We were getting over $1 million a year from our TV deal with SNY. Under the latest AAC contract, that money just gets divvied up with the other schools. Plus, it is exposure in the number one media market in the country.
As far as ratings go, this is from a 2017 article:
SNY Enjoying Partnership With Geno Auriemma, UConn
When the New York-based sports network began televising the women’s college basketball team in Connecticut, executives were cautiously optimistic.
The UConn women’s basketball program was a staple on CPTV, so the people who run pay channel SNY figured ratings would not grow much in Connecticut. But there was potential to attract viewers in the Tri-State area, where the TV home of the Mets had a deep presence.
Five years later, UConn has been a ratings bonanza for SNY. The network took over as the Huskies were beginning a historic run, winning national titles over the first four years and losing in the Final Four last spring.
As UConn extended its winning streak to 111 games last season, SNY’s rating soared. In 17 telecasts last season — and remember, that’s not including marquee games that land on ESPN — SNY drew a 6.00 household rating in the Hartford-New Haven market, up 21 percent from the season before.
UConn games averaged a 0.42 household rating in New York, an 83 percent increase over the 2015-16 season. A game at Temple on Feb. 1 drew a larger audience in the New York market than an NHL doubleheader on NBCSN and seven other college basketball games on ESPN2, ESPNU and FS1.
The timing of the marriage has been ideal — UConn is 187-6 over the past five seasons, gaining national attention as it won titles and built a record winning streak.
“I think that there was something about the winning steak and just the sheer level of excellence that was exhibited by the winning streak,” SNY president Steve Raab said. “It isn’t as much a women’s basketball story as it’s an athletic leadership and excellence story. That takes on sort of a broader level of interest.”
On Thursday, SNY unveiled its 2017-18 lineup of UConn content. The network will televise 16 games, starting with the home opener Nov. 17 against California. All of the SNY games are also viewable outside of the Connecticut-New York-New Jersey markets on ESPN3, the Bristol-based company’s digital streaming option. Through its contract with the American Athletic Conference, ESPN has the option to pick up the SNY feed for digital use outside the local market and the network has elected to offer all of SNY’s game to a national audience.
Raab and SNY senior vice president and producer Curt Gowdy Jr. knew that Auriemma would be good. But this good?
“I don’t think coming into it we really knew exactly what we were getting with Geno,” Raab said. “The trust and the honesty that we’ve gotten from Geno as a media partner has actually been … to me, it was a surprise and more special. We knew he was a great coach. What I didn’t understand was that a lot of qualities that make him a great coach also made him a great partner for us.”
Said Gowdy, “He’s compelling, he’s unique. He says what’s one his mind. His coaching legend certainly speaks for itself. But as an individual, he quickly came to trust us. Once we gained his trust, which was very quickly, he allowed us to be part of his team. By that I mean, he allowed us into his locker room. He allowed us into his coaching meeting when we do our all-access shows. He allowed us to come on this trip to Italy. That’s the kind of relationship that has developed.”
Last season, HBO was also embedded in the program. That’s a sign of how well-known Auriemma and the program are on a national level.
Of the 13 million homes that SNY is available, 5 million are outside the Tri-State markets. Raab said the network cannot track ratings in those outside markets, but he suspects the numbers are growing.
This season, SNY is offering games and pregame and postgame coverage via SNY.tv and the NBC Sports app to authenticated subscribers to the network. The streaming may be just the start as SNY pushes UConn content on various platforms.
For UConn, it’s an opportunity to market the school to a broader audience. The appeal of striking a deal with SNY was to spread the school’s brand into the New York market.
“This is a program that sort of stands for a level of excellence, that isn’t bounded by the state of Connecticut or bounded by the Northeast,” Raab said. “It’s become a national property. And with Geno’s notoriety from an Olympic standpoint, I don’t think there’s any reason to think that we can’t keep pushing the boundaries of what the UConn basketball program stands for and what that fan base might be.”
SNY Enjoying Partnership With Geno Auriemma, UConn
