ACC Network Done Deal?

[WestHartHusk]

We are almost in the same stage of competing technologies of times gone by - when there was both beta and vhs, then vhs and two types of CD technology, and then CD and downloading content. Live TV via cable is the final frontier ( at least for awhile) Apple TV had planned to replace cable companies by now, but they failed to get agreements with the broadcasters.

ESPN is trying to create a model where they can continue to make a lot of money by broadcasting sports on whatever technology the market screams for.

If the technology advances to where you can stream seamlessly to any TV (connected to a wifi) or PDA - and where the broadcaster can protect against illegal sharing or pirating - then its off to the races.

Anything is possible...

Aren't we there now? What is your life like?

 

[UConnNick]

One of two things is happening in the ACC:

1. they are fervishly scrambling to convince Notre Dame to join full-time and bring in UConn as member 16 so that they can launch their ACC Network;

2. they are asking Tom Jurich if he can cook any more books and increase Louisville's census population by 10M people overnight.

My money is on #2.

No. 2 may require another huge influx of hookers, something the Cards can probably ill afford right now.

 

[Fishy]

There are four networks - BigTen, SEC, Pac12 and Longhorn. The first two work, the third one doesn't and the fourth should be taught in business school as something to never, ever do.

There won't be a fifth any time soon.

If you don't have a network, you're left to opine that new technologies will somehow float your boat. They won't, in large part because you don't actually have a boat. What you have is a life preserver and about ten years to tread water hoping one of the conferences with a boat decides you're worth of plucking out of the drink.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

I think (B) is what carries the day. Who does the B1G desire? If you can answer that, only then do you know who (A) is. I think it's Virginia and UNC.

I really don't think UNC is as hot a commodity as it's made out to be. They won't necessarily secure the state for the B1G because the SEC can simply cherry pick NC State. Who will draw better in the (semi) deep south? SEC or B1G?

I also am not sure that Va Tech isn't a better B1G fit than UVA. For some reason, UVA strikes me as secretly wanting to be a more populous version of William & Mary with better badminton and croquet.

 

[billybud]

Aren't we there now? What is your life like?

I have two lives....I stream like crazy at my Florida home on Comcast XFinity....

....at my mountain cabin where I am at the moment, I use a Verizon hot spot to access the internet. Streaming eats up the gigs really fast.

Also the MBPS on the hotspot is slow enough to often buffer and stutter (especially HD content). Many, many folks in the rural areas do not have cable...use a dish....

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Annnnnnddddd.THUD.

“We think we’re in a really good position for the long-term,” Swofford told Fischel. “We’ve just got to make the right decisions and time things appropriately.”

“I don’t know that there will be public clarity,” Swofford said of this week. “I think we will move further down the trail of where we’re headed, without question. … We’re really just not going to have a whole lot more to say until we reach a point of saying something definitive. It takes some patience with that, but we’ll get to a good place, I’m confident.”

Translation: "ESPN said no and I am running out of ways to avoid saying that."

Anybody know what Jeff Fischel's buddies call him? It isn't "Fishy" is it?

 

[upstater]

I really don't think UNC is as hot a commodity as it's made out to be. They won't necessarily secure the state for the B1G because the SEC can simply cherry pick NC State. Who will draw better in the (semi) deep south? SEC or B1G?

I also am not sure that Va Tech isn't a better B1G fit than UVA. For some reason, UVA strikes me as secretly wanting to be a more populous version of William & Mary with better badminton and croquet.

I'd love for people to chime in on this one, but UNC is the dominant program by far in that state. NC State is a little brother. All kids want to get into UNC, but many settle for NC State.

UNC and Virginia are the two big ones there, definitely not NCSU and VT.

 

[billybud]

Like they say in North Carolina...only 26 miles from Culture to Agriculture...

 

[dwalks93]

Well...that's the rub...I don't think it really is all about the money and getting cable box U.

At some date in the future, having games that people want to watch will be important. Rutgers and Maryland might be good for carriage fees...but in actual viewing, not so much. Paying for streaming will happen....and the way TV is watched will ever move towards streaming.

I do believe that the marquee match ups will drive...just like they do in the SEC. Have an interesting spectacle and folks will watch. As far as watching Wake play GT or Northwestern play Purdue, I'd rather watch a monkey screw a football.

Billy, you approach expansion like a fan. You want to select expansions team based on who you want to watch FSU play. But guess what...whether it is Rutgers or Louisville the FSU fans are paying to watch FSU. The more important component is the revenue stream.

You implied that the big football programs make the money..."I do believe that the marquee match ups will drive...just like they do in the SEC". . It makes sense...look at the SEC they have good football and lots of money.

