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Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
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Attackcoog Online
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Post: #121
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 09:42 AM)scoscox Wrote:  Coog,

As for football, the least we know is that they won’t be playing any American teams. I think it’s probably safe to assume they’ll play more local teams that are lower level, which is probably a significant cost savings, but we don’t know.

As for the rest, half of their conference away games are now a bus ride instead of flight for all sports. Probably another decent chunk of change. Maybe not two million but that doesn’t seem to crazy to me and I’m not sure why the UConn AD and Pres would lie about that estimate

Lastly, that’s not my personal estimate I got it from another source, but like I said it’s optimistic, so things like 3rd tier rights may come back less than what he projected. We really don’t know how that’s gonna work out yet. I’d imagine Fox will want to be accommodating as much as they can to UConn.

Chappy,
You’re right that it wasn’t really about the money. Again, their AD has said as much.

Agree we are getting into the weeds on this stuff. Obviously I’m willing to stipulate to the fact travel will be cheaper in the Big East.

Honestly, my whole point was simply that I don’t think this move was about money so much as it was about giving their fan base what they really wanted—a return to old rivalries. As I’ve said before, I actually find that aspect of the move refreshing, despite the fact it’s a negative to the AAC. 04-cheers
07-07-2019 12:32 PM
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Post: #122
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
UConn may have been getting paid more by the AAC, but the costs associated with AAC were not sustainable. It was what the AAC was offering plus the $40 million or whatever the amount for costs vs the lower amount from the Big East, but a lot less costs, plus UConn would be playing their old rivals again. People don't like to see their tax $$'s wasted, and they remember things like that come election day.
(This post was last modified: 07-07-2019 12:39 PM by DawgNBama.)
07-07-2019 12:37 PM
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Post: #123
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 11:38 AM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 10:27 AM)Foreverandever Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 09:42 AM)scoscox Wrote:  Coog,

As for football, the least we know is that they won’t be playing any American teams. I think it’s probably safe to assume they’ll play more local teams that are lower level, which is probably a significant cost savings, but we don’t know.

As for the rest, half of their conference away games are now a bus ride instead of flight for all sports. Probably another decent chunk of change. Maybe not two million but that doesn’t seem to crazy to me and I’m not sure why the UConn AD and Pres would lie about that estimate

Lastly, that’s not my personal estimate I got it from another source, but like I said it’s optimistic, so things like 3rd tier rights may come back less than what he projected. We really don’t know how that’s gonna work out yet. I’d imagine Fox will want to be accommodating as much as they can to UConn.

Chappy,
You’re right that it wasn’t really about the money. Again, their AD has said as much.

That isn't some source lol, it's just a document someone made.

Is this what are educational system is coming too? I can go make a Google doc right now that says they will lose 50m.

I want to point out yet again some obvious mistakes.

2.2m is the old contract, which is over this year. UConn is losing out on the new media deal which is probably around 7.5m (84m ESPN and probably another 4-5 m CBSsports "Navy tier" 2-3m from CBS OTA basketball).

UConn did not send every sport to UCF or Houston or Tulsa. Some of those sports the teams don't play and in football and basketball the schedules are unbalanced meaning they don't play them at all or they play them once.

Temple, ECU, Cincinnati are all a wash when it comes to travel for the big east. There are three teams extremely close in Providence, St John's, and Seaton Hall. There are also mandatory trips to Milwaukee, Omaha, Chicago, and Butler because the Big East plays a true round robin.

UConn will now send its women's lacrosse team to Denver....

Independents for football usually have some of the highest travel costs and it's much more expensive in moving equipment and number of people compared to Olympic sports with fewer people and no shoulderpads.

Finally the Big East is not be getting more money in its media deal, they had a pro rata clause (the contract will pay the same individual rate to each member) for up to 12. It seems unlikely they will get a raise when the contract is up in 2025/2026, their ratings are sometimes under 100k. The Big East is desperate to attract eyes right now which is why they pushed for UConn hard a large public school. There are also no third tier rights in the Big East deal. They get 5 women's basketball games.


