AAC 2nd TV Contract/Negotiations

[Drew]

Figured it would be worth starting a thread on this as the negotiation period is approaching (deal runs through 2019-20 currently)

Original TV Deal: AAC: TV deal is with ESPN, CBS Sports

The current set up in regards to exposure on ESPN networks is tremendous, especially for UConn basketball. I hope that Aresco is able to find a way to keep that or even expand it, but I would take some better game start times (not 9pm on a Thursday to be able to be on ESPN2) if it meant a few more CBSSN games.

Don't think adding Wichita State does much of anything if anything at all. Think they're purely just a competition add.

Is there a way to negotiate certain announcing crews into a deal? I love when Doris Burke does our games and the CBS family has a ton of great announcers, would make the CBSSN games a lot more tolerable if the announcing crews were better (Ian Eagle anyone?). For football, the CBSSN crews are actually pretty good.

Whatever happens, The American simply cannot leave the ESPN family of networks unless it has a deal that will get games on network tv. If we take a deal with NBC for instance, it can't mean every game is on NBCSN. Need to keep the exposure aspect of the next deal for relevancy in my opinion.

I think we will see a modest bump in the amount being paid to each school, maybe to $3 or $4m. Not only does the conference deserve it but Aresco is negotiating in a much better place than he did with the original TV deal. The games the AAC has had on tv have drew fairly well and the league has proven to be extremely competitive (especially in football). Having The American championship game on ABC the past couple years has been awesome.

Lastly, and this is so minor, but I hope we can find a way to get some of the conference's baseball games on ESPNU/CBSSN. Not sure how many of us are aware but baseball is probably the American's best sport. The league is incredibly competitive this year. Would be nice to have the ability to showcase that product during the 'dead period' of sports after basketball.

 

[huskymedic]

Lastly, and this is so minor, but I hope we can find a way to get some of the conference's baseball games on ESPNU/CBSSN. Not sure how many of us are aware but baseball is probably the American's best sport. The league is incredibly competitive this year. Would be nice to have the ability to showcase that product during the 'dead period' of sports after basketball.

From 2017 UConn Baseball Schedule thread in another forum on here:

Flucked... We'll only appear once maybe twice Seven American Athletic Conference Baseball Games to be televised on CBS Sports Network.

American Athletic Conference Baseball on CBS Sports Network
Tuesday, April 25 LSU at Tulane 8 p.m.
Wednesday, April 26 North Carolina State at East Carolina 7 p.m.
Sunday, April 30 Tulane at East Carolina * 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 13 Houston at Tulane * 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 20 USF at UCF * 1 p.m.

Tuesday, May 23 American Athletic Conference Championship Game 1 3 p.m.
American Athletic Conference Championship Game 2 7 p.m.

It's a start to build on...

 

[Zissou]

Original TV Deal: AAC: TV deal is with ESPN, CBS Sports

The current set up in regards to exposure on ESPN networks is tremendous...

Is there a way to negotiate certain announcing crews into a deal? I love when Doris Burke does our games and the CBS family has a ton of great announcers, would make the CBSSN games a lot more tolerable if the announcing crews were better ...

Here is an alternative view: Your base deal is pathetic and there is only one way to go - up. The TV deal not only has to offer exposure, it actually has to pay out. The Big East's deal with FOX coincided with the effort to start-up FS1 as a competitor to ESPN. The downside is fewer casual viewers than the established ESPN. The upside for fans, and recruits, is that every game is televised nationally. Most games are on FS1, big Fox, or CBS.

Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, and Len Elmore call the games, which is an added bonus.

I think we will see a modest bump in the amount being paid to each school, maybe to $3 or $4m.

If you bump to $3 or $4m, for football plus basketball, that is still less than the Big East gets for just basketball.

Come home, UConn. Come home to the Big East.

