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AAC 2nd TV Contract/Negotiations

CL82

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This is going to be a much harder contract to negotiate than anything in the past. I think the network demand is still there at some level (they need to broadcast sports or they become completely irrelevant), but the AAC needs to be looking down the road 5 years.
Toward what?
 

Drew

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American Athletic basketball tournament may look to Midwest in future

The American is looking at its multi-media options in advance of 2020, when its TV contract with ESPN ends. It appears all options are on the table, including digital companies such as Amazon or Netflix, should they decide live sports makes sense.

“The commissioner (Mike Aresco) is being thorough in looking at all aspects before making a decision on anything, or even a decision on a direction,” Boatright said. “His focus on going to be on that piece for the next couple years.”
 

Drew

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reading this article, this section below most interested me regarding the future of the AAC TV deal:

To keep these competitors at bay, ESPN decided to, as Skipper put it, build a deeper moat. And that was when rights really began to get pricey.

In the spring of 2011, months before ESPN completed its NFL deal, NBC thought it had a deal with the Pac-10 worth $225 million per year. NBC already carried Notre Dame football, and the deal would have given the network’s sports channel a foothold in the college marketplace. Before NBC and the Pac-10 signed their contract, Skipper, who ran ESPN’s programming group at the time, called Fox Sports’ Randy Freer and came up with a unique and rarely seen bid — a combined offer of $250 million per year. The Pac-10 ended up spurning NBC and signed a deal with ESPN and Fox.

A year later, ESPN beat NBC Sports to the punch again — this time with MLB. While NBC Sports executives were in London for the Olympics, ESPN and MLB executives met privately to cement a deal that NBC wanted.

Skipper, who had become ESPN’s president by then, agreed to double the annual rights fee, from $350 million per year to $700 million. The huge increase came without significant postseason games — ESPN has the rights to one wild-card game. In fact, MLB officials were surprised that ESPN didn’t push harder for postseason rights. But ESPN executives said postseason baseball did not work for its fall schedule because it was filled with college football, which generally brings in higher ratings.

Even though national MLB ratings had been dropping significantly leading up to the deal, Skipper again saw an opportunity to keep a marquee package away from a competitor. Plus, he liked the sheer number of hours MLB provided, especially in the summer months.

The deals kept adding up. In May 2013, it signed an 11-year, $825 million deal to take the U.S. Tennis Association’s U.S. Open from CBS. In April 2014, ESPN agreed to pay $100 million for one NFL wild-card playoff game. In May 2014, it committed at least $37.5 million per year for Major League Soccer (up dramatically from its previous annual payout of $8 million per year).

But it wasn’t just about sports rights where ESPN committed the cash. The network’s reaction to competition also led to significant pay increases for several on-air personalities — paying some studio hosts well into seven figures — to keep them from going to Fox Sports 1 or NBC Sports Network.

ESPN insiders acknowledge those deals overvalued some of their on-air personalities and played a big part in ESPN’s decision to lay off more than 100 hosts, analysts and reporters earlier this spring.



1. Will ESPN continue to "build a deeper moat" despite their declining subscriber base? The article notes that even without as many traditional cable subscriptions, the value of sports rights might not decrease in the future. Will ESPN continue to pay more than necessary to keep the rights they feel are so important to their network? If so, does the AAC benefit from this style of negotiating/management?

2. Its interesting to see that NBC has tried on numerous occasions now to grow their portfolio of sports broadcasting rights. They put in unsuccessful bids for the AAC, PAC 12, and MLB. Will NBC be a player in the next AAC tv deal, especially since the ESPN "right to match" clause is gone? Getting 2-3 AAC games a week on NBC, say we get 2 slots of Friday night, 12ET and a 730/8ET slot on Saturdays, would be a major major accomplishment.
 

Drew

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Are we going to return T3 rights back to individual schools?