As far as the AAC deal goes and producing events, this 1m or 2m or I am sure 3m soon, cost has been debunked many times. Rider manages to do it just fine, as do the MAC and CUSA teams (whose main deal is with CBSsports) and their total media pay outs are well under a million per team.

North Alabama has a budget of 8-9m and aren't complaining about the costs in a leage that pays them nothing so obviously they aren't paying a million dollars to produce (or even 400k).

A few points:
1
The travel issues were a legitimate concern for UConn in the AAC, and the move to the Big East substantially helps with that. UConn spent over $7 million annually on travel costs alone; when you are one of two NE programs in a predominantly Southern-based conference, it doesn't matter whether it is to Tulsa or Orlando or Houston or New Orleans or Tampa or Dallas or Wichita or New Orleans, a majority of road trips incurred significantly travel costs and time for their athletic programs. You highlight Denver being a travel problem for UConn; Denver is in one sport in the Big East (Lacrosse), and they are one of the top programs nationally in that sport. The furthest full-member (Creighton) has a top-10 attendance figure for men's basketball annually. The third closest city for UConn in the AAC (Cincinnati) will now become the sixth furthest in the BE. The lone isolated long-distance trips in the Big East are clearly worth it to UConn because of the value those programs provide, which clearly the same could not be said about the distant programs for them in the AAC.
2
The average payout of the new AAC TV deal will be $7 million on average annually; it is an escalating deal where it will be over $7 million near the end of the deal, which means it likely starts off lower at the start. With what UConn was making with the prior AAC TV, along with the BE divorce war chest payments, UConn was actually making the same amount as the last Big East TV deal. However, since the war chest payments concluded, along with the terms of the new AAC TV deal released, UConn was definitely going to be taking a noticeable pay cut in terms of future payouts (which would have been locked-in until the early 2030's). There were many other factors that encouraged UConn to make a move when it did - the reputation and perception of AAC basketball was simply not at the same level of the Big East, its conference tournament was averaging incredibly small crowds, no other team made a significant run in the tournament other than Houston this year in five years, the AAC blocked the SNY revenues/exposure for UConn, its conference headquarters was being moved to Dallas (from Providence), a significant amount of its content was being moved to ESPN+ behind a pay wall and there will be new production costs for host AAC programs to distribute through ESPN. If recent reports about the Big East's new contract with Fox are true, not only will the average value be higher than the AAC again, but the expenses will have been significantly cut as well (again without football). Furthermore, the Big East's contract is for basketball-only (not all sports like the AAC); so, in terms of value and ROI, it is a much better deal for UConn.
3
To your comment about North Alabama, which was an FCS independent last year, played all but two games in the Southeast last year (six games in the state of Alabama). Even they were able to keep their travel costs down being an independent. Now as a member of the Big South, they still play all their games in the Southeast region (Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia). UConn has had one NE opponent (Temple), one Midwest opponent (Cincinnati), four Southeast opponents (ECU, Tulane, UCF, USF) and four Southwest opponents (Houston, SMU, Wichita, Tulsa). That comparison is not accurate for travel purposes at all.



1
I will address this one last time, the big east plays more games than the AAC, they didn't have to go to Tulsa, Houston, Dallas etc every year for Olympics and in football they skipped two or three western teams every year. They didn't go to them in things like lacrosse because those schools don't have those teams. They will be going to Milwaukee, Omaha, Chicago and now Denver for every sport but football, where they likely will be now be travelling to Virginia and southern New Mexico (Liberty/NMST). All of this is why you slipped back into ticket revenue numbers and talk about attendance. When you have 20+ Olympic sports it doesn't matter where you send them it costs a lot of money. You aren't saving a lot when it's an occasional trip to Texas/Florida vs regular trips to Milwaukee and Omaha and occassionally Denver. Especially when you think about the fact they will be travelling even further year in year out for football.



2
So much is wrong with this I am sure I will miss stuff.

The AAC currently makes more in distribution then the big east does according to taxes on our 2m media deal.

The Big East contract is locked in for payouts, there is no renegotiation. This is according to the Big East when they said they were looking at 11. They can add and not reduce the pay out because the contract has the option of maintaining the pay rate for up to 12 members. Fox agreed they would pay any new team added what they paid the old team, the Big East agreed the contract terms would not change if they added teams. UConn will get the same money as everyone else, which will be the same as last year.