 

[SubbaBub]

Next contract should also include specific and regular time slots. Specific weeknights one at 7E and one at 9E. UConn home games should not be starting at 9pm under any circumstances. Because this conference covers the Central Time Zone, 9E(8C) road games are inevitable, but if we are stuck on the U, than 8E(7C) should be available. We should also be allowed to resell games that are given better slots. I'd rather the AAC or UConn sell them.

 

[CL82]

Here is an alternative view: Your base deal is pathetic and there is only one way to go - up. The TV deal not only has to offer exposure, it actually has to pay out. The Big East's deal with FOX coincided with the effort to start-up FS1 as a competitor to ESPN. The downside is fewer casual viewers than the established ESPN. The upside for fans, and recruits, is that every game is televised nationally. Most games are on FS1, big Fox, or CBS.

Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery, and Len Elmore call the games, which is an added bonus.



If you bump to $3 or $4m, for football plus basketball, that is still less than the Big East gets for just basketball.

Come home, UConn. Come home to the Big East.

What does the NBE get for just basketball?

 

[Ha Who]

Next contract should also include specific and regular time slots. Specific weeknights one at 7E and one at 9E. UConn home games should not be starting at 9pm under any circumstances. Because this conference covers the Central Time Zone, 9E(8C) road games are inevitable, but if we are stuck on the U, than 8E(7C) should be available. We should also be allowed to resell games that are given better slots. I'd rather the AAC or UConn sell them.

And if they say no?

 

[Zissou]

What does the NBE get for just basketball?

The Big East gets ~$5M/team from Fox for basketball. The AAC gets ~$2M/team for Football + Basketball.

In the next AAC TV contract, let's say each AAC team gets $7.5M.

UConn should go to the Big East, keep football in the AAC, and negotiate retention of its T3 rights (including all WBB).

Going Big East and keeping AAC Football yields something like:
Big East ~$5M (all MBB are televised, so no MBB T3)
AAC football ~$6M ($7.5M x 80% for football only)
T3 ~$2M (WBB and any football not picked up T1/2)
That's ~$13M just in TV rights. It's not P5, but it is better than anything else not P5.

The Big East is a much better home for Basketball and Olympic sports. Come home to the Big East.

 

[metsfan2323]

Come home to the Big East.

UCONN is in the same conference it has been in since 1979.
The C7 left to form a new conference and we sold you the name. Maybe you should go home.

 

[Drew]

@Zissou Will you please stop ruining this thread with your Big East crap? UConn isn't leaving the American for the Big East and you're begging for message board posters to "come home" when nobody here has the power to move us to your 5 year old over paid conference. This thread is about AAC TV negotiations, you made a thread for your Big East banter. Stick to it.

 

[SubbaBub]

And if they say no?

There will be buyer's who want the AAC on their schedule. Without the right to match, the AAC is already in a better position that the last go. We aren't getting top 5 dollars so what is it that we want? If we could be on NBCSports every Saturday at 1 and 3:30, that would be better than whatever slots ESPN is offering.

 

[CL82]

The Big East gets ~$5M/team from Fox for basketball. The AAC gets ~$2M/team for Football + Basketball.

In the next AAC TV contract, let's say each AAC team gets $7.5M.

UConn should go to the Big East, keep football in the AAC, and negotiate retention of its T3 rights (including all WBB).

Going Big East and keeping AAC Football yields something like:
Big East ~$5M (all MBB are televised, so no MBB T3)
AAC football ~$6M ($7.5M x 80% for football only)
T3 ~$2M (WBB and any football not picked up T1/2)
That's ~$13M just in TV rights. It's not P5, but it is better than anything else not P5.

The Big East is a much better home for Basketball and Olympic sports. Come home to the Big East.

$500M 12 year deal, ten teams comes to a little under $4.2M per team, right? To me the far more attractive inducement to your concept is that UConn gets it's tier 3 rights back which are likely to be worth at least as much, and quite probably more.

FWIW I wouldn't count on the NBE's deal going up by a third. They haven't produced meaningful ratings for Fox and ESPN probably won't drive up the price since they are hemorrhaging viewers and at a mind boggling rate. You will fortunate to keep the same deal, IMO.

