American Athletic Conference attendance and TV viewership both way up | The Boneyard

American Athletic Conference attendance and TV viewership both way up

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I admit to having my opinion swayed this year. The AAC is a better football conference than the ACC in 2015. There, I said it. That doesn't mean I wouldn't want UConn to go to the ACC and its money. I'm just saying that the on-field product of the AAC has been really good. Houston, Memphis, Temple, and Navy can play with almost anyone in the country. Cincinnati and USF would also give many P5 teams problems. It's definitely been a good year for AAC football and it should, hopefully, squash any of these absurd thoughts of moving UConn football to Independent.
 
Irish Loop said:
So the real question is, does this lead to a better TV deal?
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I think it does, but not by much and maybe not for a few seasons still.

ESPN may reopen the contract in 1-3 years and increase the payout as a gesture of good will and to keep Aresco from shopping the conference elsewhere after the current deal expires, but it's be another million or so for each school.

We're not going to get P5 level payout from ESPN at this point.
 
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NYUConn said:
I think it does, but not by much and maybe not for a few seasons still.

ESPN may reopen the contract in 1-3 years and increase the payout as a gesture of good will and to keep Aresco from shopping the conference elsewhere after the current deal expires, but it's be another million or so for each school.

We're not going to get P5 level payout from ESPN at this point.
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ESPN most likely has zero interest in renegotiating their TV deal with the AAC because the ROI for AAC content probably has to be the highest of any conference based on the low cost per content. Aresco does have this year's results to make a good case for renegotiate but still doesn't have the leverage to move this conference to another network because it lacks the "name-brand" schools outside of Cincy and UConn. It's sort of a double edged sword, because ESPN is a great platform for the league while its still in its infancy, but based on results this conference could get more money from someone like Fox.
 
I had the UCF-ECU game on last night. It was a great for about 5 minutes. When UCF scored on the first drive, I thought it might have been a game. After ECU's 2nd TD, I just left it on as background noise. UCF's defense is really bad and their offense isn't much better.
 
dayooper said:
I had the UCF-ECU game on last night. It was a great for about 5 minutes. When UCF scored on the first drive, I thought it might have been a game. After ECU's 2nd TD, I just left it on as background noise. UCF's defense is really bad and their offense isn't much better.
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Yeah, UCF is the AAC's Kansas/Rutgers this season. They are pitiful - I think even worse than where we were at last season. I would love to see UCF vs Kansas just see if the game would play out to be just as dreadful as it does in my head.
 
dayooper said:
I had the UCF-ECU game on last night. It was a great for about 5 minutes. When UCF scored on the first drive, I thought it might have been a game. After ECU's 2nd TD, I just left it on as background noise. UCF's defense is really bad and their offense isn't much better.
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Trying to figure out how this relates to TV ratings and the TV AAC package. Anybody?
 
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If the league can continue to have 3-4 schools hovering around the 15-30 range with 1 getting some slight mentions for a playoff, the TV Revenue has to increase. Even if this league got $10M/year it's a huge bump from the current rate and way better than any other G5 league.

wonder what figure would need to be mentioned to get BYU and Boise to perk their ears. This league might not get P5 money, but even if it get's 30-50%, it's still way more than any other non P5 conference.
 
NYUConn said:
I think it does, but not by much and maybe not for a few seasons still.

ESPN may reopen the contract in 1-3 years and increase the payout as a gesture of good will and to keep Aresco from shopping the conference elsewhere after the current deal expires, but it's be another million or so for each school.

We're not going to get P5 level payout from ESPN at this point.
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As a sign of good will? In what world haha.
 
ConnHuskBask said:
As a sign of good will? In what world haha.
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Happens a lot in media. Networks and companies that own rights will increase a current contract before it's up as a means of blunting the influence of possible competitors (of course the increase would come with including language that makes it more difficult for them to leave should they accept).

ESPN offered an increase to the old Big East before the deal expired and Marinatto turned it down with the idiotic belief he could get more for the conference in the open market. The move drove Pitt and Cuse to the ACC and ultimately was the death knell to the conference.
 
NYUConn said:
Happens a lot in media. Networks and companies that own rights will increase a current contract before it's up as a means of blunting the influence of possible competitors (of course the increase would come with including language that makes it more difficult for them to leave should they accept).