The Huskies have a lucrative TV deal with SNY (about $1 million a year) and a media rights deal with IMG (bringing in about $9 million a year, and set to expire after 2017-18) that is one of the best in the nation. The SNY money had gone directly to the AAC and then split among all member schools, but UConn argued during recent conference meetings that it should keep that money. Athletic directors voted in favor of that proposal, and UConn will retain about $3.1 million over the next three years because of it.

http://www.courant.com/g00/sports/u...urant.com/g00/?i10c.referrer=#nt=oft12aH-1gp2
 
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Are we going to return T3 rights back to individual schools?

The Huskies have a lucrative TV deal with SNY (about $1 million a year) and a media rights deal with IMG (bringing in about $9 million a year, and set to expire after 2017-18) that is one of the best in the nation. The SNY money had gone directly to the AAC and then split among all member schools, but UConn argued during recent conference meetings that it should keep that money. Athletic directors voted in favor of that proposal, and UConn will retain about $3.1 million over the next three years because of it.

http://www.courant.com/g00/sports/UConn-huskies/hc-aac-UConn-money-0527-20170526-story.html?i10c.referrer=http://www.courant.com/g00/?i10c.referrer=#nt=oft12aH-1gp2

A good thing, BUT why is the number so low? Years ago, the UConn women alone were at $1.8m a year. That figure didn't even include UConn men and football. Did the UConn men appear on SNY much last year?
 

ConnHuskBask

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A good thing, BUT why is the number so low? Years ago, the UConn women alone were at $1.8m a year. That figure didn't even include UConn men and football. Did the UConn men appear on SNY much last year?

I think we had more games on SNY in the past, than we do now. I recall seeing some Big East games on SNY, but now the only thing on the network is the OOC cupcakes.

I recall Big East football being on SNY as well.

Seems like the games that used to go to SNY are now sold by ESPN to CBSSN.
 

huskypantz

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A good thing, BUT why is the number so low? Years ago, the UConn women alone were at $1.8m a year. That figure didn't even include UConn men and football. Did the UConn men appear on SNY much last year?
It's low because we don't own our tier 3 rights. Even when we did to an extent, that money went back to the BE pot to be divvied up. The UConn brass better ensure that the next TV contract does NOT include tier 3 rights.
 
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It's low because we don't own our tier 3 rights. Even when we did to an extent, that money went back to the BE pot to be divvied up. The UConn brass better ensure that the next TV contract does NOT include tier 3 rights.

??? The TV station still pays though, right? The money now goes to the AAC. The question is, why is the money paid to the AAC so low?

Of course, here's more than one way to cut a pie. SNY could rout more money UConn's way through the coaches' shows instead of paying the AAC directly. That is one way you can get around the tier 3 rights belonging to the conference.
 

ConnHuskBask

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??? The TV station still pays though, right? The money now goes to the AAC. The question is, why is the money paid to the AAC so low?

Of course, here's more than one way to cut a pie. SNY could rout more money UConn's way through the coaches' shows instead of paying the AAC directly. That is one way you can get around the tier 3 rights belonging to the conference.

Just checked the 2009/2010 TV schedule and 2016/2017 TV schedule:

Hoops
2009/2010 SNY (13 total): Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence, Marquette, Depaul, Cincinnati, Rutgers
2016/2017 SNY (5 total): Wagner, Northeastern, Loyola Marymount, BU, North Florida

Football
2009 SNY (3 confirmed): Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse. I believe Baylor and URI as well.
2016 SNY (2 total): Maine, UVA
 
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Back in 2012....UConn was hitting the marks in SNY-(Hartford-New Haven DMA)

"We've always believed that creating a single destination - one that provides consistency as well as the most comprehensive, in-depth coverage for UConn fans would result in increased visibility and popularity," said Steve Raab, President of SNY. "We knew we would deliver UConn a broader national audience, but these substantial ratings gains across all of our UConn properties on a local level are another great development. We are excited about the potential to grow the brand even more as we continue our partnership with the University."