 

[Zissou]

@Zissou Will you please stop ruining this thread with your Big East crap? UConn isn't leaving the American for the Big East and you're begging for message board posters to "come home" when nobody here has the power to move us to your 5 year old over paid conference. This thread is about AAC TV negotiations, you made a thread for your Big East banter. Stick to it.

I understand that you don't make the decision on conference alignment on the Boneyard (or what your next TV deal will be, or which players transfer, or who Ollie recruits, or who gets playing time). It's just a sports blog for discussion.

In my opinion the Big East TV deal was appropriate for this thread, as well as the thread I created.

"I think we will see a modest bump in the amount being paid to each school, maybe to $3 or $4m". If your initial contract was for $2M and you think you are going to get $3M to $4M in the next deal, maybe Big East schools getting $5M for just basketball is relevant.

You are getting no value for football and it is dragging down your basketball. You might consider a better deal. The Big East.

 

[Zissou]

$500M 12 year deal, ten teams comes to a little under $4.2M per team, right? To me the far more attractive inducement to your concept is that UConn gets it's tier 3 rights back which are likely to be worth at least as much, and quite probably more.

FWIW I wouldn't count on the NBE's deal going up by a third. They haven't produced meaningful ratings for Fox and ESPN probably won't drive up the price since they are hemorrhaging viewers and at a mind boggling rate. You will fortunate to keep the same deal, IMO.

I don't think the full details of the $500M / 12 years is disclosed. There is some speculation that Butler, Creighton, and X get a smaller share as teams moving up, but I have not seen it documented. If UConn came into the Big East, Fox would plus up the revenue for UConn. There is likely a contract term for the plus up, but also room for discussion. For Fox and the Big East, UConn is a big get vs. expanding with someone else (like Wichita or Dayton). UConn would get a full / premium share.

Also, there is the NCAA payout (Big East with 7 teams participating = 13 credits this year, which is $2M / year if 13 average credits is maintained).

ESPN is hemorrhaging viewers. Is FS1? I think FS1 is a very slow build. As they add content like MLB and more college conferences viewers are forced to have the channel and find the channel on their line-up. I do not, and did not, assume the Big East's next deal is going up by a third. There are a lot of unknowns right now in projecting future TV deals. What we have today is significant for basketball-only, and is greater than the AAC football deal.

 

[CL82]

I don't think the full details of the $500M / 12 years is disclosed. There is some speculation that Butler, Creighton, and X get a smaller share as teams moving up, but I have not seen it documented. If UConn came into the Big East, Fox would plus up the revenue for UConn. There is likely a contract term for the plus up, but also room for discussion. For Fox and the Big East, UConn is a big get vs. expanding with someone else (like Wichita or Dayton). UConn would get a full / premium share. My point is that the Big East media contract isn't much of an inducement. It's a little higher than the AAC but with much, much worse exposure. UConn's tier 3 rights are worth more.

Also, there is the NCAA payout (Big East with 7 teams participating = 13 credits this year, which is $2M / year if 13 average credits is maintained).

ESPN is hemorrhaging viewers. Is FS1? I think FS1 is a very slow build. As they add content like MLB and more college conferences viewers are forced to have the channel and find the channel on their line-up. I do not, and did not, assume the Big East's next deal is going up by a third. Actually you did by 50% right? $5M x 1.5 = $7.5M. Very doubtful that will happen. There are a lot of unknowns right now in projecting future TV deals. What we have today is significant for basketball-only, and is greater than the AAC football deal.

 

[Zissou]

I do not, and did not, assume the Big East's next deal is going up by a third. Actually you did by 50% right? $5M x 1.5 = $7.5M. Very doubtful that will happen.

I think there is a miscommunication. I was leaving the Big East flat at about ~$5M. I was guessing that the AAC contract would grow next iteration from $2M to $7.5M, because it is just so low now. If you kept football in the AAC, my guess is that the AAC values football as 80% of the contract, and basketball as 20%. So UConn would get ~80% x ~$7.5M = ~$6M for AAC football. Add to that a full Big East share of ~$5M, and then add any tier 3 rights that could be negotiated.

