(06-27-2019 10:04 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(06-27-2019 09:00 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(06-27-2019 08:26 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(06-26-2019 07:48 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(06-26-2019 07:22 PM)GTFletch Wrote:  Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand reports in latest newsletter that ESPN now has the right to renegotiate the terms of the 12-year, $1 billion deal it signed with the conference back in March. Ourand writes that ESPN has a clause in the contract that allows it to open up the deal if a school left the conference.

This makes perfect sense, and I posted this link earlier this morning.

But don't expect sensible replies - i got about four replies from AAC fanboys saying that this story is trumped by the Navy AD's vague tweet in response to a vague question about UConn leaving and revenue distribution.

Apparently, the Navy AD Knows All, LOL.

Also the Navy AD would never spin or shade things in a manner favorable to his institutions.

He's certainly going to put the most positive spin on things as possible, but I highly doubt anything he said in that interview turns out to be factually inaccurate.

Agreed. He's not going to flat out lie. "AAC divides the contract by 11 instead of 12, everybody goes to Sizzler" is almost certainly one option that the current contract provides for, if ESPN is amenable to that. AAC can certainly suggest that to ESPN.

Quote:ESPN having the contractual ability to renegotiate is not the same thing as having the ability to outright cancel the deal or just arbitrarily say we are slicing the deal in half. It means there will be a back and forth between the parties where they'll discuss different scenarios and they'll both have to sign off and agree to any changes.

Yes. And ESPN doesn't have a history of slashing these deals mid-contract, in situations where they probably could. It's not worth the pennies to them, considering the damage it does to their relationships with other leagues.

But I don't think other leagues would get the jitters at ESPN saying "The AAC per school payout stays the same with the loss of UConn." Either ESPN mandates a replacement of UConn (a warm body so that the AAC meets the numbers of games specified in the contract) or ESPN leans on the AAC to reduce the contract amounts by 1/12.

If the AAC isn't amenable to that (not gonna happen, but if), *THEN* Espn might start using the full power of their legal ability to renegotiate the deal. Partially because ESPN can say to other leagues, it was the AAC that was unreasonable here, not Bristol. You don't get raided and then get a RAISE on a contract that hasn't come into effect yet.

Quote:I'm sure if ESPN tries to argue something obviously stupid like losing UCONN takes away 40 million a year from the deal that there's some provision for mediation.

Probably so. And I don't think ESPN does that, unless the AAC spits in ESPN's face (expecting a per-school raise for getting raided).

OR, if not a mediation provision, conditions where one side can void the deal if there's an impasse.

The Navy AD never actually said the contract will stay the exact same and just divide it 11 ways instead of 12. His quotes were

"The ratio of interest by ESPN on the AAC, it was overwhelming in football. … I don’t think losing UConn is going to affect us to any degree of any significance.”

Navy AD Gladchuk: "It means there’s one less distribution to make. It means we get a little more of the revenue sharing. Anyone that comes in has got to be a plus rather than a fiscal detriment.”

"I don’t think we bring in anybody that doesn’t add value. That’ll be my vote. I don’t think we fill to fill. I have no interest in that.

In the first quote he didn't say he doesn't think the TV deal will change at all, just that he doesn't think it will affect the league to any significant degree (likely meaning decreasing the payout per team). The second quote about the 1 less distribution to make I think he's actually referring to the league distributions as a whole and not just the TV deal (although to be fair it's not super clear). That's not wrong the G5 pool along with tournament credits and every other league distribution would go up with 1 less team to give it to. The third quote is just the likely truth, and probably the way ESPN feels as well. I don't think they particularly have the urge to have the AAC add a team just because unless they bring value.