It seems to me that the value of our media contracts are a direct result of how attractive our home football game match-ups are. The home conference games are a wash. No matter how they play out, C-USA won't really gain much national relevance from the outcomes, and that will not really help to increase interest in our conference, or increase the value of our inventory of games.

However, our OOC home games should have a very large impact on how attractive our media rights become. In fact, after researching the future schedules for the next five season (2018-2022), I have found what I believe is very compelling evidence to suggest, that conferences that schedule higher quality programs to play at their venues, have the higher media rights values.

Here are my findings....

The AAC
12 programs in the conference
Hosting 29 Power 5 programs in the next 5 seasons.

The MWC
12 programs in the conference
Hosting 24 Power 5 programs in the next 5 seasons.

C-USA
14 programs in the conference
Hosting 18 Power 5 programs in the next 5 seasons.

In my opinion, all the programs in C-USA need to kick the habit of scheduling body-bag games, or we run the risk of being further catagorized with the MAC and Sun Belt. I believe every athletic department in C-USA needs to be scheduling more home and home series with the P5s. My logic is simple. If we own more distribution rights for games with power 5 programs, the value of our content has to increase.

Thoughts? And, if I'm off on some information, please let me know.

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Just for the sake of providing the information, I'll list the MAC and Sun Belt too. They seem to work a little different. Probably because they have sold out to ESPN+, and are content to have all of their inventory relegated to ESPN's lower tier services. In any event, I have no interest in seeing C-USA following their lead.

MAC
12 programs in the conference
Hosting 7 Power 5 programs in the next 5 seasons.

Sun Belt
10 programs in the conference
Hosting 5 Power 5 programs in the next 5 seasons.

(03-18-2018 08:52 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  In my opinion, all the programs in C-USA need to kick the habit of scheduling body-bag games, or we run the risk of being further catagorized with the MAC and Sun Belt. I believe every athletic department in C-USA needs to be scheduling more home and home series with the P5s. My logic is simple. If we own more distribution rights for games with power 5 programs, the value of our content has to increase.

Not sure they can be done away with completely from a budget standpoint being part of the G5, however limiting to no more than one per season may be doable.

(03-18-2018 09:27 PM)topper1296 Wrote:  

(03-18-2018 08:52 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  In my opinion, all the programs in C-USA need to kick the habit of scheduling body-bag games, or we run the risk of being further catagorized with the MAC and Sun Belt. I believe every athletic department in C-USA needs to be scheduling more home and home series with the P5s. My logic is simple. If we own more distribution rights for games with power 5 programs, the value of our content has to increase.

Not sure they can be done away with completely from a budget standpoint being part of the G5, however limiting to no more than one per season may be doable.

The idea is that playing a P5 or quality opponent at home should somewhat offset the revenue lost to body bag games because of an uptick in ticket sales. Unfortunately, some C-USA programs (ourselves included) struggle with attendance in football.

(03-18-2018 09:27 PM)topper1296 Wrote:  

(03-18-2018 08:52 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  In my opinion, all the programs in C-USA need to kick the habit of scheduling body-bag games, or we run the risk of being further catagorized with the MAC and Sun Belt. I believe every athletic department in C-USA needs to be scheduling more home and home series with the P5s. My logic is simple. If we own more distribution rights for games with power 5 programs, the value of our content has to increase.

Not sure they can be done away with completely from a budget standpoint being part of the G5, however limiting to no more than one per season may be doable.

Despite what they claim, the AAC is a G5 and they have all but eliminated body-bag games. C-USA programs must find a way to balance the books without the body-bags. I believe these bog-bag games are a major factor dragging down our overall media value.

(03-18-2018 09:37 PM)freshtop Wrote:  

(03-18-2018 09:27 PM)topper1296 Wrote:  

(03-18-2018 08:52 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  In my opinion, all the programs in C-USA need to kick the habit of scheduling body-bag games, or we run the risk of being further catagorized with the MAC and Sun Belt. I believe every athletic department in C-USA needs to be scheduling more home and home series with the P5s. My logic is simple. If we own more distribution rights for games with power 5 programs, the value of our content has to increase.

Not sure they can be done away with completely from a budget standpoint being part of the G5, however limiting to no more than one per season may be doable.

The idea is that playing a P5 or quality opponent at home should somewhat offset the revenue lost to body bag games because of an uptick in ticket sales. Unfortunately, some C-USA programs (ourselves included) struggle with attendance in football.

Scheduling home and homes with P5s should help increase attendance some, but the idea is that having the rights to more games versus P5 programs will increase the overall value of our football content, and help us negotiate better media deals.

"C-USA schools need to schedule P5 home/homes." Well, that's a lot easier said than done. Not many P5s are looking to play at G5s.

North Texas has 2 P5 games in the next decade. So, what do you the years where you have no P5 home/home game? Just load your schedule up with Sun Belt and FCS schools? That isolates you from the rest of college football.

(03-18-2018 09:39 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  C-USA programs must find a way to balance the books without the body-bags.

Not all of us are mega-commuter schools that rack up massive $$ in student fees that can be used for athletics. For a school like USM, it's either schedule a guarantee game (or 2) or drop to D2.

We're trying. Coming to play Rice in Houston:

2019 Wake Forest, Baylor, Texas
2020 Army, LSU

Nobody's brought this up. We're trying as well.

