AAC Media Contract

[UConnNick]

He has an 8 million dollar buyout currently. He could have had a P5 job last year. He turned it down for less money. You really think he is looking to jump ship after year one?

He will be damn quick if he can't get any recruits because mom and dad don't get to see all the games on TV.

 

[uconnyankee]

3 takeaways from the AAC’s reported new TV deal

fair write-up... I think Uconn has 3 years to right football. Give RE this year to show improvement. If not, take the $5M, hire a proven coach with big name cache to get recruits fast.

 

[Exit 4]

You seem to be saying this like it's a good thing for the league. They should add Fairfield while they're at it.

Why would we care what other cr@ppy schools the league adds once we've left the league?

Because they will end up with as much or possibly more exposure than us over the next 40 years.

 

[whaler11]

Ok so school me on this young uns. I have directv with DVRs on each TV so I record every UConn hoops and football game. I mostly watch live but if I am not home I can pick it up later or pause while I am watching live. I have watched some UConn games on espn 3 but rarely. When we are delegated to espn+ can I record the game? Can I pause it and come back 25 min later to pick it up? I only have one smart TV. Will this be like 1979 just before cable and VCRs started?

And if I get this I will only be spending $30 a year. September through February. I ain’t paying those bastards at espn any more than I have to

The replays go up. And you can go back to any point in the game you want while it is in play.

 

[BY06518]

So how smart will we feel 10 years from now when Buffalo, Old Dominion, Coastal Carolina or any number of G5 schools is eight years into enjoying our slot in the AAC?

Our problem with is as much about people in CT hung up on themselves than about anything else. If Hurley got us into the tournament this year we'd hear a lot less drop football tantrums.

'With a good basketball program and in good conference that gets respect come NCAA Tournament time pretty good.

The AAC like the football program sucks.

 

[blue93]

This is me speculating but with the ACC Network starting in the fall, ESPN will need content. So I still think UConn will be on the ESPN networks a ton. As will Memphis. Cincy. Houston. I think the games that will be on ESPN + will be your Tulane vs. ECU type of game. UConn will have some games vs them on ESPN +.

This is exactly my feeling. If our brand is as powerful as everybody says it is and Hurley is the real deal, we shouldn’t have that much to worry about in terms of MBB TV coverage. ESPN will still need to fill its time slots. Football and women’s hoops (against lesser opponents) could be another story, but I’m not convinced that this is the end of the world right now.

It’s not a great deal, but I don’t think it changes much if our time horizon in this league is only 4 or 5 years (whether that’s to P5 or BE).

 

[gampelcrazies]

What does the last line in the article mean: "Renewal talks with CBS have not begun."

Does that mean games might go to CBSSN too? Or CBS games on Saturday/Sunday?

 

[BFieldHusky]

What does the last line in the article mean: "Renewal talks with CBS have not begun."

Does that mean games might go to CBSSN too? Or CBS games on Saturday/Sunday?

Think it was referring to CBS games on Saturdays/Sundays.

 

[whaler11]

What does the last line in the article mean: "Renewal talks with CBS have not begun."

Does that mean games might go to CBSSN too? Or CBS games on Saturday/Sunday?

The handful of Men’s basketball games on over the air CBS.

 

[UofCT]

3 takeaways from the AAC’s reported new TV deal

fair write-up... I think Uconn has 3 years to right football. Give RE this year to show improvement. If not, take the $5M, hire a proven coach with big name cache to get recruits fast.

Or just start dropping bags

 

[Kauffmak10]

We’re thinking about this the wrong way:

If everyone’s biggest worry about this is not being in front of recruits eyes.. it’s actually not as bad as you think. Do you realize how kids (recruits) watch tv these days? I’m more than willing to bet over half of them already stream (whether on their phones, computers or other streaming devices) more than traditional cable boxes. This percentage will do nothing but rise in the near future. Traditional ESPN channel vs. ESPN+ doesn’t hold the weight it once did.. they’re both on the ESPN app and recruits will always have pretty easy access to the ESPN+ version whether they pay for it or just borrow a friends login info.

I work in the A/V in industry and see it happening in people’s homes everyday.. I would also be willing to bet that within 5-10 years it will ALL be via steaming. Cable boxes are dying off..

