DawgNBama
the Rush Limbaugh of CSNBBS
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RE: At 14 teams, Will the AAC Maintain Dominance Over the NY6/Access Spot?
(05-03-2022 07:51 PM)slhNavy91 Wrote: (05-03-2022 02:04 AM)TroyTBoy Wrote: (04-28-2022 12:17 PM)Milwaukee Wrote: (04-28-2022 11:47 AM)quo vadis Wrote: (04-28-2022 11:43 AM)e-parade Wrote: Honest question since I don't know the details:
Is there a requirement for number of games on each network? Or would it be potentially possible for everything to be on the preferred ABC/ESPN or for everything to be on the less preferred ESPN2/ESPNU sets? Or instead of everything, just most in one place I suppose.
The AAC press release announcing the 2019 deal said:
Football
A minimum of 40 regular-season telecasts per season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, including at least 20 across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 ....
https://theamerican.org/news/2019/3/27/g...nsion.aspx
Since this is a hotly debated topic, the rest of the section specifying ESPN's football broadcasting of AAC football games is also of interest:
Football
"A minimum of 40 regular-season telecasts per season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, including at least 20 across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, which represents increased annual exposure across those ESPN networks."
"A similar number of Thursday and Friday contests."
"The American Championship game will be televised each year on ABC or ESPN."
"New to ESPN’s TV rights beginning in 2020-21 are all Navy-controlled football games versus Notre Dame, plus first pick of the remaining Navy-controlled football games each year (excluding any games versus Army and Air Force). Beyond select Navy football games and select men’s basketball games, all conference controlled football and men’s basketball games from The American will air on an ESPN network or ESPN+."
https://theamerican.org/news/2019/3/27/g...nsion.aspx
NOTE: What this seems to indicate is that at least 20 games will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2, and an additional ~20 games will be broadcasted on ESPNU, bringing the total to a minimum of 40 games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU.
Thus, if - for example - 22 AAC games happen to be broadcasted on ABC, ESPN, or ESPN2 in a given season, at least 18 AAC games would have to be broadcasted on ESPNU.
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It would be an interesting quantitative study if someone charted the number of viewers each non-P5 conference has brought in.
Almost every year since it's name switch from the OBE, the AAC has dominated the Top 25 Narrative (i.e. the Access Bowl chase) and that has powered significantly better viewership than any other non-P5 conference.
It's the reason the AAC landed the Billion dollar ESPN deal. The viewers were there. Conferences like the MAC/MWC/Sun Belt have had a hard time grabbing viewers in large numbers.
That's why when people try to argue the merits of another conference, like the MWC, they completely miss (or ignore) the greater picture of viewership - and the role the AAC's dominance of the NY6 position has played in capturing those viewers.
I'd argue that the top AAC brands have gotten a ton more exposure than most teams in the P5.
Prior to COVID, 3 AAC programs made the Top 25 most nationally broadcasted teams in the sport. That's HUGE. Of course the Big 12 is largely benefitting from that now (especially with Cincinnati getting most of those spots post 2020) but eventually the new AAC programs will build their brands through ABC & ESPN National broadcasts.
2021 Conference Controlled Inventory Viewership:
B10 205,758,000
SEC 156,977,000
B12 90,325,000
ACC 68,366,000
P12 65,080,000
AAC 25,952,000
mwc 7,173,000
SBC 5,838,000
MAC 3,649,000
CUSA 412,000
2021 Total Viewership:
B10 215,326,000
SEC 184,869,000
B12 100,283,000
ACC 80,979,000
P12 79,623,000
AAC 46,422,000
mwc 15,332,000
SBC 10,302,000
MAC 11,358,000
CUSA 5,746,000
That's all pretty consistent with the previous handful of years. AAC gets 30-40% of the lowest viewed contract-bowl-conferences and around 15% of the top 2. AAC viewership dwarfs any of the G4s. (And all the primary media rights contracts dollars follow the viewership ratios pretty closely.)
Of note for Sun Belt 2021 reflects their new and vastly expanded ESPN coverage - up to 15 games on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU compared to the AACs 5 on ABC, 20 on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 and 40 on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU. IN other words this is ALREADY the improved Sun Belt exposure - not much improvement left to come.
Mods, can we sticky this somewhere?? I have been wanting to see data like this for a very long time!!!
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