AAC leader Mike Aresco touts new media rights deal...

[j66kicker]

Why do you say that? If SNY makes a rational business decision, they will pay ESPN for the broadcast rights if and only if they can get more advertising revenue for the broadcasts than the sum of their production costs plus the ESPN payment.

It’s more of a question whether ESPN will offer broadcast rights to SNY for a nonprohibitive price. They will do that if and only if what they receive from SNY will exceed the incremental monthly subscription revenue that they could get by withholding the broadcast rights.

The missing piece here is who will undertake to incur the production costs. If no one steps up to do that, then ESPN will not realize any revenue from these games. It seems that they expect UConn to pay directly for production costs. I guess that might happen (and Megan and Justine might be retained that way), but it seems more rational for SNY to do it in exchange for broadcast rights. I think that is what will ultimately happen, after a lot of negotiating brinksmanship.

SNY will do it. That's what they do. They have all the infrastructure in place, sponsor relationships, everything. Of course ESPN has this capability too, but they aren't going to put new resources in place for basically a local WBB team that no way will pay back with ESPN+ subscriptions and ad clicks. It'll all get figured out.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

for the price of a sixpack of regular old beer, or the cost of 2 bags of doritos, you get everything UConn (and a whole lot more) for I month on espn+. sounds good to me, especially since UConn will be getting a whole lot more, too. I don't get the sturm und drang, and gnashing of teeth about this whole thing.

 

[hoopsfan22]

for the price of a sixpack of regular old beer, or the cost of 2 bags of doritos, you get everything UConn (and a whole lot more) for I month on espn+. sounds good to me, especially since UConn will be getting a whole lot more, too. I don't get the sturm und drang, and gnashing of teeth about this whole thing.

Do you think ESPN is going to send a production truck and crew to cover the big Wichita State matchup on a Tuesday night in January with zero chance to recover the cost? Do you think ESPN is going to do 10 Geno Shows a season? Do you think ESPN will do an all access show?

 

[CL82]

The number are great. What is greater: EXACTLY how does UConn get into a P5 conference? I believe if it could be done, it would have been done.
Apparently, Uconn needs a competitive Football team--and they've needed that for 20 or so years. So, how do the BY FAN's make that Happen?
Same old song,same old words, nothing changes.

1) UConn was quite competitive less than 10 years ago. They won they were Big East Champs twice, when to the Fiesta Bowl and have beaten traditional powers like South Carolina and Notre Dame.

Actually UConn Football has a longer history, and more success than most casual non fans are aware of:

2) You most certainly don't need football success to get invited into the P5 otherwise how the heck would Rutgers be in the Big 10?

That said I don't see our conference status changing in the near future.

 

[uconnfan68]

SNY will do it. That's what they do. They have all the infrastructure in place, sponsor relationships, everything. Of course ESPN has this capability too, but they aren't going to put new resources in place for basically a local WBB team that no way will pay back with ESPN+ subscriptions and ad clicks. It'll all get figured out.

There are a lot of moving parts here. SNY has great ratings for UConn WBB. But they always got pushed to the side for big games. The treatment they’ve endured has been despicable, from ESPN and the AAC. There is a year left to figure it out, but I’m not hopeful. I refuse to pay for privilege of supporting P5 schools through ESPN.

 

[CL82]

for the price of a sixpack of regular old beer, or the cost of 2 bags of doritos, you get everything UConn (and a whole lot more) for I month on espn+. sounds good to me, especially since UConn will be getting a whole lot more, too. I don't get the sturm und drang, and gnashing of teeth about this whole thing.

OTA games gives broader exposure to the team. Losing SNY would be a big hit to us.

 

[huskymedic]

AAC commissioner Mike Aresco addresses perceived ‘misconceptions’ about new ESPN TV deal, discusses UConn-SNY deal

From the moment the American Athletic Conference announced its new TV deal with ESPN in late March, the agreement drew skepticism — from fans and media in many AAC markets but particularly fr…

www.courant.com

 

[RockyMTblue2]

AAC commissioner Mike Aresco addresses perceived ‘misconceptions’ about new ESPN TV deal, discusses UConn-SNY deal

From the moment the American Athletic Conference announced its new TV deal with ESPN in late March, the agreement drew skepticism — from fans and media in many AAC markets but particularly fr…

www.courant.com

He's just flapping his gums. The hole is still in the donut. Until the ESPN+ and SNY relationship, IF Any, is worked out, we still look like the screwed in this deal.

 

[Triad]

1) UConn was quite competitive less than 10 years ago. They won they were Big East Champs twice, when to the Fiesta Bowl and have beaten traditional powers like South Carolina and Notre Dame.

Uconn was in the BE less than 10 years ago? My how the time does fly, it seems like forever.