ESPN offered an increase to the old Big East before the deal expired and Marinatto turned it down with the idiotic belief he could get more for the conference in the open market. The move drove Pitt and Cuse to the ACC and ultimately was the death knell to the conference.
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Understood from that angle of reopening the deal and renogotiating an extension.

I read your original post as simply ESPN increasing their deal. Period. Haha.
 
NYUConn said:
Happens a lot in media. Networks and companies that own rights will increase a current contract before it's up as a means of blunting the influence of possible competitors (of course the increase would come with including language that makes it more difficult for them to leave should they accept).

ESPN offered an increase to the old Big East before the deal expired and Marinatto turned it down with the idiotic belief he could get more for the conference in the open market. The move drove Pitt and Cuse to the ACC and ultimately was the death knell to the conference.
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I thought it was Pitt that led the drive to turn down the offer. Am I wrong?
 
NYUConn said:
ESPN offered an increase to the old Big East before the deal expired and Marinatto turned it down with the idiotic belief he could get more for the conference in the open market. The move drove Pitt and Cuse to the ACC and ultimately was the death knell to the conference.
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You are misremembering things.

Pitt, Georgetown, Notre Dame and others wanted the deal turned down.

Bad management was spectacularly profitable for some folks.
 
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Who Ha said:
I thought it was Pitt that led the drive to turn down the offer. Am I wrong?
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You are correct. Pitt was one of the most, if not the most, vociferous in leading the BE down the drain on that deal.
 
The crazy thing is, usf right now may be the best team in the league. It shows that patience in a coach pays off, and in fball you can't just turn on the magic day one. If they could somehow manage to affiliate with some of the better western team, this conference would be as good as the Acc and B10. Once you strip osu out of the b10 equation, the rest is not heads above the crowd. Same with Clemson/fsu in the Acc. AAC may be lacking the one marquee team, but depth is there.
 
I wonder what Temple attendance looks like without PSU and ND fans...
 
BoatShow said:
I wonder what Temple attendance looks like without PSU and ND fans...
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On the other hand, any conference that can schedule PSU and ND is a good conference ...
 
Front a football standpoint - this conference has a lot of potential to get a lot better. As a hoops conference it's insanely top-heavy. It's a straight-super power in baseball (not that that matters, but fwiw).
 
NYUConn said:
Happens a lot in media. Networks and companies that own rights will increase a current contract before it's up as a means of blunting the influence of possible competitors (of course the increase would come with including language that makes it more difficult for them to leave should they accept).

ESPN offered an increase to the old Big East before the deal expired and Marinatto turned it down with the idiotic belief he could get more for the conference in the open market. The move drove Pitt and Cuse to the ACC and ultimately was the death knell to the conference.
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I call BS since Pitt and Cuse led the lobbying to turn down the deal.
 
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CL82 said:
I call BS since Pitt and Cuse led the lobbying to turn down the deal.
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Syracuse was not lobbying against it.
 
Fishy said:
You are misremembering things.

Pitt, Georgetown, Notre Dame and others wanted the deal turned down.

Bad management was spectacularly profitable for some folks.
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Thanks for clearing that up.
 
Who Ha said:
I thought it was Pitt that led the drive to turn down the offer. Am I wrong?
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I think you're right. It was member schools with a realistic chance to get out that rejected the ESPN deal. Marinaro was just the poor guy supposedly "in charge." He was sitting on a time bomb.
 
don356 said:
The crazy thing is, usf right now may be the best team in the league. It shows that patience in a coach pays off, and in fball you can't just turn on the magic day one. If they could somehow manage to affiliate with some of the better western team, this conference would be as good as the Acc and B10. Once you strip osu out of the b10 equation, the rest is not heads above the crowd. Same with Clemson/fsu in the Acc. AAC may be lacking the one marquee team, but depth is there.
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Add BYU, BSU, CSU, and The AFA to the conference, and suddenly you are the go to guys in the Mountain Time Zone for marquee names.

Unleash the dreaded pods...

Mountain West- BSU, BYU, CSU, AFA

Southwest- UH, SMU, TU, Tulane

Southeast- UCF, USF, Memphis, ECU

Northeast- UCONN, Temple, Cincy, Navy

Keep part of your media deal with ESPN to get week night exposure and Saturday Coverage. Go someplace else like NBC to get network coverage before or after ND Games. Additional coverage on NBC Sports and their other channels. JMO but this league would more than separate itself from the rest of the G5 and push for P5 designation. In an 8 team playoff there is room for 6 conference champs and 2 wild cards.
 
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