In reality the inverse is actually true... the money made the good football programs. To prove my point take the following examples. It wasn't too long ago that Alabama was struggling. Sure they were a blue blood football program in a talent rich area but they were not consistently winning. So what did they do? They went out and broke the bank to hire Nick Saban. Basically Bama rewrote the college landscape by saying we will pay whatever is required to recruit arguably the best coach in America and win. This is the same model that occurred with OSU and Urban Meyer and Michigan and Jim Harbaugh. Bottom line you show me a program spending money on football and, more often than not, I'll show you a program that is winning.

Perhaps a better example is University of Miami. Miami is a traditional powerhouse in arguably the most talent rich football region in America. Yet around the early 2000s Miami's President quit spending money on football. The Miami football team was in the midst of the embarrassing Shapiro scandal and University of Miami was instead investing its money on academics not football. Despite location, history and talent, Miami's program tanked when the football spending tanked. Interestingly, for the first time since the early 2000s, Miami has started spending money on football again. Coach Mark Richt was a $4 million plus investment (almost double what former HC Golden was getting), Miami significantly increased its salaries for assistant coaches and is upgrading all its facilities. Do you want to bet Miami football makes a huge come back within the next 5 years?

Why do you think FSU is screaming about the financial gap between the BIG/SEC and ACC? Because they know when it comes to coaches it is a seller's market. My guess is this year LSU Coach Les Miles gets fired. When that happens FSU Coach Fisher will be on a very short list for the LSU job. LSU will likely try and throw the bank at Fisher. I would expect FSU will match whatever LSU offers using FSU booster money and extra football budget to pay for it. But what if the gap between LSU and FSU was $30 million a year? Could FSU keep up? That is why it is the money, not the "interesting spectacle", that drives expansion.

Arguing "at some future date, having games people want to watch will be important" is a exercise in alternative reality. The current reality is the ACC is falling behind in revenue and needs to take steps to close the gap. Expansion is based on money, not exciting games for the fans.

 

[billybud]

I say expand all you want with Rutgers, Boston College, Indiana, Iowa State, Vanderbilt, FAU, FIU, etc.....But football fans won't watch low tier match ups at the rate that they watch better games. And eventually demand will have a meaning. Right now you can strng arm folks into paying for a cable channel that they don't watch. That may not be quite as true some time in the future.

The SEC just three years ago, distributed less conference revenue than the ACC....but the SEC was on a tear, winning 7 straight national championships. Now adding an eighth.

And SEC fans watch their teams play...watch big match ups...Alabama-LSU, Alabama-Auburn, Georgia-Florida, etc. It was that watching that made the SEC money in their contract revision and network, not vice versa.

Alabama had money before any contract increase....last year, if you subtracted $30 million from Bama's athletic budget...they still had more athletic department revenue than Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, UCLA, Clemson and the like.

Of the Ten Most Watched Football Games of 2014...

#1 Alabama-Auburn
#3 Alabama-Missouri
#4 Miss State-Alabama
#6 Bama-LSU
#9 Florida-Alabama
#10 Texas A&M-Auburn

That's the power of the SEC....games that people watch.

 

[noeynox]

I say expand all you want with Rutgers, Boston College, Indiana, Iowa State, Vanderbilt, FAU, FIU, etc.....But football fans won't watch low tier match ups at the rate that they watch better games. And eventually demand will have a meaning. Right now you can strng arm folks into paying for a cable channel that they don't watch. That may not be quite as true some time in the future.

The SEC just three years ago, distributed less conference revenue than the ACC....but the SEC was on a tear, winning 7 straight national championships. Now adding an eighth.

And SEC fans watch their teams play...watch big match ups...Alabama-LSU, Alabama-Auburn, Georgia-Florida, etc. It was that watching that made the SEC money in their contract revision and network, not vice versa.

Alabama had money before any contract increase....last year, if you subtracted $30 million from Bama's athletic budget...they still had more athletic department revenue than Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, UCLA, Clemson and the like.

Of the Ten Most Watched Football Games of 2014...

#1 Alabama-Auburn
#3 Alabama-Missouri
#4 Miss State-Alabama
#6 Bama-LSU
#9 Florida-Alabama
#10 Texas A&M-Auburn

That's the power of the SEC....games that people watch.

Maybe, people just watch Bama.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

I'd love for people to chime in on this one, but UNC is the dominant program by far in that state. NC State is a little brother. All kids want to get into UNC, but many settle for NC State.

UNC and Virginia are the two big ones there, definitely not NCSU and VT.