 

[kemba]

The contract is fine - it’s more money than I expected.

The decent UConn matchups will still be on the ESPN networks and there’s likely going to continue to be some CBSSN involvement for some reason. If you’re Tulane, every one of your games is going to be on +, but the higher profile teams will still kick around on the network.

Yea for UConn it seems pretty similar to what we have now exposure wise. Money is what it is.

Obviously we were never gonna come out of this deal thrilled because it was always going to be much worse than a p5, but i dont see why this is a new reason to panic

 

[whaler11]

I get that people are going to stream - but they are still going to stream ESPN.

It’s not like they are going to stream magic sports stream company that doesn’t exist.

Currently 86 million households can stream ESPN on Watch ESPN and 2 million accounts can stream on ESPN+.

So how does the fact ESPN+ is streaming matter when EVERYTHING on linear ESPN is already streaming on the EXACT SAME APP... and 43x more people have access. 43x more.

 

[Kauffmak10]

As for the being stuck in the AAC: Yes, it’s sucks.. BUT you gotta remember the conference is still in it’s infancy as a conference. It was bound to struggle getting started, just like a lot of new businesses do. New businesses don’t get the same treatment from banks that longer established businesses get.. Gotta make good decisions and put the time in. We need to remember it’s a similar process with getting a conference off the floor.. We live in a world that wants/needs instant action but not everything works like that.

If everyone’s biggest worry about the media contract is not being in front of recruits eyes, we’re thinking about it in the wrong way.. Do you realize how kids (recruits) watch tv these days? I’m more than willing to bet over half of them already stream (whether on their phones, computers or other streaming devices) more than traditional cable boxes. This percentage will do nothing but rise in the near future. Traditional ESPN channel vs. ESPN+ doesn’t hold the weight it once did.. they’re both on the ESPN app and recruits will always have pretty easy access to the ESPN+ version whether they pay for it or just borrow a friends login info.

I work in the A/V in industry and see it happening in people’s homes everyday.. I would also be willing to bet that within 5-10 years it will ALL be via steaming. Cable boxes are dying off..

 

[zls44]

For MBB
Realistically, the worst case for MBB is that SNY goes away and all of those games are on ESPN+, we're talking all the early season bodybag games along with a few conference games. Best case is they keep SNY and its just your Tulane, Tulsa, ECU games of the world. Not ideal, but not a death sentence.

For football
Its really bad, but the program's a hulking crater anyway. Heck, it could help attendance! Why pay $5 to figure out how to stream a game to your Chromecast when you can get a ticket for $2 in the parking lot. But its going to be bad for them when it kicks in if they keep being this bad. If this contract applied to the coming year, there's an excellent chance UConn would have 10 of their 12 games behind a paywall. Imagine if 83% of MBB games were behind a paywall.

For WBB
If WBB loses SNY and is only on ESPN+? Holy freaking shitballs is that gonna be a disaster. I love them to death, but every year I have to explain to the WBB board 100 times how ESPN's very basic and logical broadcast of the first weekend of the WBB tournament works and thats on regular television, there is no shot those folks are figuring out ESPN+. Plus you lose all of the shoulder programming, which they do a phenomenal job with and have won Emmys for. There's every chance this deal hurts WBB more than it hurts MBB or FB.

For Everything Else (hockey, soccer, baseball, etc)
This is an outstanding deal and a massive step up. CBSi is an overpriced technical joke. For how far these programs have punched above their weight, now they'll all (ALMOST ALL, THE HOCKEY FAN SAID ANGRILY) have new on-campus facilities and a broadcast component to match. Well done. Jim Penders should be the happiest man on campus.

A Word On SNY
The SNY folks don't get enough credit- they agreed to the first UConn deal when they were getting UConn home Big East conference games in MBB and FB & have stuck through it even though they don't get a UConn MBB game after the first two months of the year. They've stuck with it even after they got carriage on most CT systems and their access got worse. They're doing a year-in-review program for a MBB (check your DVR) they haven't televised in 3 months and they're agreeing to televise a CT college hockey tournament in Bridgeport the next 2 years. And they still televise UConn's FCS bodybag game. God bless 'em.

Guess its still better than showing the Mets.

