(06-28-2019 12:40 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(06-28-2019 09:53 AM)CougarRed Wrote:  My understanding was that the "must have" schools in the AAC arrangement were ESPN can rip up the contract and start over if any one of those five leave. They cannot rip up the contract if UConn leaves. They probably can ask that the contract be adjusted. Remains to be seen if they will.

It's interesting to hear what was valuable for one wasn't necessarily so for the other. But, to me, it still seems like a bad deal what the AAC was going to give over to ESPN. There was more security with the terms of the old deal. This one kinda debased select content and hung renegotiation triggers. I'm just shocked the AAC actually signed it. No wonder UConn left.

Or, more simply, ESPN got the better of the AAC on this one, and UConn knew it and had enough.

It's more than just a UConn thing, too. The deal is potentially bad for any of the top programs in the conference. And I'd love to know what's going on in Wichita right now. Even if the AAC is more money coming in than MVC, if the basketball doesn't improve, they're going into old territory with just higher travel costs.

it is a bad deal and potentially a horrible deal for the top teams in the conference and maybe worse for the others, but those are the teams that pushed this deal and that is most likely what pushed UConn out

lets look at recent history.....ESPN and Fox basically told the Big 12 a fat no on expansion because they did not want to pay the money

that was a VERY short period of time ago so what has changed where suddenly the Big 12 or anyone else is looking to expand....well pretty much nothing....all the more so relative to value of programs the Big 12 could expand with because the value of those programs was just set by ESPN at an average of just under 7 million a year for 12 years

BUT.....it was widely reported that additional money was offered for the AAC to have a GOR and that schools in the conference said no.....while ignoring the fact that they two major sports networks had already told the Big 12 they did not want to pay Big 12 money for any of them and further ignoring the fact that without a GOR they were being offered an average of $7 million each for 12 years......which is well under the $20 million the Big 12 is set to get (and escalating in the back half of the contract) from those same media partners

but somehow along with no GOR and reduced money the contract is still for TWELVE YEARS which is well past when all the major conferences except for the ACC will have at least some if not all of their media deals come open

and now it is reported that there might be specific teams that can cause ESPN to do more than just cut the rate by the number of teams that left

pretty much the reality is that out of 12 teams in the AAC at least 8 of them if not 10 of them will probably still be there in 12 years from now unless they just leave on their own like UConn is doing...and there is a strong chance that all 12 (well 11 now) will still be there

yet none of those 8+ teams could think to themselves how are we getting this horrible long term deal with no protections for ourselves in terms of teams leaving, the contract not getting a major reworking, or why not sign a 5 year deal with a GOR

and UConn has been down this path before, they went from being one of the "must have" teams in the last deal, and a team with their own third tier deal for womens BB and some mens BB......to now basically sitting there and watching 4 or maybe 5 other teams pretend like they need to make this horrible deal because of the optics of the numbers (one BILLION!!!, $7 million!!!) while ignoring that it is TWELVE YEARS, potentially falls apart of some teams leave, will not be paying UConn or any of those that were collecting BE exit fees any major new money for YEARS

and I think UConn saw the writing on the wall and left ASAP because they know in the future the "best" is that all 12 teams are in the conference 12 years from now and complaining to each other endlessly about who is at fault for such a crappy deal and at worst 8 of them are still in the same conference 6 years from now when the deal gets worked over because some specific teams left

either way who in the hell wants to wait around for that especially when you are being pushed aside for those that want to sign this terrible deal so they can strut around and say "P6" while dreaming of getting out of the conference as fast as they can

it is just circus geeking and 7 or 8 other schools just let 4 or 5 get their way most likely at the expense of all of them or at the expense of a large majority of them

other than saying ONE BILLION and seven million there is nothing at all to look at about this contract and think that is is for the long term good of a CONFERENCE remaining viable and cohesive for the long term

and while no one member of a conference should ever stop looking out for their own best interest there is nothing about this contract at all that signifies that either faction of the conference gave any thought to the deal other than what they thought the press release would say the day after it was signed and none of them gave any thought to 5 or 7 years down the road much less 12....well except UConn that decided they would just go ahead and GTFO now before things get really ugly and take control of their own destiny