Big East basketball and AAC football would be the best of both worlds for UConn. Right now UConn basketball is paying the price of a football alignment - a football alignment that pays out less than Big East basketball.

 

[Ewekon]

The 5 million NBE schools get for basketball is in some ways an even greater bump over the AAC deal we currently have. The BE schools don't have the huge expense associated with maintaining D1 football programs.

I went to 3 home FB games this year and that is the least for me since the Rent was built. I like my football but as of today, aka prior to Edsall 2.0, football is a financial albatross and going Indy for football does nothing to fix that and I think the AAC would tell us to shove it as it relates to football only. Sadly the football team offers no value.

 

[Zissou]

Sadly the football team offers no value.

It offers no value today. There is potential for the future.

The AAC path is far from certain. Today the Big East basketball money is greater than the AAC total package by $3M. The risk is not great for the UConn if the AAC says no.

On the other hand, your commish won't want to enter negotiations just as he loses UConn football. The AAC and its members are betting the farm on this next negotiation. It is better for them to play nice with UConn. This deal is doable.

 

[templefan1]

The current AAC contract was negotiated in such a week position compared to where the conference is now. At the time, their was so much instability with the AAC. There was a rumor back when the original contract was signed that ESPN was willing to give $6-8M per team if a GOR was signed. You can understand why no teams would sign a GOR at the time.
The next negotiation period will have a much different feel.

• AAC has Navy
• Aresco has actual viewer data to show ESPN and any other market interested.
• Espn will also be losing Big 10 games and now has the SEC network. They need content for ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU
• Stability in other conferences since Big 12 closed the realignment door (until that big 12 contract expires)

If AAC can get $6M to $10M(high end dream) range per team, id consider that a "win" with the current media climate.

I am very interested to see what happens to the Big East over the next couple of years. Take a look at these Championship viewer numbers...Big East Final Dips in Second Year on FOX Broadcast Net — Sports Media Watch

 

[TRest]

The current AAC contract was negotiated in such a week position compared to where the conference is now. At the time, their was so much instability with the AAC. There was a rumor back when the original contract was signed that ESPN was willing to give $6-8M per team if a GOR was signed. You can understand why no teams would sign a GOR at the time.
The next negotiation period will have a much different feel.

• AAC has Navy
• Aresco has actual viewer data to show ESPN and any other market interested.
• Espn will also be losing Big 10 games and now has the SEC network. They need content for ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU
• Stability in other conferences since Big 12 closed the realignment door (until that big 12 contract expires)

If AAC can get $6M to $10M(high end dream) range per team, id consider that a "win" with the current media climate.

I am very interested to see what happens to the Big East over the next couple of years. Take a look at these Championship viewer numbers...Big East Final Dips in Second Year on FOX Broadcast Net — Sports Media Watch

If UConn signs a GOR with the AAc we may have a public be-heading in Storrs Center.

 

[Stinger92860]

If UConn signs a GOR with the AAc we may have a public be-heading in Storrs Center.

Depends on the duration, we need cash.

 

[templefan1]

Depends on the duration, we need cash.

I don't think a GOR is in the cards for the upcoming negotiations.

 

[huskypantz]

If AAC can get $6M to $10M(high end dream) range per team, id consider that a "win" with the current media climate.

That is definitely a dream. If we got something in that range it puts the BE talks to bed and we'd just concentrate on our OOC schedule and winning more games. Plus we'll hopefully get a bump with the Nike contract coming up.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I'd love to be able to watch UConn baseball games. Team/program is very strong. I think we may have as many guys in the MLB as NBA right now.

 

[pepband99]

The current AAC contract was negotiated in such a week position compared to where the conference is now. At the time, their was so much instability with the AAC. There was a rumor back when the original contract was signed that ESPN was willing to give $6-8M per team if a GOR was signed. You can understand why no teams would sign a GOR at the time.
The next negotiation period will have a much different feel.

