Big 12 TV partners push back on expansion

[billybud]

From CNN Money: Could mean need for more content for ESPN in future.

Disney (DIS) acquired a 33% stake in BAMTech on Tuesday in a deal worth $1 billion. BAMTech was spun off from Major League Baseball Advanced Media. It's a tech company and video streaming company that includes clients such as HBO NOW.

That means Disney could use BAM's streaming technology to create a long-awaited ESPN streaming service that Disney could sell directly to consumers -- even if they don't have a cable subscription.

"Our investment in BAMTech gives us the technology infrastructure we need to quickly scale and monetize our streaming capabilities at ESPN and across our company," Bob Iger, Disney's CEO said in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with BAMTech as we explore new ways to deliver the unmatched content of The Walt Disney Company across a variety of platforms."

BAMTech will also collaborate with ESPN to "launch and distribute a new ESPN-branded multi-sport subscription streaming service in the future" that will include sporting events beyond the current crop of games and programs currently found on ESPN.

 

[polycom]

UConn going to the Big 12 long term could potentially be disastrous for UConn. What happens to UConn if we get an invite to the Big 12 and then the Big 12 breaks up....because of TV deals.

 

[Santini35]

UConn going to the Big 12 long term could potentially be disastrous for UConn. What happens to UConn if we get an invite to the Big 12 and then the Big 12 breaks up....because of TV deals.

We would have spent the last 8ish years getting more money than we do now, playing teams that drive more attendance, being in the P5 instead of G5 etc.... so yeah better off than staying in the AAC for another 8 years

 

[Stainmaster]

We would have spent the last 8ish years getting more money than we do now, playing teams that drive more attendance, being in the P5 instead of G5 etc.... so yeah better off than staying in the AAC for another 8 years

Which, in turn, makes us that much more attractive to a B1G or ACC that's potentially mining the wreckage.

 

[atom58]

Yes the alumni base is a small part of the equation, but the markets are an even a larger portion. Yet, it's the only part of my statement that you bringing up? It's small market base is what makes the Big12 overvalued. Remember, that was what your original statement was about, not FSU vs. UF and their alumni.

Sure, the fanbase of the Big 12 may be smaller, but if you can't see the "pull" of OU and Texas to nationwide TV viewers, I don't know what to tell you. Those two are keeping the Big 12 viable with TV $$$ and let me say I hope the conference survives b/c if it implodes for sure there will be schools left behind with no where else (in the P5 anyway) to go. And also just maybe UConn will get the call soon - in the meantime the school should continue to push forward on the academic side and ultimately seek to join the AAU - that will help as it is University Presidents who have to make the decision rather than ADs and FB and BB coaches. Academic standing (most of the time) is valued by the major conferences.

 

[JMick]

in the meantime the school should continue to push forward on the academic side and ultimately seek to join the AAU - that will help as it is University Presidents who have to make the decision rather than ADs and FB and BB coaches. Academic standing (most of the time) is valued by the major conferences.

The problem is that if you're not "in" now, good luck being "in" later.

I agree that we should keep pushing for AAU status, but the rhetoric coming out is that if you're not P5 then you're nothing. I don't want to be a doom and gloom guy, but if the AAC is raided and UConn is not included, we won't be able to sustain our athletic programs the way we have been. Good luck getting 5* recruits for basketball and 3* recruits for football when you're playing against nobodies.

 

[atom58]

The problem is that if you're not "in" now, good luck being "in" later.

I agree that we should keep pushing for AAU status, but the rhetoric coming out is that if you're not P5 then you're nothing. I don't want to be a doom and gloom guy, but if the AAC is raided and UConn is not included, we won't be able to sustain our athletic programs the way we have been. Good luck getting 5* recruits for basketball and 3* recruits for football when you're playing against nobodies.

I can see that could be a problem but there is an OOC schedule - I think you guys are playing UVa, BC, and SU this year for instance. Attempting to win the conference and having a respectable overall record should help with perception. Also somewhere I read that the Big 10 is interested in adding AAU BB schools in the next go round.

 

[Santini35]

I can see that could be a problem but there is an OOC schedule - I think you guys are playing UVa, BC, and SU this year for instance. Attempting to win the conference and having a respectable overall record should help with perception. Also somewhere I read that the Big 10 is interested in adding AAU BB schools in the next go round.

But how long does that last? The P5 seems to be closing ranks, and putting limits on who they can play ooc, such as requiring a certain number from P5. Who knows how long we can be considered "good enough" to keep the B10 and others counting us as a P5 equivalent

 

[ninety-nine]

But how long does that last? The P5 seems to be closing ranks, and putting limits on who they can play ooc, such as requiring a certain number from P5. Who knows how long we can be considered "good enough" to keep the B10 and others counting us as a P5 equivalent

The fact is, the concept of "stability" in this system is illusory. Because it's being driven by the profit expectations of business interests, which are clearly unrealistic over the long term, there will always be pressure to cut costs and increase revenue in order to satisfy shareholders (or their financial-industry "representatives"), pay executive salaries, etc. As many have already said, this means that the most profitable programs will eventually break off in some fashion (even if it's just financially) and stop sharing media revenue with the Wake Forests and Washington States of the world, and a little further down the road, Alabama, Michigan, FSU and Notre Dame won't want much to do with Mississippi, Maryland and Arizona, so they'll find a way to create some kind of top-tier football superconference arrangement for the 16-20 very top dogs. Et cetera. Of course, the media partners will still find some way to "monetize" every other school at a lesser level, because some money can be made from the junior leagues, too, and the pressure to make that money is intense.