The new AAC contract is increasing in value (3×+). The new AAC contract is not graduated, i.e. we will get 7m from ESPN each year not start at 5 and end at 9. We also have money from the Navy games sold to CBSsports as a separate deal and the CBS OTA contract we get for select basketball games. So the total media pay out will be between 7.5-8m a team starting in 2020. However since we are already making more than the big east now even a graduated contract means we would still make considerably more.

The conference tournament was put in UConn (it is now moving to DFW) and it still sucked, because their team did.

No we did not block the SNY deal, ESPN was in talks and had previously under the last contract allowed them to have that relationship, but were against allowing UConn to double dip again with the pay. Nor does the big east deal allow them to have that relationship in anything but football which is not a big east sport.

FS1 is behind a pay wall, it's called cable. The big east games have games under 100k viewership because people don't care even when they get FS1/FS2 forced on them through basic packages.

The number of games on linear TV went up in the new AAC deal. The production costs will not increase (and aren't high anyway) because the schools were already producing almost all of the ESPN+ content (low level Olympic sports, highlight shows, coaches shows) for either the American Digital Network, local consumption, or their own websites/ESPN3.

I am sure I missed some but it was a lot of bad info you packed together.



3
North Alabama was about starting their ESPN+ conference contract and had nothing to do with travel.

But since this is a geography lesson.

The Texas schools and Tulsa/Wichita are not southwest, we're the plains, the southwest is Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and sometimes Colorado. Texas was a confederate state and often stands alone like California for reference.

Temple and Navy are in the mid Atlantic region.

You may want to get an FBS map though, the teams closer to UConn who play FBS football than Temple and Navy (who you conveniently forgot) are Boston College, Syracuse, and UMass. That's it. UConn's football is going to travel, it's likely going to travel to Florida (7 teams) or Texas (10+ teams). Considering how schedules are made and how botched a job UConn's administration did, they are likely looking at games in Virginia and New Mexico, if they are lucky Utah. Plus one or two big buy games a year playing an SEC or Big 10 team.
(This post was last modified: 07-07-2019 12:47 PM by Foreverandever.)
07-07-2019 12:45 PM
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scoscox Offline
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Post: #124
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 12:22 PM)TodgeRodge Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 12:19 PM)scoscox Wrote:  Val has done lots of good things. She got us into the Big Ten and Big 12 challenges, got UConn back into the fold, extended MSG, etc. Regardless of how much influence you think she had in those decisions, she should at least get credit for executing them successfully.

she fended off the Big 10 from MSG didn't she?

Correct, we were able to fend off the Big Ten and the ACC from moving in on MSG. Well done by the conference and Val.
07-07-2019 01:09 PM
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Post: #125
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 12:45 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  No we did not block the SNY deal, ESPN was in talks and had previously under the last contract allowed them to have that relationship, but were against allowing UConn to double dip again with the pay. Nor does the big east deal allow them to have that relationship in anything but football which is not a big east sport.

The Big East allows them to have it in women's basketball as well, at least to some extent. I believe the language is "select women's basketball" or something like that.

This is a good breakdown of the contract by a UConn blog with some good info regarding the Tier 3 stuff
https://adimeback.com/meghan-goes-full-l...-contract/

Basically, it looks like the Big East added some language in there that may allow them to cut a special deal with UConn for those rights.
(This post was last modified: 07-07-2019 01:15 PM by scoscox.)
07-07-2019 01:14 PM
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Post: #126
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 12:45 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  The new AAC contract is increasing in value (3×+). The new AAC contract is not graduated, i.e. we will get 7m from ESPN each year not start at 5 and end at 9.

Also, are you sure about that? I was under the impression it was a graduated deal. I'm not sure that's correct.
07-07-2019 01:17 PM
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Post: #127
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 01:17 PM)scoscox Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 12:45 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  The new AAC contract is increasing in value (3×+). The new AAC contract is not graduated, i.e. we will get 7m from ESPN each year not start at 5 and end at 9.

Also, are you sure about that? I was under the impression it was a graduated deal. I'm not sure that's correct.