 

[polycom]

You thought you are special enough to make a new thread about this, why?

 

[calluke]

 

[huskyrob1]

The article is not very well written.

It's supposed to be not well written. If the top #1 or #2 team in the AAC is playing Michigan or Clemson next weekend then that game will definitely not be exclusively on ESPN+.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

like 9ish large all in on espn, 6 large on the img thing, a couple on women/sny thing? that's like 16+ million per annum. since college sports cash is football, and espn owns college football, and this deal is with espn, well, then good on that for husky football too. unless I missed something on the math, what else could a husky fan say but 'noice.' but let's see what our partners think. ya know, they get way over a million viewers on some of their aac football games?
The American’s New TV Deal Is Out. Here’s What It Means for UCF.
my bad. over 3 million viewers. that's like a lot more than the big villanova - creighton football game gets, I think.
UCF Draws Huge Audience For ESPN College GameDay and ABC Saturday Night Football

 

[jdb50]

To get away UCONN FB games I pay extra for a sports package that includes CBSSN so this could be a wash unless they farm out games to CBSSN and have some on ESRN+. What are the chances if conference realignment returns we get screwed again to help keep the value in the ESPN+ platform? And as mentioned 2 posts above, we are paying the freight for the league contract as fans.

 

[Hurleyman216]

I get that people are going to stream - but they are still going to stream ESPN.

It’s not like they are going to stream magic sports stream company that doesn’t exist.

Currently 86 million households can stream ESPN on Watch ESPN and 2 million accounts can stream on ESPN+.

So how does the fact ESPN+ is streaming matter when EVERYTHING on linear ESPN is already streaming on the EXACT SAME APP... and 43x more people have access. 43x more.

I don’t think you understand this concept. Cable. Is. Dying. Streaming will soon be king. ESPN started ESPN+ because they had to (because cable is dying). I can just picture you in 10-15 years screaming about electric cars: “Why would anyone buy an electric car when you can buy a gas powered car?!?”
Times change, technology changes and most importantly (and this is a big one) the population is changing. Yes we have a lot of baby boomers that want to hook up their cable box with a coax cable to their CRT tv. Those people are going to be dead and gone in 15-20 years and that market will be gone too. The younger generations get their media through cell phones and streaming content.
This isn’t rocket science, but come on, try to keep up.

 

[zls44]

This isn’t rocket science, but come on, try to keep up.

You said that, in the next 5 years, ESPN+ (2m subs, including yours truly) will have more subs than ESPN will on cable (86m subs).

 

[whaler11]

I don’t think you understand this concept. Cable. Is. Dying. Streaming will soon be king. ESPN started ESPN+ because they had to (because cable is dying). I can just picture you in 10-15 years screaming about electric cars: “Why would anyone buy an electric car when you can buy a gas powered car?!?”
Times change, technology changes and most importantly (and this is a big one) the population is changing. Yes we have a lot of baby boomers that want to hook up their cable box with a coax cable to their CRT tv. Those people are going to be dead and gone in 15-20 years and that market will be gone too. The younger generations get their media through cell phones and streaming content.
This isn’t rocket science, but come on, try to keep up.

I seriously think you are too stupid to understand ESPN and ESPN+ stream on the same app and 43x more people can stream ESPN than ESPN+.

One of them streams the NFL, NBA, CFB playoffs, 35 bowl games, ACC, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, MLB, MLS, WNBA.

The other streams MLS, UFC, La Liga, EFL, G5 CFB, mid major CBB.

They. Stream. On. The. Same. App.

Maybe have your guys on the inside explain that ESPN is available via the exact same app that ESPN+ is available on?

Once you wrap your head around that, I’ll have my 9 year old show you 86/2=43.

You do realize that Playstation Vue, You Tube TV, Fubo TV, Sling TV... you get access to Watch ESPN with those?

Your guys on the inside notice that no CFB P5 or CBB P6 league has moved to ESPN+?

Did they notice when CBS left the AAC out of the Power 6 (branding!) on the selection show or when the women’s tourney made UConn a 2 seed in the two days prior to announcing they are now on the mid-major streaming network with 2.3% the number of ESPN subscribers?

 

[polycom]

Do you need a hug?

When your post gets consolidated because you aren’t special, you might need a hug