Conference USA will see vastly reduced TV revenue next season

[NYUConn]

This is misleading.

The current CUSA contract that is expiring was signed in 2011 when the membership was drastically different than it is today.

The current American contract was signed in 2013 after the most recent round of conference realignment when the networks knew precisely what the conference membership would look like.

As some people pointed out above, CUSA lost a lot of key members in major American cities (Dallas, Houston, Orlando) since the 2011 contract was signed so the cut in pay in the new deal now is the market correcting the league's value.

So to view this news in the lens of networks putting the screws to a G5 league isn't accurate, it's simply a market correction for a league that was really overvalued since the last round of realignment.

To me there is nothing here to suggest that The American's TV deal will get cut when it is up in 2019-2020, provided membership stays the same.

 

[Jarhead_1775]

Disagree. It has never been that way in college football or college basketball. Winning seasons, good bowls, deep tournament runs, exciting games,... will keep fans engaged. Beating local teams like BC and Syracuse will excite the fans. Look at how UConn fans reacted after beating Houston this year.

That novelty exists in a 68 team playoff structure. 4 teams that will be inhabited by a handful of programs for the foreseeable future? Not so much.

 

[UConnJim]

That novelty exists in a 68 team playoff structure. 4 teams that will be inhabited by a handful of programs for the foreseeable future? Not so much.

Nothing has really changed in college football for most schools even as we have gone P5 and G5. Most schools don't have a chance to play for a national championship, but the fans still love their schools and go to games. Like I said, beating BC and Syracuse next year would make a very satisfying season.

 

[Husky25]

Disagree. It has never been that way in college football or college basketball. Winning seasons, good bowls, deep tournament runs, exciting games,... will keep fans engaged. Beating local teams like BC and Syracuse will excite the fans. Look at how UConn fans reacted after beating Houston this year.

Basketball and football are totally different. There is no such thing as a deep run in college football and in basketball each conference's champion gets a seat at the table.

Good bowls? There are only six "good bowls" and only two of those really matter. Secondly, how can more than one G-5 team get to a good bowl when only 1 of the 12 spots are "reserved" for 65 G-5 teams to fight over?

I can get on board with the 'Cuse and BC games over the next few years, in terms of teams local to UConn. There is a history. They were one-time conference rivals with lingering bad blood, but at the end of the day, they are P-5 and UConn is not. If they are good enough, they can possibly be a second team from their conference to "earn" 1 of the remaining 7 spots. The second best G-5 teams gets to play the weekend before Christmas in Boca. Also, in what alternate universe is Houston local?

I love that UConn beat Houston and gained bowl eligibility. It is a huge step back to respectability, but a very small part of me wishes Houston won in order to expose the hypocrisy of the it all (as if it would have made a difference). At 10-0, Houston was ranked #13 in the AP, but #19 in the more important CFP poll, behind 5 2-loss teams and little chance to improve. At that time (week 12), each one of the teams in the CFP was #9 or better. Should Houston have been a single digit rank? I don't know, but #19 and behind 5 2 loss teams was an insult when their AP ranking was #13.

For many, the national championship just isn't in the cards and their fans/alumni know it. There is no MAC fan that thinks they are winning the national championship or even get invited to the playoff. They want their teams to win their conference, play the big boys tough (maybe knock off one every so often) and go to a bowl game. .

Using the MAC doesn't really make your point and sort of solidifies mine. Average attendance for the MAC was just north of 15k and they are not on national TV during typical prime college football time slots. Yes there will be donors and die hard football fans, but do you really think those are the fans to whom I am referring?

 

[dayooper]

Using the MAC doesn't really make your point and sort of solidifies mine. Average attendance for the MAC was just north of 15k and they are not on national TV during typical prime college football time slots. Yes there will be donors and die hard football fans, but do you really think those are the fans to whom I am referring?

The fans like you are referring to don't exist. There are no casual fans of teams in the MAC, Sun Belt or CUSA that have delusions of grandeur. If there are, they are gluttons for punishment. These mostly regional schools want to market to their region, and playing the big boys of their region puts them on TV where they want to market their brand. The MACtion on Tuesdays is just the icing on the cake.

I have never heard a WMU, CMU or EMU fan ever say they had a shot at the national championship. If they make a name for themselves during the season, they may be able to play in a NYD bowl. Very few people will make time to watch a MAC school play, unless they have a connection to the university. Many people will tune in to watch a Big10 school play, even if they are playing a MAC school. There's your marketing for the school.

On Sept 26, Western Michigan played Ohio State. It was a 3:30 game on ABC. It drew 3.72 million viewers. How many of those tuned in to watch WMU? Hardly any. They still put their brand in front of 3.72 million viewers. That's huge. Earlier in the year, they played MSU and drew almost 900,00 viewers. That's a bunch of eyeballs. Some of whom may be potential students and their parents. They couldn't do that if they weren't a FBS school.

 

[Husky25]

The fans like you are referring to don't exist. There are no casual fans of teams in the MAC, Sun Belt or CUSA that have delusions of grandeur. If there are, they are gluttons for punishment. These mostly regional schools want to market to their region, and playing the big boys of their region puts them on TV where they want to market their brand. The MACtion on Tuesdays is just the icing on the cake.

I have never heard a WMU, CMU or EMU fan ever say they had a shot at the national championship. If they make a name for themselves during the season, they may be able to play in a NYD bowl. Very few people will make time to watch a MAC school play, unless they have a connection to the university. Many people will tune in to watch a Big10 school play, even if they are playing a MAC school. There's your marketing for the school.

On Sept 26, Western Michigan played Ohio State. It was a 3:30 game on ABC. It drew 3.72 million viewers. How many of those tuned in to watch WMU? Hardly any. They still put their brand in front of 3.72 million viewers. That's huge. Earlier in the year, they played MSU and drew almost 900,00 viewers. That's a bunch of eyeballs. Some of whom may be potential students and their parents. They couldn't do that if they weren't a FBS school.

I don't have a rebuttal because you're make my arguments for me. The MAC has basically already...regressed is the wrong word, but for lack of a better one...regressed to the level I was referring to. Teams in other G-5 conferences can, as should be allowed to, compete with the upper levels of the P-5 if given half a chance, but are being base dealt from a stacked deck by the P-5 and the national media who cover them...and not in a good way.