AAC Media Contract details

[auror]

you can’t even make up how big of a joke this administration is.

lol @ anyone still pretending this people can find their rear ends in a dark room.

good on mike anthony for making a call.

uconn provides the most value to espn in this deal and either the administration has no idea what the conference is doing or they have so little influence they pretend they have no idea what is going on.

front porch lol

make sure to send money tho

We're paying for our past sins. This is what happens when you end up in a conference of differing viewpoints, budgets, and goals.

Seems pretty clear UConn didn't want the deal (or parts of the deal), but got out-voted.

You don't have any leverage if you've already made it clear you will leave at first opportunity, and even less if you can't actually leave the conference (because no one wants you).

Not sure what they COULD do in this situation. But like I said, it's the poor past decisions and execution that led to this point.

 

[Towney007]

Dude, everyone in this conference is trying to get out as fast as they can. That's what makes it a bad conference.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Anyone who was mad on here at people being negative can now go read UConn's statement on the deal which is pretty darn negative.

Clouds.

Link to statement?

 

[zls44]

Link to statement?

 

[auror]

Dude, everyone in this conference is trying to get out as fast as they can. That's what makes it a bad conference.

I guess maybe that's why they went 12 years. So Aresco can lure some mid-majors once everyone else flees. Although I think they said ESPN had some key member negotiation things in there.

 

[CL82]

Meh, it's not great, but it isn't like all the American content got shunted to +. Has anyone done the comparison of what we were getting on ESPN, the deuce and U in our old (and very good, at least in terms of exposure) deal?

If you think this deal is horrible, you probably had unrealistic expectations. That doesn't make it a great deal but unless I reading it wrong it's not horrific. It looks like most of the plus games will be games that previously wouldn't have been broadcast. It does bother me that our tier 3 rights are propping up this deal. They are worth a few million, most of our conference mates wouldn't see that.

 

[Ha Who]

If they won't they deserve what they get. Any fan who won't pony up $5 a month isn't a fan. This wouldn't be an issue even at a school like Iowa State, they'd all sign up immediately.

The best possible thing for UConn's future would be for ESPN to see an absolute flood of people in New England and metro New York signing up for ESPN+. If we don't we have validated everybody who ever said UConn has no value to a P5 and it isn't big time. The sky is just fine, unless we bring it down upon us.

As for the PR, it was obviously leaked anonymously on purpose so that UConn can tweak the AAC and ESPN without anything official being said. It was a nudge that said....get this done.

Money isn’t the issue. NYC exposure is. Nationally plus will do nothing. Bye 6th borough

 

[Walker11]

Anyone who was mad on here at people being negative can now go read UConn's statement on the deal which is pretty darn negative.

Clouds.

I can be mad at you for posting the same unoriginal comment over and over while remaining bummed about the reality of our situation.

 

[Towney007]

If you think this deal is horrible, you probably had unrealistic expectations. That doesn't make it a great deal but unless I reading it wrong it's not horrific.

Have at it. Be very mad though, please.

 

[lange10]

Anyone have TV ratings from this past year for conference members?

The optimist in me has to think ESPN recognizes the power in our fanbases viewership and will feature us primarily on the main networks. The pessimist in me thinks ESPN recognizes the power in our fanbases viewership and knows we’ll be big buyers of the ESPN+ platform.

 

[DAC17]

So we now have to pay $5 a month to watch UConn football and basketball? Anyone seeing the slippery slope here? And the players still get nothing. And most all of them do not wind up with NFL and NBA contracts... More on principle than anything, I won’t be fessing up that money. I can probably attend a football game for $5 anyway, using parking lot tickets!

 

[ASweet3781]

 

[ThetaZoo]

I wonder why ESPN actively wants to end the sports program of the flagship program in it's state? Maybe they don't like the taxes, maybe they think the fans are ungrateful. None of it makes much sense. ESPN + state officials + UConn officials should have easily gotten us into a P5 instead, we have a landing page on ESPN+.