Actually UConn Football has a longer history, and more success than most casual non fans are aware of:
View attachment 42965
2) You most certainly don't need football success to get invited into the P5 otherwise how the heck would Rutgers be in the Big 10?

That said I don't see our conference status changing in the near future.

Nice history of Uconn FB. The question remains: With "success" 20 years ago what impact does that have on Uconn getting into a P5 school. The follow up on that is: What is currently required to get into a P5 school if "winning" i.e. have a competitive FB program isn't the model to follow, what is?
Or is there significant prejudice against Uconn, apparently, that at least has been stated in long ago posting on the By about the ACC.
Lots of words have been posted on the By about "the need to get in to a P5 conference". Nothing has changed no recommendations other than --we must get out ot the AAC--what is available to Uconn?? To ME this is a dead horse with no solution. So I accept the status quo.

 

[Triad]

We had a competitive football team up until the old Big East was eviscerated in 2012.

What did the "evisceration" of the BE have to do with the fading of Uconn FB? Some pretty fair teams in the BE in both FB and BB. What did that have to do with UC not being in a more TV visible Conference. Does anyone believe Uconn is in the AAC because it was most desireable. Independence wasn't an option.

 

[CL82]

Nice history of Uconn FB. The question remains: With "success" 20 years ago what impact does that have on Uconn getting into a P5 school. The follow up on that is: What is currently required to get into a P5 school if "winning" i.e. have a competitive FB program isn't the model to follow, what is?
Or is there significant prejudice against Uconn, apparently, that at least has been stated in long ago posting on the By about the ACC.
Lots of words have been posted on the By about "the need to get in to a P5 conference". Nothing has changed no recommendations other than --we must get out ot the AAC--what is available to Uconn?? To ME this is a dead horse with no solution. So I accept the status quo.

"The model" to get into a P5 conference is a moving target. Sometimes it has been football competativeness (though typically not) sometimes it has been geography, sometimes demographics. Basically you need an existing P5 conference with a need that you meet. Sound like a rule that is difficult to build an action plan around? It is.

 

[UConnNick]

What did the "evisceration" of the BE have to do with the fading of Uconn FB? Some pretty fair teams in the BE in both FB and BB. What did that have to do with UC not being in a more TV visible Conference. Does anyone believe Uconn is in the AAC because it was most desireable. Independence wasn't an option.

I didn't indicate the breakup of the old Big East was the cause of UCONN's football demise.

There were many factors that played into that. Edsall left as HC after the Fiesta Bowl game in 2011, partly because he and AD Jeff Hathaway hated each other's guts. Hathaway, knowing he was on the way out as AD, then picked Paul Pasqualoni to take over the program, a hire that turned out to be disasterous. Then the new AD Warde Manuel replaced him with an even worse hire, Bob Diaco.

UCONN never left the old Big East. The AAC is the successor entity to it. The catholic schools of the old Big East only bought the conference name. The new Big East has nothing to do with the old.

Being in a BCS football league as we were up until 2014 helped with football recruiting because the conference had a guaranteed New Year's Day bowl slot for the winner. That's how we got into the Fiesta Bowl in 2011. The AAC, as Big East successor, retained the BCS bowl bid during its first season, but that went away with the end of the BCS and switch to the CFB 4-team playoff system after 2014. We went from a power conference to a non-power G5 league. Now the AAC must compete with the other G5 conference teams for one slot in the New Year six bowls. That affects recruiting. It's not the only reason for UCONN's football decline, but it's one factor.

We're in a league largely comprised of southern, football centric schools. They have far more recruiting opportunities being located in hotbeds of elite high school football. We're at a decided recruiting disadvantage against those schools.

Football is important but it isn't the sole determining factor that would or would not get us an invite to a P5 conference. Media market, brand, overall commitment to the entire athlectic program, and other factors come into play. We'd be better off with a strong football program, but it's not the only consideration. Temple has managed to build a successful program in essentially the same part of the country, and in the same conference. There should be no reason why we can't do the same. It will take a financial commitment from the school that up until now they haven't been willing to go all in on.

There could be some movement among teams from certain conferences again when media rights deals start expiring in the 2020's. Whether an opportunity for UCONN to move up presents itself is anybody's guess. We would do well to make all our programs as competitive as possible by then.

 

[uconnfan68]

Nice history of Uconn FB. The question remains: With "success" 20 years ago what impact does that have on Uconn getting into a P5 school. The follow up on that is: What is currently required to get into a P5 school if "winning" i.e. have a competitive FB program isn't the model to follow, what is?
Or is there significant prejudice against Uconn, apparently, that at least has been stated in long ago posting on the By about the ACC.
Lots of words have been posted on the By about "the need to get in to a P5 conference". Nothing has changed no recommendations other than --we must get out ot the AAC--what is available to Uconn?? To ME this is a dead horse with no solution. So I accept the status quo.