That was my understanding as well, albeit in a very tight window. Something like starting at $6m, and ending around $7.9m, with an average of $6.9m for the 12 years.

Not really a big deal either way, though.
07-07-2019 01:22 PM
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Post: #128
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 01:14 PM)scoscox Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 12:45 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  No we did not block the SNY deal, ESPN was in talks and had previously under the last contract allowed them to have that relationship, but were against allowing UConn to double dip again with the pay. Nor does the big east deal allow them to have that relationship in anything but football which is not a big east sport.

The Big East allows them to have it in women's basketball as well, at least to some extent. I believe the language is "select women's basketball" or something like that.

This is a good breakdown of the contract by a UConn blog with some good info regarding the Tier 3 stuff
https://adimeback.com/meghan-goes-full-l...-contract/

Basically, it looks like the Big East added some language in there that may allow them to cut a special deal with UConn for those rights.

Basically, the language is exactly what Ive been saying. UConn signed over the TV rights to ALL varsity sporting events to the Big East. So, as Ive said, unless there is some side agreement, any money from the sale of games to SNY will either go to FOX (if they purchased those rights as part of their BE tV deal) or to the Big East conference to be shared equally among all 11 members. The good news for UConn is these games will almost certainly be sold to air on SNY---so at least that regional SNY exposure will return even if the third tier revenue does not.
(This post was last modified: 07-07-2019 01:32 PM by Attackcoog.)
07-07-2019 01:29 PM
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Attackcoog Online
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Post: #129
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 01:17 PM)scoscox Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 12:45 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  The new AAC contract is increasing in value (3×+). The new AAC contract is not graduated, i.e. we will get 7m from ESPN each year not start at 5 and end at 9.

Also, are you sure about that? I was under the impression it was a graduated deal. I'm not sure that's correct.

That would be unusual if its true. Most every college rights deal is graduated. Ive not seen or heard anything that would lead me to believe the AAC deal is not a graduated deal.
07-07-2019 01:34 PM
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Post: #130
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
Right, basically every media deal I've ever seen is graduated, so that'd be strange.
(This post was last modified: 07-07-2019 01:48 PM by scoscox.)
07-07-2019 01:48 PM
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Post: #131
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 01:29 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 01:14 PM)scoscox Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 12:45 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  No we did not block the SNY deal, ESPN was in talks and had previously under the last contract allowed them to have that relationship, but were against allowing UConn to double dip again with the pay. Nor does the big east deal allow them to have that relationship in anything but football which is not a big east sport.

The Big East allows them to have it in women's basketball as well, at least to some extent. I believe the language is "select women's basketball" or something like that.

This is a good breakdown of the contract by a UConn blog with some good info regarding the Tier 3 stuff
https://adimeback.com/meghan-goes-full-l...-contract/

Basically, it looks like the Big East added some language in there that may allow them to cut a special deal with UConn for those rights.

Basically, the language is exactly what Ive been saying. UConn signed over the TV rights to ALL varsity sporting events to the Big East. So, as Ive said, unless there is some side agreement, any money from the sale of games to SNY will either go to FOX (if they purchased those rights as part of their BE tV deal) or to the Big East conference to be shared equally among all 11 members. The good news for UConn is these games will almost certainly be sold to air on SNY---so at least that regional SNY exposure will return even if the third tier revenue does not.

Author quotes the Big East-UConn contract as having a clause that looks like there's going to be a Fox-Big East-Uconn-SNY side deal:

Quote:The Conference will exclusively represent each of the Members with respect to the sale, licensing, distribution and other exploitation of the Media Rights and all matters related thereto, except, in each case, to the extent that the rules of the Conference expressly permit the Member to retain for itself or to the extent the Board votes to return other rights to the Members or to grant any other person or entity a license to exploit certain specified Media Rights;

