(02-08-2019 09:43 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Let's say NBC bought an AAC package that included the top pick each week as well as the 2nd pick on weeks where there wasnt a ND home game, along with the football championship game and a selection of conference basketball games.

This could be secured for much cheaper that P5 content and yield a great ROI. Remember that their competitors are paying a great deal more for their content and need huge ratings figures to turn a profit. Buying bargain content means a much lower threshold.

You then sell the rest as a bundle to ESPN where they get some Thurs/Friday games and the rest they put behind their paywall.

Im actually thinking that NBC and ESPN will end up splitting the AAC rights with NBC outbidding ESPN for top selection rights. It will work kinda like the FOX-ESPN sharing of the Big 10 (or Big12 or Pac12 for that matter). Basically both will end up with the content they need for about 40-50 million each. Thats small potatoes for either. Its a low risk play for NBC to get back into the game on Saturdays when Notre Dame is on the road and it fills a lot of spaces for ESPN. I also expect for ESPN to buy the third tier stuff for ESPN-Plus.