This is the $64,000 question. Neither politicians nor UConn officials will address this publicly.

 

[Towney007]

Wow. He doubled down.

 

[polycom]

Wow. He doubled down.

What are these iOS press releases? These aren’t instagram models.

 

[CL82]

Counter argument: ESPN just captured its largest fanbase for ESPN+ why give those captive audience eyeballs to SNY?

Mmm, oh I don't know for cash and the right to rebroadcast SNY broadcasts out of the SNY market? Remember no SNY, no broadcast of most women's games.

 

[LBird33]

The loss of exposure on SNY. Will hurt this school. Never thought i’d Say this but it’s time to move on. Football will be at best 500 ball. Just stinks.

 

[LBird33]

Even the AAC is moving away from us.
A 2nd tier conference. Man we have fallen into the black hole

 

[billybud]

The loss of exposure on SNY. Will hurt this school. Never thought i’d Say this but it’s time to move on. Football will be at best 500 ball. Just stinks.

I think that UConn will get that exposure...but SNY would have to pay ESPN for content...

...or, maybe, ESPN will subcontract SNY to continue AAC production under the ESPN+ name. SNY is not cut completely out, but folks will still have to buy ESPN+.

 

[LBird33]

I think that UConn will get that exposure...but SNY would have to pay ESPN for content...

...or, maybe, ESPN will subcontract SNY to continue AAC production under the ESPN+ name. SNY is not cut completely out, but folks will still have to buy ESPN+.

Hope your right

 

[freescooter]

This league has been a catastrophic mistake for UConn athletics, and it just keeps getting worse. Taking us off SNY is a death sentence to recruiting and broader fan support outside Connecticut.

Everyone that argued staying in the AAC would help us down the road in the next realignment need to add getting dropped from SNY into your fantasy scenario. Why would any conference add us if we have no following in New York City?

The Big East had a down year, so maybe if we beg them nicely they will let us in before our basketball program becomes completely irrelevant. We are one phone call to Danny Hurley away from being UNH.

Nelson. Why do that? Your buddy whaler has it all figured out. Drop football and join the ACC for all sports. That would work. Nobody in the ACC plays football! Oh, wait...

 

[freescooter]

I’m wondering if this might be the opening gambit in UConn’s negotiation with the league to get a Navy football style deal. Maybe not immediately but eventually. Just like they put ESPN 3 games out to bid I imagine they will do the same with + games at some point too.

 

[zls44]

Media Rights Teleconference - March 27, 2019

Q. Navy has this separate deal with CBS Sports Network for all its home games. You're getting your pick of one of those. Did you want more? Why let Navy have whatever the remaining five or six home games it has? Did you push for more than just one home game, and if not, why do you feel just one choice of one of the Navy home games to move over to ESPN from CBS Network is sufficient?
MIKE ARESCO: We discussed this with ESPN, and Navy has unique scheduling requirements as a military academy. You're well aware of their homecomings and they have to schedule games well in advance and can only do home games at certain times of the day, ESPN, as you know, is the major distributor of college football. So we looked at that, and it was a joint decision that there were certain things that ESPN probably wouldn't have been able to do or certainly those games would potentially have been in the package.

The relationship that Navy has with CBS Sports Network allows them a lot of flexibility, and so therefore that was why that deal was done.

ESPN is happy to have that home game because they are able to schedule that one premier home game each year, and that's going to be great. In addition, they get the Navy away games in our conference. There's much more scheduling flexibility with those games.



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Your agreements are a demonstration of your values. The AAC cared about Navy's unique FB deal with CBSSN. The AAC did not care about UConn's unique deal with SNY. Simple as.

 

[Griffman]

What amazing exposure we'll get on ESPN+. Bodes well for the future of our mid-major NIT caliber program.

 

[husky8273]

"Impact on SNY
With UConn sports gone, there would be little reason for CT cable companies to carry SNY."

The Mets!!