So, for games that Fox has no use for (most women's basketball) on Big Fox or FS1 or FS2, or CBS-SN sublicense, Fox and the Big East agree to revert those rights to the conference. Conference votes to revert those rights to the schools. UConn sells that package to SNY
07-07-2019 02:16 PM
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Post: #132
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
He's acknowledging that I think, just saying that those revenues would be distributed to every team, not just UConn, which is not explicitly fleshed out in that particular excerpt. I don't have the desire to read through the contract to confirm that
07-07-2019 02:19 PM
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RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 02:19 PM)scoscox Wrote:  He's acknowledging that I think, just saying that those revenues would be distributed to every team, not just UConn, which is not explicitly fleshed out in that particular excerpt. I don't have the desire to read through the contract to confirm that

That would depend on what the Board decided. Much like the AAC carving out the UConn WBB package and letting UConn sell those rights to SNY, the idea is that the Big East would do the same thing. Nothing is firmly in writing about it, but the contract clause lends itself to interpreting it that way if you want to.
07-07-2019 02:43 PM
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Post: #134
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
That was my interpretation as well
07-07-2019 02:46 PM
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Post: #135
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 02:43 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 02:19 PM)scoscox Wrote:  He's acknowledging that I think, just saying that those revenues would be distributed to every team, not just UConn, which is not explicitly fleshed out in that particular excerpt. I don't have the desire to read through the contract to confirm that

That would depend on what the Board decided. Much like the AAC carving out the UConn WBB package and letting UConn sell those rights to SNY, the idea is that the Big East would do the same thing. Nothing is firmly in writing about it, but the contract clause lends itself to interpreting it that way if you want to.

Exactly. My point is UConn is not in control of those rights. In fact, there is no reason to believe that this clause is not in every single BE membership contract. It could very well be boilerplate language. In fact, it probably is boilerplate. If it was a clause demanded by UConn, it would have simply held back the specific rights and guaranteed they stayed in UConn's control. This clause doesnt do anything even close to that. Not to mention that this clause is worthless to UConn if these rights already fall under the rights sold in the previously signed FOX/Big East TV deal.
(This post was last modified: 07-07-2019 03:04 PM by Attackcoog.)
07-07-2019 02:53 PM
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Post: #136
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 01:34 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 01:17 PM)scoscox Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 12:45 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  The new AAC contract is increasing in value (3×+). The new AAC contract is not graduated, i.e. we will get 7m from ESPN each year not start at 5 and end at 9.

Also, are you sure about that? I was under the impression it was a graduated deal. I'm not sure that's correct.

That would be unusual if its true. Most every college rights deal is graduated. Ive not seen or heard anything that would lead me to believe the AAC deal is not a graduated deal.


My apologies. That may not be correct. It was discussed speculation from some comments made off handed by an AD and later byAresco both of whom in different ways indicated the pay structure was not set exactly yet. Aresco's may have been more indicative of incentive structures in the pay outs to teams which seems more likely.
07-07-2019 03:33 PM
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Post: #137
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 12:32 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Honestly, my whole point was simply that I don’t think this move was about money so much as it was about giving their fan base what they really wanted—a return to old rivalries. As I’ve said before, I actually find that aspect of the move refreshing, despite the fact it’s a negative to the AAC. 04-cheers

Yea, there's no big magic financial fix out there available to UConn - once the Big 12 got muscled into standing pat by the networks the writing was largely on the wall there. Parse out the specifics of TV deals, travel costs, and whatever else and you're likely to find a difference in one direction or another of like a million or two, which isn't terribly significant against an $80 million budget (even if that budget should probably be brought down to something like $65-70 million). You're right about it just being about getting back to old rivalries, and the Northeast (and New England in particular) flips the football/basketball hierarchy that you see in a lot of the rest of the country.