• AAC has Navy
• Aresco has actual viewer data to show ESPN and any other market interested.
• Espn will also be losing Big 10 games and now has the SEC network. They need content for ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU
• Stability in other conferences since Big 12 closed the realignment door (until that big 12 contract expires)

If AAC can get $6M to $10M(high end dream) range per team, id consider that a "win" with the current media climate.

I am very interested to see what happens to the Big East over the next couple of years. Take a look at these Championship viewer numbers...Big East Final Dips in Second Year on FOX Broadcast Net — Sports Media Watch

Somewhat contrarian:

Aresco managed to negotiate possibly the most network-lopsided deal in history, at what's looking like the exact zenith of TV rights contracts.

TV revenue has gotten worse
Aresco is still Aresco

I'd be shocked if the next contract isn't flat to a nudge up, and painted as a victory against the TV revenue backdrop. I would love to be wrong.

 

[TRest]

Somewhat contrarian:

Aresco managed to negotiate possibly the most network-lopsided deal in history, at what's looking like the exact zenith of TV rights contracts.

TV revenue has gotten worse
Aresco is still Aresco

I'd be shocked if the next contract isn't flat to a nudge up, and painted as a victory against the TV revenue backdrop. I would love to be wrong.

My guess is that he will swap exposure on more streaming sites, rather than cable channels, for increase in $.

 

[huskypantz]

Somewhat contrarian:

Aresco managed to negotiate possibly the most network-lopsided deal in history, at what's looking like the exact zenith of TV rights contracts.

TV revenue has gotten worse
Aresco is still Aresco

I'd be shocked if the next contract isn't flat to a nudge up, and painted as a victory against the TV revenue backdrop. I would love to be wrong.

Aresco was deal a horrible hand. The prior contract was crap - it basically allowed ESPN to match the highest offer or back out. The only good part about the contract was that the offer included a lot of time on actual TV versus internet feeds. We can actually negotiate this time around - hopefully there will be more than one interested party.

 

[Jimdish255]

What % does Navy get for football and at top step Wichita State for Hoops? Also is there a benefit to having multiple networks promoting your product with a stake in it's overall success? Throw in possible T3 rights and you come at the viewers fom multiple directions and platforms. Just confusing to fans or a net positive?

 

[pepband99]

Aresco was deal a horrible hand. The prior contract was crap - it basically allowed ESPN to match the highest offer or back out. The only good part about the contract was that the offer included a lot of time on actual TV versus internet feeds. We can actually negotiate this time around - hopefully there will be more than one interested party.

I'm aware of all that. My main point is that it's looking increasingly likely he's about to get a 2nd bad hand in a row, albeit a different one.

 

[Fishy]

I don't have high expectations for the next contract.

The networks are in cost-cutting mode and none of the potential streaming partners are going to overpay for a second-level conference.

The conference has a little more leverage without the right to match, but then again, ESPN has a little more leverage in terms of not having to match some other bidder's promise of exposure.

My hope would be that UConn would be able to retain some tier three elements, but the other conference members have no way to monetize their own tier three property, so it won't be a priority of theirs.

I expect that the next contract will be similar to this one in terms of dollars, but lesser in terms of exposure.

 

[bobbyinaz]

I don't have high expectations for the next contract.

The networks are in cost-cutting mode and none of the potential streaming partners are going to overpay for a second-level conference.

The conference has a little more leverage without the right to match, but then again, ESPN has a little more leverage in terms of not having to match some other bidder's promise of exposure.

My hope would be that UConn would be able to retain some tier three elements, but the other conference members have no way to monetize their own tier three property, so it won't be a priority of theirs.

I expect that the next contract will be similar to this one in terms of dollars, but lesser in terms of exposure.

I didn't want to like this but, I do agree. I just don't see anyway the AAC sees an uptick in revenues in the current climate.

I think it's going to come down to Aresco picking between similar dollar packages but trying to determine which gives the best exposure to the conference