However, the better you get the harder it is to schedule these games.

No joke, look back at Marshall's last big run, Cato's senior season. We had Louisville scheduled on the books and they backed out.

(03-19-2018 10:14 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  We're trying. Coming to play Rice in Houston:

2019 Wake Forest, Baylor, Texas
2020 Army, LSU

That's awesome!

The other thing, you can get most P5 programs to sign on with a two-for-one, but obviously it creates a hole in the schedule.

So, yeah in a perfect world you would want to get a one for one, but it's so hard from a Marshall perspective to sign one for one.

We've got lots of P5 home games but our TV partners don't seem to want to air them. They do if we move them to Friday but the P5 schools want to play us at home so they can recruit the Tidewater area so they don't want to play on Friday night.

(03-19-2018 10:41 AM)rileylives Wrote:  

(03-19-2018 10:14 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  We're trying. Coming to play Rice in Houston:

2019 Wake Forest, Baylor, Texas
2020 Army, LSU

That's awesome!

But in a bid for more money we have put the Texas and LSU games at the Texans stadium so they won't be actually on-campus.

(03-19-2018 10:41 AM)rileylives Wrote:  Nobody's brought this up. We're trying as well.

However, the better you get the harder it is to schedule these games.

No joke, look back at Marshall's last big run, Cato's senior season. We had Louisville scheduled on the books and they backed out.

This is the main issue with trying to monetize OOC games. The AAC commish has mentioned on several occasions that ESPN likes that so many teams bring in highly visible (not necessarily limited to P5) teams. However, since the majority of the quotable catalog is conference games, the importance of developing rivalry and relevant games that attract viewers mustn't be understated. Unless a conference has a challenge with another conference or OOC games that are set in stone (like the Armed Forces or state rivalries), then a network would be taking a huge risk basing a bid on games 5 years out that very well may not come to fruition. They're still good for gate revenue though and usually will make to tv when they are played giving access to larger audiences for resume building.

Who called the deal "great"?

(03-19-2018 11:41 AM)usmbacker Wrote:  

(03-18-2018 08:52 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

Who called the deal "great"?

I think at best one could say, it's better than the last one.

(03-19-2018 10:14 AM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  We're trying. Coming to play Rice in Houston:

2019 Wake Forest, Baylor, Texas
2020 Army, LSU

ODU is too:
2018 VT
2020 Wake Forest, UVA
2022 VT

(03-19-2018 02:25 PM)FD2004 Wrote:  

(03-19-2018 11:41 AM)usmbacker Wrote:  

(03-18-2018 08:52 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

Who called the deal "great"?

I think at best one could say, it's better than the last one.

With what's been announced I don't know how anyone could say this deal is better than the last deal. No ESPN partnership and Stadium is taking less games than the last deal.

(03-19-2018 09:32 AM)BeagleUSM Wrote:  "C-USA schools need to schedule P5 home/homes." Well, that's a lot easier said than done. Not many P5s are looking to play at G5s.

North Texas has 2 P5 games in the next decade. So, what do you the years where you have no P5 home/home game? Just load your schedule up with Sun Belt and FCS schools? That isolates you from the rest of college football.

(03-18-2018 09:39 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  C-USA programs must find a way to balance the books without the body-bags.

Not all of us are mega-commuter schools that rack up massive $$ in student fees that can be used for athletics. For a school like USM, it's either schedule a guarantee game (or 2) or drop to D2.

First, North Texas is only hosting 2 P5s because that is all we have scheduled so far. Remember, we were being lead by Villarreal for 15 years. Unfortunately, we have to play out those body-bag games he scheduled. That is why we are only hosting 1 P5 in the next 5 seasons. Baker gets it. And he has changed our scheduling philosophy.

If Southern Miss is reliant on scheduling a body-bag or 2 every season, just to keep from dropping down to the FCS, then it is time USM finds new leadership.

Here is a list of the C-USA programs hosting P5s in the next five years. ODU is getting it done. The rest of us... not so much. For the record I didn't count game not played on home fields.

East
ODU: 2018-Virginia Tech, 2020-Wake Forest, 2020-Virginia, and 2022-Virginia Tech
Charlotte: 2021- Duke and 2022-Maryland
FIU: 2018-Indiana and 2021-Miami FL
Marshall: 2018-NC State and 2020-Pitt
MT: 2019-Duke and 2022-Missouri

West
Rice: 2019-Wake Forest and 2019-Baylor
North Texas: 2022-Cal
UTEP: 2020-Texas Tech
UTSA: 2018-Baylor
LA Tech- None
Southern Miss- None
UAB- None

(03-19-2018 07:37 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  Here is a list of the C-USA programs hosting P5s in the next five years. ODU is getting it done. The rest of us... not so much. For the record I didn't count game not played on home fields.

East
ODU: 2018-Virginia Tech, 2020-Wake Forest, 2020-Virginia, and 2022-Virginia Tech
Charlotte: 2021- Duke and 2022-Maryland
FIU: 2018-Indiana and 2021-Miami FL
Marshall: 2018-NC State and 2020-Pitt
MT: 2019-Duke and 2022-Missouri

West
Rice: 2019-Wake Forest and 2019-Baylor
North Texas: 2022-Cal
UTEP: 2020-Texas Tech
UTSA: 2018-Baylor
LA Tech- None
Southern Miss- None
UAB- None

we have state here in 2024