I forget who specifically, but a month or two ago one of the ECU fans touched on this and I've been thinking about it: Imagine if back when the Big 12 was going through their expansion song and dance they somehow landed on offering Houston plus either Rice or SMU football-only memberships and turning the six Texas schools into their own division, but for the sake of the discussion it also required stashing the rest of the athletic department in the Atlantic Sun or WAC. Setting aside all financial and logistical concerns and any discussion of probability, just purely from a "who we're going to play every year" standpoint, you say yes to that close to 10 times out of 10, right? You wouldn't get hung up on TAMU and Arkansas being in the SEC or whichever of Rice/SMU likely being in the American in this scenario and dismiss it as a fake SWC, and you wouldn't get all bent out of shape about having to play teams in Kansas and Iowa and West Virginia that you don't have much history with. You'd just be happy to have most of the old SWC crew back together and a conference championship game in Dallas would be a lot of fun, and if push came to shove you'd probably blow up basketball to do it. That's what it's like for most UConn fans.
07-07-2019 07:20 PM
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Post: #138
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(06-25-2019 11:08 AM)GTFletch Wrote:  
(06-25-2019 10:37 AM)TripleA Wrote:  
(06-25-2019 10:32 AM)GTFletch Wrote:  
(06-25-2019 10:29 AM)TripleA Wrote:  
(06-25-2019 10:01 AM)GTFletch Wrote:  Ok... So The following article does not apply to Memphis but everyone else: With American Athletic Conference Extending ESPN Rights Deal, Athletic Departments Will Expand Live-Production Efforts--Besides sizable linear slate produced by ESPN, 11,000+ games will be produced by AAC schools for distribution on ESPN+
It will also vastly alter the landscape of video production on the campuses of The American’s 12 institutions. with schools taking over production of many of the Olympic events running on ESPN+, the new direct-to-consumer, subscription-based streaming service. As outlined in the deal, that’s live coverage of well more than 11,000 events.

How many events each school will produce will be determined on an annual basis, with the host institution responsible for production. It’s expected that all member schools will be running at full force by the start of the 2020-21 academic year.

Link
https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/03/27/a...n-efforts/

Read post #9. Production costs will be nowhere near $2M. Your article says nothing about costs, and implies that all events will be covered, which is not accurate. Not even close.

Most AAC schools already have production facilities and already broadcast some of these events. And 11,000 live events (for what was then 12 schools) averages out to just over 900 per school. But it won't be anywhere close to all of them aired on ESPN+. It will be a select few (outlined in Post #9), since there is not going to be any AAC Network.

I repeat, the Memphis prez has already said that our costs would be maybe $200K. Costs will vary by school, depending on how far along their production facilities already are, and how many events actually wind up on ESPN+.
Link for the Memphis Prez stating 200K in production Upgrades only....

He said it privately. Nobody is talking publicly. They won't know exactly until they actually do it. Believe what you want, I don't care. But they have said publicly it will be nowhere near $2M.
I have heard privately that their are two cost! Hiring Raycom Sports to produce the AAC Championship games on ESPN+ (this cost will be divided amongst AAC members) and then Production Upgrades!

So maybe all together the total is 2M per school avg?? Not sure... What can be Validated:

1. The AAC will have a third party produce AAC Championship games on ESPN+ and split that cost among members (Raycom sports...Like they are doing for RSN this year)

2. Member schools need to upgrade or build production facilities to air events on ESPN+ starting in 2021

3. Most AAC fans get upset when they hear 2M, however they really do not know what the true cost to their school will be.

4. All of this mess and crazy travel cost is why UCONN is leaving

so.. if you have all the answers... why are you asking questions?

What's too a GT grad anyways? why do you care?

or are you just trolling?
07-07-2019 07:32 PM
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Post: #139
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
(07-07-2019 07:20 PM)Bogg Wrote:  
(07-07-2019 12:32 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  Honestly, my whole point was simply that I don’t think this move was about money so much as it was about giving their fan base what they really wanted—a return to old rivalries. As I’ve said before, I actually find that aspect of the move refreshing, despite the fact it’s a negative to the AAC. 04-cheers

Yea, there's no big magic financial fix out there available to UConn - once the Big 12 got muscled into standing pat by the networks the writing was largely on the wall there. Parse out the specifics of TV deals, travel costs, and whatever else and you're likely to find a difference in one direction or another of like a million or two, which isn't terribly significant against an $80 million budget (even if that budget should probably be brought down to something like $65-70 million). You're right about it just being about getting back to old rivalries, and the Northeast (and New England in particular) flips the football/basketball hierarchy that you see in a lot of the rest of the country.

