- Joined
- Sep 20, 2011
- Messages
- 532
- Reaction Score
- 2,369
I think ESPN cost cutting will hit the top talent and maybe a little bit of headcount a lot more than it will hit the rights fees. Arguing that rights fees will be reduced across the board solely because of ESPN is kind of like saying share prices will drop just because Fidelity wants them to. There are other buyers in the market besides ESPN, ao ESPN does not get to unilaterally decide what the price is.
Unless there is a backdoor in the GOR, I just don't see how either the Big 12 or ACC lose any teams for the duration of the agreements. A GOR is not something you just buy your way out of, and the case law on the sale of media rights is pretty solid. So unless there is some kind of out that we do not know about like the ACC GOR is invalid if there is no ACC Network, I don't see anyone going anywhere.
I do think this leaves the Big 12 with a mild reason to expand that should be enough to get them to add 2 teams. I am less clear on what would drive the ACC or Big 10 to do anything at this point.
Agreed on rights fees. I think ESPN is cutting overhead strictly due to the increases in rights fees and knows that, in the future, they're going to have to pony up even more for rights fees and are stashing cash to do so.