AAC upcoming TV deal will have huge ramifications for UConn, league

[Guapo]

Outrageous no. Pretty unlikely - yes.

Even just 7 mill a year is 80 annually - 5 years is 400+ million? From where?

Honest question; what do you think a reasonable expectation is for the next contract?

 

[intlzncster]

What else is he going to say? That he's hoping to get the same thing going in? He's just setting the table and hoping for the best.

 

[Nostical]

What the AAC needs is John Marinatto negotiating on its behalf.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I have no idea what the dollar figures will come out to, but my hope is that it's with ESPN primarily but then the league gets to sell off other games to Fox Sports and then UConn retains our rights for a number of early season basketball and football games to SNY.

For the sheer fact that at bars I won't have to say, "No, CBS Sports Network. It's a different channel from regular CBS....No, I don't have a good reason why I'm here on a Tuesday in January watching UConn ECU."

 

[StunningSteve]

It's always fun to see a brand built from the ground up.

A lot of naysayers have had their say.

Meanwhile, most every program in the league has invested on a level they hadn't previous and that has manifested in respectable ratings and achievements that blow away every non-autonomous conference (by a longshot). Those achievements compare well to the autonomy group. The gap between 6-7 (in ratings and relevance) is substantially greater than between 5-6.

Just the fact that the conference now knows what it has and can deal with everyone (as opposed to ESPN selling off games) is a HUGE deal.

 

[CL82]

What the AAC needs is John Marinatto negotiating on its behalf.
View attachment 32605

What the AAC needs is John Marinatto negotiating on ESPN's behalf.

 

[whaler11]

Honest question; what do you think a reasonable expectation is for the next contract?

Regardless of what some of our more delusional posters think - the next contract will be a function of the numbers of parties interested.

Make a case for a legitimate second bidder (nevermind third or fourth).

I suspect they will have two offers from ESPN. One that looks like today and one that keeps what is on linear TV on TV and moves the ESPN3 content to ESPN+.

I’d guess the first deal gets them 3-4 million and the second deal gets them 5-6 million.

Breaking it into a bunch of pieces would probably get them a few more dollars but is suicide from a competitive standpoint. The only thing the league has going for it is the deluge of games easily available on ESPN properties and ESPN having so many windows because so much has/will move to the SEC and ACC networks.

 

[CL82]

I’d guess the first deal gets them 3-4 million and the second deal gets them 5-6 million.

A school? The conference? A year?

 

[StunningSteve]

Regardless of what some of our more delusional posters think - the next contract will be a function of the numbers of parties interested.

Make a case for a legitimate second bidder (nevermind third or fourth).

It's an easy case to make.

The AAC is the only proven college sports draw that'll be on the market until 2025.

What's your professional background?

 

[whaler11]

It's an easy case to make.

The AAC is the only proven college sports draw that'll be on the market until 2025.

What's your professional background?

So it’s easy to make but you can’t actually name one non-ESPN bidder.

LOL - you don’t want to go down the professional background path trust me.

Aresco has already capitulated to ESPN and ESPN+, his public statements are just groveling because he has no outs and is stuck relying on ESPN’s benevolence.

 

[StunningSteve]

So it’s easy to make but you can’t actually name one non-ESPN bidder.

LOL - you don’t want to go down the professional background path trust me.

Aresco has already capitulated to ESPN and ESPN+, his public statements are just groveling because he has no outs and is stuck relying on ESPN’s benevolence.

Not exactly.

He's contractually bound to not recognize other suitors until Spring of '19.

 

[whaler11]

Not exactly.

He's contractually bound to not recognize other suitors until Spring of '19.

And if had them he’d just shut up.

Stadium is likely the only other out and that is much worse than ESPN+. That’s how he threw in ‘platform’ in his statement.

 

[whaler11]

A school? The conference? A year?

Each school a year.

 

[StunningSteve]

And if had them he’d just shut up.

Stadium is likely the only other out and that is much worse than ESPN+. That’s how he threw in ‘platform’ in his statement.

Lol. I'd really love to hear your background.

He'd just shut up?

What a fantastic approach going into negotiations.

 

[whaler11]

Lol. I'd really love to hear your background.

He'd just shut up?

What a fantastic approach going into negotiations.

Good grief. Do they still have ashtrays on the desks at Memphis State?

My background is being the financial lead on dozens of deals way bigger than the pennies the AAC get paid.