My main argument isn't that UNC and UVA aren't the biggest draws in their respective states (holding all other factors equal). It's that the other factors won't be equal should the two schools accept offers to join the B1G.

If NS State and VaTech remain in the ACC while UNC and UVA move to the B1G, I will, again, cede the point that the Tar Heels and Cavaliers will continue to dominate sports interest in those states. However, if the SEC grants membership to NC State and VaTech, I don't think that domination is so certain.

I believe the public at large, especially in North Carolina and to a lesser degree in Virginia, identifies more with the SEC than the B1G. Who dominates in those markets would be very much in doubt should the B1G and SEC split the Carolina/Virginia schools. I don't think that's the risk Delany is eager to assume. In fact, I argue that, given the enormity of the current task of assimilating the entire Northeast, North Carolina is (at the moment) a bridge too far.

Secondarily, I'm not that sure that VaTech wouldn't be a better fit for the B1G than UVA. For one thing, the B1G is pushing technology and UVA just gives me the impression they're more interested in quoting Shelley than programming drones. Their athletic programs resemble Rutgers more than Wisconsin. Just MHO.

 

[upstater]

Secondarily, I'm not that sure that VaTech wouldn't be a better fit for the B1G than UVA. For one thing, the B1G is pushing technology and UVA just gives me the impression they're more interested in quoting Shelley than programming drones. Their athletic programs resemble Rutgers more than Wisconsin. Just MHO.

VT isn't even an AAU school.

Virginia is up there with Berkeley and Michigan.

I mean, there is no question which school the B1G would prefer. Markets and academics.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

VT isn't even an AAU school.

Virginia is up there with Berkeley and Michigan.

I mean, there is no question which school the B1G would prefer. Markets and academics.

Not disputing UVA's academics.

 

[UConn990411]

Under no circumstances would the B1G prefer Virginia Tech over Virginia.

That's not a knock on VTech, which is a fine school. But that's just reality.

 

[billybud]

With FSU moving to the B1G this summer, the cow is already out of the AAU barn.

Red is the sarcasm font.

 

[dayooper]

I say expand all you want with Rutgers, Boston College, Indiana, Iowa State, Vanderbilt, FAU, FIU, etc.....But football fans won't watch low tier match ups at the rate that they watch better games. And eventually demand will have a meaning. Right now you can strng arm folks into paying for a cable channel that they don't watch. That may not be quite as true some time in the future.

The SEC just three years ago, distributed less conference revenue than the ACC....but the SEC was on a tear, winning 7 straight national championships. Now adding an eighth.

And SEC fans watch their teams play...watch big match ups...Alabama-LSU, Alabama-Auburn, Georgia-Florida, etc. It was that watching that made the SEC money in their contract revision and network, not vice versa.

Alabama had money before any contract increase....last year, if you subtracted $30 million from Bama's athletic budget...they still had more athletic department revenue than Georgia, South Carolina, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, UCLA, Clemson and the like.

Of the Ten Most Watched Football Games of 2014...

#1 Alabama-Auburn
#3 Alabama-Missouri
#4 Miss State-Alabama
#6 Bama-LSU
#9 Florida-Alabama
#10 Texas A&M-Auburn

That's the power of the SEC....games that people watch.

Yet in 2015, the Big10 had more games, including the top three:

No. 1: Michigan State at Ohio State 7.0 3:30 p.m./Nov. 21 ABC
No. 2: Ohio State at Virginia Tech 6.6 8 p.m./Sept. 7 ESPN
No. 3: Ohio State at Michigan 6.4 Noon/ Nov. 29 ABC
No. 4: Alabama at Auburn 6.3 5:00/ Nov. 29 CBS
No. 5: LSU at Alabama 6.3 3:30 p.m./Nov. 7 CBS
No. 6: Florida State at Clemson 5.5 3:30 p.m./Nov.7 ABC
No. 7: Michigan State at Michigan 5.1 3:30 p.m./Oct. 17 ESPN
No. 8: Oregon at Michigan State 5.0 8 p.m./Sept. 12 ABC
No. 9: Notre Dame at Clemson 4.8 8 p.m./Oct. 3 ABC
No. 10: Ole Miss at Alabama 4.6 9:15 p.m./Sept. 19 ESPN

The next most watched games was actually Ohio State and Indiana. I will never argue that the SEC is not the most watched, because it is. But to say that the Big10 has games no one will watch is just asinine.

 

[mavblues]

It really warms my heart when fans from other conferences come to a UConn board to argue over which of them has it better.

 

[Seaa Blue]

 

[sportsart]

 

[junglehusky]

 

[junglehusky]