UConn Surges In Popularity On SNY

 
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Just checked the 2009/2010 TV schedule and 2016/2017 TV schedule:

Hoops
2009/2010 SNY (13 total): Seton Hall, St. John's, Providence, Marquette, Depaul, Cincinnati, Rutgers
2016/2017 SNY (5 total): Wagner, Northeastern, Loyola Marymount, BU, North Florida

Football
2009 SNY (3 confirmed): Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse. I believe Baylor and URI as well.
2016 SNY (2 total): Maine, UVA

Thanks, good research.
What about the women, though? The BE always had the men's rights, but not the women's. SNY preempted the Syracuse men to show the UConn women. And the ratings were very good (ratings of 8 or 9, if I recall correctly).
 
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In its inaugural season on SNY, the undefeated UConn women's basketball program has already experienced growth in popularity as the team's television ratings have increased +14% in the Hartford-New Haven DMA. SNY's Women's basketball coverage is averaging a 5.14 household rating thru the first five games of the season versus the first five regional telecasts that aired last season.
 

ConnHuskBask

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Thanks, good research.
What about the women, though? The BE always had the men's rights, but not the women's. SNY preempted the Syracuse men to show the UConn women. And the ratings were very good (ratings of 8 or 9, if I recall correctly).

Not sure, I'd have to look. I feel like the ratings of UConn women's games would be pretty static regardless of the opponents on SNY. Just not sure of the volume of games.
 

Drew

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AAC commissioner: Wichita State, chili, media money and the Power 6

Is is possible to briefly summarize where media rights may be headed?

Aresco: It’s a big issue. We’re on the clock, to some extent with TV and with media. It’s not just TV anymore. We’ll look at everything.

There’s no question that the online companies are starting to do more than just dip their toes into live sports and live video. They’ll be a factor. TV, of course, is still going to be extremely important. You’re not replacing TV with online, at least not yet.

We will look at all media. We don’t view this as TV anymore, per se. On the other hand, we’re really happy with our partnership with ESPN. Despite all the talk about cord-cutting and all the things you see, ESPN is still the most powerful sports entity, the most powerful sports network. ESPN also has a very significant streaming operation.

They key for us is going to be getting much more revenue than we currently have. That’s why this is going to be a really seminal moment for us. We are still about roughly a year-and-a-half, or so, away from a negotiating period. We may talk to our partners next spring. That’s typically when you at least have some informal discussions. It wouldn’t be negotiation, per se, but there wouldn’t be many years left on the deal.

We run through 2019-20 and at the beginning of 2019 we have a negotiating period. It’s not that far away. We’ve been talking to people and trying to determine our value. We know it’s extremely heightened compared to five years ago.
 

Drew

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Compher: Nothing more important than TV deal - Daily Reflector

East Carolina’s athletics chief will be an integral part of brokering the biggest deal in the young life of the American Athletic Conference, and he sees it as just that.

Named recently to the league’s committee that will oversee the negotiations for a new football television contract, Jeff Compher knows the deal set to be hammered out in 2019 will define the league’s future and its hope to someday be included in the current Power Five framework.

As the American is once again touting its Power Six or P6 campaign this season, ECU’s AD is ready for the challenge of delivering a new deal for the league, which currently has a contract with ESPN/ABC and CBS Sports Network for broadcasting games.

“I can’t tell you how essential this is to our ability to remain at that Power Six level,” Compher said in an interview earlier this week. “There’s nothing more important than that. If you were to ask every AD in our conference they would say the same thing. If you were to ask every administrative officer in the league they would say the same thing. We are of one focus, and that is it.”
 
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Even $8-$10 million per team is nowhere near P5 level. The B1G will make $51.1 million per team this season.
 
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Even $8-$10 million per team is nowhere near P5 level. The B1G will make $51.1 million per team this season.
So? Would you rather take in 8-10, million or continue at 1.8?

This may be enough to retain coaches and Ads for a while. I'll add I'm highly skeptical of them landing anywhere close to 5 times as they are now getting that is huge jump.

My realistic goal was to get Big East money. If Aresco gets anywhere those numbers and tier 3 rights back he deserves a statue.

In the end streaming will play a huge role in our future going forward. Just today Disney and CBS announced aggressive sports streaming options to be ramped up around 2019. The timing in our expiring contract may be just right. Maybe by then Google and amazon are doing this.
 

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