With every post you further show how clueless you are on this topic.

Why don’t you give us the name of one entity that is going to drive up the price of the deal. Because that is the one and oy reason the price goes up.

 

[gampelcrazies]

Good grief. Do they still have ashtrays on the desks at Memphis State?

My background is being the financial lead on dozens of deals way bigger than the pennies the AAC get paid.

With every post you further show how clueless you are on this topic.

Why don’t you give us the name of one entity that is going to drive up the price of the deal. Because that is the one and oy reason the price goes up.

Amazon

 

[Fishy]

Whaler’s right.

Where is the second bidder coming from?

The only thing resembling leverage is that ESPN has to make an offer in the exclusive window that is high enough to discourage someone from just taking a flyer on AAC content. I don’t know who that would be, but say the AAC has to go into the market with only a $15M offer from ESPN in its pocket, it’s cheap enough for some nascent streamer to get involved.

And putting the conference on one of those services is suicide, so we’re back to Whaler’s contention that we have precious little leverage.

 

[Clockshop]

I’m not too optimistic after reading that article especially when Aresco is banking on this,

“We need to get paid for what we’ve done,” Aresco said.“

That’s not happening with ESPN.

 

[whaler11]

Amazon

Now if that were true... you’d keep your trap shut until Feb19 and wouldn’t be talking about metrics that have no relation to Amazon’s business.

Amazon et all while maybe not impossible seem pretty far fetched.

 

[Pudge]

I’ve been saying double digits for years - and whaler11 has Pooh Pooh. I think at least $10m per school. And getting Tier 3 for us is huge.

That’s a multiple over $3m.

 

[whaler11]

I’ve been saying double digits for years - and whaler11 has Pooh Pooh. I think at least $10m per school. And getting Tier 3 for us is huge.

That’s a multiple over $3m.

When did they ever say the schools get t3 rights back?

Is anyone other than me going to actually name a second bidder that is going to drive things to 120 million a year?

The absolute best realistic thing I can dream up is Sinclair buys the Fox RSNs and bid using that ‘network’ plus the OTA Sinclair affiliates and their Stadium streaming platform.

Now keep in mind ASN went belly-up and got rolled into Stadium so it’s not something that worked before.

This is the reality - not Netflix or Amazon.

 

[Guapo]

Now if that were true... you’d keep your trap shut until Feb19 and wouldn’t be talking about metrics that have no relation to Amazon’s business.

Amazon et all while maybe not impossible seem pretty far fetched.

Another thing to think about it:

How much will "non money" variables, specifically better bowl tie-ins, factor into the negotiating process?

 

[whaler11]

Another thing to think about it:

How much will "non money" variables, specifically better bowl tie-ins, factor into the negotiating process?

They can’t recruit without the exposure.

ESPN+ is coming together a lot faster than I thought it could. They should be looking to partner on that growth and go for complete saturation across the properties.

4/6/8/10 million - no matter the number hard decisions need to be made soon in Storrs.

 

[UConnJim]

I'll give you two potential conventional bidders: CBS and AT&T Warner Media.

CBS has already been broadcasting AAC football and basketball games and this is where Aresco came from. And, CBS Sports Network needs more content with the future of unbundling. On the CBS network, CBS has some SEC football game rights, mostly 3:30 PM games. They have noon and night time slots mostly open. And CBS already does the Army/Navy game and the ND/Navy games when Navy is the home team. CBS already owns the NCAA basketball tournament with Turner Sports. And, CBS has a hole in their weekend lineups in the winter and could use some weekend day time basketball games.

As for Turner Sports, they own TBS, TNT, and TruTV and they own part of the NCAA men's basketball tournament with CBS. AT&T just bought Time Warner and they have deep pockets and a larger market cap than Disney. Turner desperately needs more sports content to remain relevant and they have financial risk with unbundling.

Finally, the big streaming services are all bigger companies that Disney by market cap: Alphabet (Google): $780 billion, Amazon: $825 billion, Facebook: $563 billion, Netflix: $170 billion, Disney: $155 billion. Do they find college sports an interesting asset to expand? Remember when the Big East signed with a young company named ESPN back in the day? It was groundbreaking. Would they start with the AAC and then go after other conferences later?

 

[CL82]

When did they ever say the schools get t3 rights back?

Pretty sure the AAC voted to give UConn control of its T3 rights. Best source I could find was a Dooley tweet with Megan Bard confirming it.