I forget who specifically, but a month or two ago one of the ECU fans touched on this and I've been thinking about it: Imagine if back when the Big 12 was going through their expansion song and dance they somehow landed on offering Houston plus either Rice or SMU football-only memberships and turning the six Texas schools into their own division, but for the sake of the discussion it also required stashing the rest of the athletic department in the Atlantic Sun or WAC. Setting aside all financial and logistical concerns and any discussion of probability, just purely from a "who we're going to play every year" standpoint, you say yes to that close to 10 times out of 10, right? You wouldn't get hung up on TAMU and Arkansas being in the SEC or whichever of Rice/SMU likely being in the American in this scenario and dismiss it as a fake SWC, and you wouldn't get all bent out of shape about having to play teams in Kansas and Iowa and West Virginia that you don't have much history with. You'd just be happy to have most of the old SWC crew back together and a conference championship game in Dallas would be a lot of fun, and if push came to shove you'd probably blow up basketball to do it. That's what it's like for most UConn fans.

lol...I'd actually thought about that exact scenario when considering the fan reaction to the UConn move and concluded we'd react much as UConn fans did. If Im doing a really fair comparison, its more like several years ago (pre Sampson) when Houston basketball was struggling. We'd certainly take the Big12 football only slot and just figure out how to handle basketball without any hesitation or regret. But now---with the new arena, the basketball practice facility, and with Sampson having built something----It would be a lot harder to bite that bullet today. Still....I think we'd probably do as it would mean a 14 million dollar annual media pay day+ a full share of B12 CFP/Bowl money, and a real chance to make the playoff.

Honestly, the only thing that kinda bothers me about UConn leaving is how some of their womens basketball fans are acting like the AAC was such a horrible league because they went undefeated the entire time they were in it. Now granted, there was nobody in the AAC on the UConn level---but there really wasnt much competition in the old Big East outside of Notre Dame--who is gone. In the last five years of Big East play UConn women went 14-2, 13-3, 16-0, 16-0, and 16-0. Of the 5 losses, 4 were to Notre Dame and one was to St Johns. Most of the time they doubled the score of their opponent in the Big East--just like in the AAC. UConn womens basketball is just that good. They likely go undefeated next year in BE play with no Notre Dame to stop them.
(This post was last modified: 07-08-2019 06:52 PM by Attackcoog.)
07-07-2019 08:45 PM
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Post: #140
RE: Is the American's new TV deal the real reason why UCONN is leaving?
On Feb. 24 of this year . . . UC Athletic Director Mike Bohn wrote a letter to Aresco on behalf of the AAC Finance Committee and Television Committee, which also included Patrick Kraft of Temple and Danny White of UCF. . . laid out two specific points of contention with the then unfinalized agreement with ESPN. The first was “the assignment of production costs associated with increased ESPN+ digital streaming content.” The second was “a model of media rights payouts that includes a merit-based distribution component,” which Aresco has since stated is not something he felt was in the league’s best interest. In the letter, Bohn also stressed that “in addition to consulting with the presidents of our member institutions, we believe it is also important in your role as commissioner to engage our conference’s athletic directors directly prior to any official votes, especially on subjects that would benefit greatly from our expertise and input, such as the budgeting and operational requirements of the agreement.” the Larry Scott of the east!

In Aresco’s response to Bohn two days later . . .“Please be assured that the internal items you mention should and will be discussed with the athletic directors. However, these matters can be addressed after the ESPN negotiation is completed and should not slow down that process. We have good reason to want to conclude the ESPN negotiation and announce a new deal as soon as possible. Neither of the items you reference has an impact on whether we accept and conclude the ESPN deal that is on the table. As I mentioned, these are matters we can take up later because the new deal will not start until 2020-21 and we will have no ESPN+ obligations until then. We will have ample time to discuss them.”

That time still exists, but at least some degree of a plan is in place regarding the ESPN+ productions. “Whatever football is on ESPN+, we’ll produce through the conference. It won’t have a huge effect on allocations from distribution. We’re going to do that internally,” Aresco told The Athletic. “(The member schools are) likely to be responsible for their men’s and women’s basketball on ESPN+, but it’s a marginal cost relative to what they’re getting in rights fees. It’s a fraction. We’re getting more, and that factored in the cost of what we’re doing.”

Just how marginal the cost, and how steady and manageable it remains through the life of the deal, is still unknown.
07-18-2019 04:41 AM
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