That is how the corporate world works. It consumes itself because it has developed an appetite far beyond that which is necessary to sustain existence, and that appetite never stops being hungry and wanting more. It can't be stable. Capitalism creates, consumes, and destroys by its very nature. It's a terrible match for the educational system, but it's completely dominant now, so we try to fit our hopes and dreams into its financial plans.

Right now, UConn is struggling with being "good enough" because there is no core meaning to "good enough." It's a transitory and situational concept, like "high-end" or "fit for human consumption." When your state flagship U wins 15 out of 42 NCAA basketball titles in a 21-year span - a LUDICROUS achievement, by the way - and its football team played in a major bowl less than six years ago, and it still feels like the flagship is bobbing up and down in the harbor, waiting for a tugboat that is slowly taking on water, that should be pretty obvious.

 

[billybud]

The reason, of course, for the scramble by schools to get a Big 12 invite, is that it might be the last train to Clarksville.

Houston understands that it is "all in".

It's a practice that UH apparently realizes it cannot keep up. Chancellor Renu Khator wrote as much in an email obtained by the Houston Chronicle. If UH does not get into a major conference soon, "it will be difficult for us to sustain it," she wrote in 2014 to a UH professor who sent her an article about college athletics spending.

"It's a big bet and we're not a cash-rich school," Jonathan Snow, the president of UH's faculty senate, said in a recent interview.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The reason, of course, for the scramble by schools to get a Big 12 invite, is that it might be the last train to Clarksville.

Houston understands that it is "all in".

It's a practice that UH apparently realizes it cannot keep up. Chancellor Renu Khator wrote as much in an email obtained by the Houston Chronicle. If UH does not get into a major conference soon, "it will be difficult for us to sustain it," she wrote in 2014 to a UH professor who sent her an article about college athletics spending.

"It's a big bet and we're not a cash-rich school," Jonathan Snow, the president of UH's faculty senate, said in a recent interview.

One of the losers in realignment is going to sue. We are approaching the point where some of these schools do not have much to lose.

 

[atom58]

I haven't seen the comparative US News rankings of national universities on this site. There may be some concern about schools trying to rig those numbers but here they are with WVa and Louisville thrown in for comparison purposes:

Tulane 41 (AAU)
UConn 57
BYU 66
Colorado State 127
Cincinatti 140 (35 clicks above WVa)
USF 156
UCF 168
Louisville 168
WVa 175
Houston 187 (12 clicks below WVa)
Memphis ("rank not published" but below 200)

When the Big 12 Presidents vote, such academic issues will be a factor. OU's David Boren has said as much. I understand for example that Texas talked with the SEC in 2011 but didn't like the academics there. Of course, the LHN would have had to end and no conference (Pac 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC) would accept them as a full member if that exists. (The ACC felt that Texas was talking to them in 2011 only to get leverage with the Pac 12 - they were never serious about joining the ACC.) I don't believe Texas wants to destroy the Big 12 - that is their lifeboat too until 2031 when the LHN contract ends, and it is a better geographic fit for them.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

We would have spent the last 8ish years getting more money than we do now, playing teams that drive more attendance, being in the P5 instead of G5 etc.... so yeah better off than staying in the AAC for another 8 years

HOW DO PEOPLE STILL NOT GET THIS?!!? BIG12 DISASTER IN 8 YEARS POTENTIALLY AND GET PICKED UP BY ACC OR AAC DISASTER NOW AND DIE?!?!

 

[djct1999]

I haven't seen the comparative US News rankings of national universities on this site. There may be some concern about schools trying to rig those numbers but here they are with WVa and Louisville thrown in for comparison purposes:

Tulane 41 (AAU)
UConn 57
BYU 66
Colorado State 127
Cincinatti 140 (35 clicks above WVa)
USF 156
UCF 168
Louisville 168
WVa 175
Houston 187 (12 clicks below WVa)
Memphis ("rank not published" but below 200)

When the Big 12 Presidents vote, such academic issues will be a factor. OU's David Boren has said as much. I understand for example that Texas talked with the SEC in 2011 but didn't like the academics there. Of course, the LHN would have had to end and no conference (Pac 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC) would accept them as a full member if that exists. (The ACC felt that Texas was talking to them in 2011 only to get leverage with the Pac 12 - they were never serious about joining the ACC.) I don't believe Texas wants to destroy the Big 12 - that is their lifeboat too until 2031 when the LHN contract ends, and it is a better geographic fit for them.

Let me kill the suspense. This is what will happen and once again its contingent on what UT and OU want longterm. It will be on three scenarios(in no particular order):
1. stay at 10, negotiate bigger payout
2. extend gor, discuss network most likely with fox, UConn will definitely be inlcuded. My guess is UConn and either BYU or Cincy, or 4 with those 3 and UH.
3. Networks play hard ball, Big12 calls their bluff, extends bys 2, Cincy and UH. Simply a money grab, Big12 is dead, OU and UT will certainly leave at end of this contract.

If I had to guess, my bet is the schools prefer option 2, 1, 3. Not sure the networks agree, but maybe Fox bites. From Day 1, UH has been used as a pawn. There is no way that if UT was serious, longter with UH, they would be so vocal about it. If UH was confident, there is no way they would be so vocal.
In the end, my belief is they stay at 10.

 

[atom58]

Possible but it would make them look foolish after exciting what 17 schools? I think they will expand by at least 2 to form a 12 team league with 2 divisions which makes the CCG more reasonable than having 2 teams play again after round robin play, and as they also own the name Big 14 I do believe that is where they are going. If UConn gets the call, they have to take it. You go with the 1st major league that asks you.