherently do NOT want to be tied down.

MAC has openly talked about a GOR.

Why would the MAC want to go the route of the GOR? Any school in the MAC would have to increase its budget by 20 million to be a candidate for a P5 and that is not going to happen. They may as well GOR and protect their turf within the G5.

The money for the MAC was 1.4 mil per year for the conference before. We know its higher than that but the new deal is not in striking distance of a P5 deal so it will be somewhere between 1.4 mil and 60 mil yearly for the conference.

(08-18-2014 05:42 PM)billings Wrote:  Long Contract. I wonder how many weeknight games, Tues and Wed, they had to agree to. Those really hurt the game day atmosphere in the MAC stadiums and attendance I suspect

Midweek games are in November when the MAC doesn't draw well anyways over that month.

(08-18-2014 05:42 PM)billings Wrote:  Long Contract.

The networks might ask for every contract to be long from now on, unless a conference is willing to take less than what they want in order to get a short-term deal. Wouldn't surprise me if when the Pac-12 and Big 12 get their "look ins" in a few years, ESPN and Fox tell them that the only way to get a "raise" is to tack on 3 to 7 years at the end of the current deal.

(08-18-2014 05:53 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(08-18-2014 05:42 PM)billings Wrote:  Long Contract.

The networks might ask for every contract to be long from now on, unless a conference is willing to take less than what they want in order to get a short-term deal. Wouldn't surprise me if when the Pac-12 and Big 12 get their "look ins" in a few years, ESPN and Fox tell them that the only way to get a "raise" is to tack on 3 to 7 years at the end of the current deal.

They always as for extended years as part of the "look-in" negotiation. I cant ever remember ESPN kicking up the pay amount without getting extended years. It may have happened--but I cant remember it.

(08-18-2014 05:35 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I don't think anyone in any G5 conference is signing a grant of rights agreement. These are all schools that inherently do NOT want to be tied down.

If you were picking the Go5 conference most likely to be willing to trade off a GoR for more money ... it surely would be the MAC, wouldn't it?

Especially if the result bumped the MAC from 3rd to 2nd in the Go5 media revenue ladder (relative to the long rumored contract value, that is, not relative to the current contract).

A nice little payoff to insure those votes.

what's the per school payout?

I think a GOR actually makes sense for the MAC. Frank the Tank is 100% correct that G5 schools don't want to tie themselves down. But lets be realistic, how many MAC schools have a legitimate shot at joining a new conference with a significantly higher TV payout? The one advantage for the MAC is that it has the best cultural fit of any G5 conference that only the MWC is comparable to. I can see the MAC presidents happy as a midwest based conference and be willing to sign a GOR to make the MAC stronger and more stable.

(08-18-2014 05:42 PM)billings Wrote:  Long Contract. I wonder how many weeknight games, Tues and Wed, they had to agree to. Those really hurt the game day atmosphere in the MAC stadiums and attendance I suspect. I also wonder how big a player ESPN 3 is in this?

there might be a slight drop in attendance on weeknight games but the overall attendance impact of the additional exposure has been a net positive for a lot of MAC teams. Wins/Losses has a bigger impact on attendance than Scheduling does.