There is zero chance any of the P5 will feel obligated to share their money.

 

[dogged1]

For me it's simple. We will get less broadcast coverage for all our sports. We will get less or no money from SNY. We will get streaming coverage but have to pay for it, meaning less viewers and eventual loss of fans..
This deal is good for the league and bad for UConn.
If we had a way out we should take it. But we don't.
This sucks.

 

[UConnNick]

He's just flapping his gums. The hole is still in the donut. Until the ESPN+ and SNY relationship, IF Any, is worked out, we still look like the screwed in this deal.

We are the outlier of the AAC. We're in a league where we have little in common with any of the other schools, with the possible exception of Temple and maybe Cincinnati. The rest of the schools are southern, football centric schools. Losing the SNY deal only screws us. The rest of the league membership has nothing to gain from it so they don't care. We're at a point where we are outvoted by every other league member. Aresco can get away with ignoring us because he knows we've got nowhere else to go at present. The football power schools likely resent having us in the conference since we're taking a share of football revenue without contributing anything to it.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Anyone get this? Is he saying there will be 13 total games with American teams televised, or 13 games that involve only American matchups? If it's the former, UConn was on 10 times nationally this past regular season, just not all on the ESPN's. Trying to figure out if he means conference matchups or is including non-conference games in that number.

*


UConn women's basketball in particular could get a boost in ESPN airtime, he said.


"UConn can be on 10 times out of 13 appearance [the conference] is going to have for the women," Aresco said. "The guarantee we had in 2018-19 was four. This is a significant presence for UConn women's basketball.

 

[CL82]

Anyone get this? Is he saying there will be 13 total games with American teams televised, or 13 games that involve only American matchups? If it's the former, UConn was on 10 times nationally this past regular season, just not all on the ESPN's. Trying to figure out if he means conference matchups or is including non-conference games in that number.

*


UConn women's basketball in particular could get a boost in ESPN airtime, he said.


"UConn can be on 10 times out of 13 appearance [the conference] is going to have for the women," Aresco said. "The guarantee we had in 2018-19 was four. This is a significant presence for UConn women's basketball.

Of course we got 100% (close enough) televised this past year so fut the shuck up Mike.

 

[UConnNick]

Of course we 100% (close enough) televised this past year so fut the shuck up Mike.

This guy is a complete moron. Aresco honestly thinks UCONN women's BB fans are jumping for joy because he says we CAN be (notice he doesn't say WILL be) on ESPN 10 times? With the SNY deal, it didn't much matter, except to anybody that doesn't have SNY, because any games not on any other channel were always on SNY. Take that away and it's a net loss of at least several games that won't be televised over the air, likely against the dregs of the AAC, and maybe a few others.

 

[zls44]

Anyone get this? Is he saying there will be 13 total games with American teams televised, or 13 games that involve only American matchups? If it's the former, UConn was on 10 times nationally this past regular season, just not all on the ESPN's. Trying to figure out if he means conference matchups or is including non-conference games in that number.

*


UConn women's basketball in particular could get a boost in ESPN airtime, he said.


"UConn can be on 10 times out of 13 appearance [the conference] is going to have for the women," Aresco said. "The guarantee we had in 2018-19 was four. This is a significant presence for UConn women's basketball.

Its based on the home team. If UConn's the home team, it counts, even if they're playing Stanford.

 

[zls44]

Do you think ESPN is going to send a production truck and crew to cover the big Wichita State matchup on a Tuesday night in January with zero chance to recover the cost?

All of the games will be covered. Every school is obligated to cover them all. So Wichita State will pick that up. How is this so difficult for people to grasp?

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Its based on the home team. If UConn's the home team, it counts, even if they're playing Stanford.

So UConn will be on no more and possibly less nationally than they were this past season, with the other games unavailable unless you pay for ESPN+, and this guy is trying to make that out to be some sort of value to be thankful for....

 

[hoopsfan22]

So UConn will be on no more and possibly less nationally than they were this past season, with the other games unavailable unless you pay for ESPN+, and this guy is trying to make that out to be some sort of value to be thankful for....

We will pay more to get less of something that's of lower quality. Come on guys what are you complaining about this is a great deal!!!! ESPN says so!!!

 

[CL82]

All of the games will be covered. Every school is obligated to cover them all. So Wichita State will pick that up. How is this so difficult for people to grasp?

What exactly does the phrase "production costs" entail? Does the school also provide for on air talent? Who determines how many cameras and the placement? What is the obligation for halftime analysis?

 

[dogged1]

All of the games will be covered. Every school is obligated to cover them all. So Wichita State will pick that up. How is this so difficult for people to grasp?

Are you going to enjoy that one camera coverage with the student communication major as the play by play and his buddy from intramural basketball as the color?
Despite the sarcasm, we get that the games will be available, they will be out there. They will just cost more and be lower quality and not be over the air. Theses are real negatives.

Edit: @hoopsfan22 , you beat me to it and said it better.

 

[UConnNick]

What exactly does the phrase "production costs" entail? Does the school also provide for on air talent? Who determines how many cameras and the placement? What is the obligation for halftime analysis?

It will likely be a drop down to semi-professional if not full scale amateurish in some cases. The weekend before last we played Sam Houston State in baseball at Huntsville. I didn't see it, but apparently the production value of the telecasts was very poor, with one camera and the images were bouncing around. That is fairly typical of college baseball. Last year when UCONN was playing in the AAC Tournament, they had one camera shooting the image through the screen netting behind home plate, so you had the cross hatches from the screen showing up across 100 percent of the image.

Basketball may be better, but what kind of resources are schools like Tulsa, SMU, ECU and Wichita St. going to devote to covering a women's BB game at their home arenas? A one camera jumping image view with amateur announcers akin to local access cable TV channels? Garth and Wayne do women's college BB.

 

[huskymedic]

The weekend before last we played Sam Houston State in baseball at Huntsville. I didn't see it, but apparently the production value of the telecasts was very poor, with one camera and the images were bouncing around. That is fairly typical of college baseball. Last year when UCONN was playing in the AAC Tournament, they had one camera shooting the image through the screen netting behind home plate, so you had the cross hatches from the screen showing up across 100 percent of the image.

It was one remote outfield camera being buffeted by the wind the other two cameras and the announcing was fine.

The AAC tourney game was because they were moved to an alternate field due to rescheduling of multiple games for the same time due to weather.

There are dozens and dozens of streamed games each week in a variety of sports in a variety of conferences that are quite well produced and announced.

 

[UConnNick]

It was one remote outfield camera being buffeted by the wind the other two cameras and the announcing was fine.

The AAC tourney game was because they were moved to an alternate field due to rescheduling of multiple games for the same time due to weather.

There are dozens and dozens of streamed games each week in a variety of sports in a variety of conferences that are quite well produced and announced.

My point is that schools with marginal WCBB programs aren't likely to commit major resources to the production quality of their home games. No matter how good the production quality may be, it will not likely equal what SNY does.

 

[hoopsfan22]

My point is that schools with marginal WCBB programs aren't likely to commit major resources to the production quality of their home games. No matter how good the production quality may be, it will not likely equal what SNY does.

Not only that, but I will miss the SNY game days when they would often run 4 or 5 hours of UConn WCBB programming especially on those January Saturday afternoon games when it's cold and snowy and you don't feel like going out. An episode of Geno's Legacy, followed by a pre-game, then the game, half time show/interviews, then the post-game with player interviews and Geno's presser, then a new Geno Show, all-access show, birth of a dynasty, etc. Plus SNY always carried the full senior day ceremonies. We're not going to get anything nearly that good under this new contract.

 

[JoePgh]

Not only that, but I will miss the SNY game days when they would often run 4 or 5 hours of UConn WCBB programming especially on those January Saturday afternoon games when it's cold and snowy and you don't feel like going out. An episode of Geno's Legacy, followed by a pre-game, then the game, half time show/interviews, then the post-game with player interviews and Geno's presser, then a new Geno Show, all-access show, birth of a dynasty, etc. Plus SNY always carried the full senior day ceremonies. We're not going to get anything nearly that good under this new contract.

As I said in my previous post in this thread, it is very much TBD whether SNY will continue to have a role in this new world, and I would say that the odds are that it will.

There is a lot of revenue to be obtained from advertisers such as Bob's Furniture and People's Bank -- probably more than enough to allow SNY to recover production costs at the current level of quality plus broadcast rights from ESPN. That revenue would not be available to ESPN in an online-only delivery format. So it would seem to be in the interest of all parties to harvest this revenue by allowing broadcasts to occur. It is just a matter of negotiating who gets how much of the pie.

Don't forget that SNY currently pays UConn a substantial amount for broadcast and online rights to the games. In the new world, SNY would be paying ESPN as the content owner instead of UConn, and only for broadcast rights. They will probably have to pay more, but most likely it will still be quite profitable for them to make such a deal.

 

[zls44]

There is a lot of revenue to be obtained from advertisers such as Bob's Furniture and People's Bank -- probably more than enough to allow SNY to recover production costs at the current level of quality plus broadcast rights from ESPN.

That revenue would not be available to ESPN in an online-only delivery format.

I'm pretty sure the first statement is untrue and I know the second one is untrue.