ESPN matches the deal

[NEforceUConn]

............ so we dominate #*king league and when the smoke clears we'll still be standing.

Someone please start the fricken fire.

 

[Fishy]

The contract is nothing short of awful.

The only thing that would have made it even more awful is if the games were on NBC's cable channel.

Not looking to assign blame nor implicate that someone else could have done better, but it's time to let Aresco go. He was hired to get a television contract and I guess technically he did do that.

Now, they can thank him for all of his hard work and hire someone who is not a complete towering inferno of failure.

 

[Waquoit]

The MONEY is not the issue.

I want to be certain we have the exposure ... the Big Monday spot. If that isn't what this is, then NBC has the capacity to build a whole better mousetrap. And, maybe the bottom line needs to be a mix of both.

Instead of Big Monday in the 7:00pm slot they could make it UConn Monday. Alternate a home game, an away game and a women's game in 3-week cycles. The money would still go to the league but we would get great exposure.

 

[Fishy]

I'm pretty sure you can forget about Big Monday.

Conferences with schools like Central Florida, Tulane and SMU do not get Big Mondays or Terrific Tuesdays or even Wacky Wednesdays. We get the 9 pm slot on ESPNU.

 

[UConnDan97]

Wow. I don't even have the words.

ESPN has acquired us for less than 2 million per year per team. We won't even get the main channel exposure, and they will sub-license us to FOX1 (wherever the hell on the box that is) for a profit that we won't see a dime of. So we'll get $#itty money, $#itty exposure, $#itty timeslots, and no promotion by our primary tv partner. Truly craptastic...

 

[UConnDan97]

I suppose there is still some work to be done here to insure the exposure aspect of it, in order to get the presidents' "buy-in", so perhaps there is a marginally less dark lining on this dark cloud:

"ESPN matched the financial aspect, sources said. However, Big East commissioner Mike Aresco must be satisfied ESPN's deal matches NBC Sports Network's offer in all facets. Once that is concluded, the Big East presidents must approve the new deal. They could vote on accepting the deal as early as this weekend, sources said."

 

[Hi-Low]

I'm pretty sure you can forget about Big Monday.

Conferences with schools like Central Florida, Tulane and SMU do not get Big Mondays or Terrific Tuesdays or even Wacky Wednesdays. We get the 9 pm slot on ESPNU.

It blows but UConn, Cincy, Memphis, Temple, S Fla, Houston is not crap and some games will find their way to espn/espn 2, especially if teams are ranked. Also we'll have non-conf games that I'm sure some of which will be against "attractive" opponents. IF we play more than a season or 2 with this group would be surprised.

 

[The Viking]

It's pretty sad when A-Rod could have taken one year of his salary and bought our conference's TV rights for a full year...and have money left over to blow on more PEDs and muscular women.

Who ever would have imagined 18 months ago that we would be where we are. It literally could not be worse both from a conference and a TV revenue standpoint... and then you have the story of Rutgers....

 

[Exit 4]

It blows but UConn, Cincy, Memphis, Temple, S Fla, Houston is not crap and some games will find their way to espn/espn 2, especially if teams are ranked. Also we'll have 12+ non-conf games that I'm sure some of which will be against "attractive" opponents. IF we play more than a season or 2 with this group would surprised.

The reality of the contract has the feel of the dirt beginning to cover the casket.

We're going to have become Boise St and dominate.

Still excited about next season no matter what.

 

[Hi-Low]

A few more details....
"Sources said CBS also will extend its men's basketball rights with the Big East, paying the league about an additional $2 million annually. That will bring the Big East's total media rights value to about $22 million annually, starting in 2014 and, based on a 12-team league, worth about $1.8 million per school annually.....(or 2.2 million for current 10 teams)

Some league members, most notably UConn and Cincinnati, continue to lobby to join other leagues.
Cincinnati president Santa Ono recently sent each ACC president video descriptions of the Bearcats' $70 million upcoming stadium renovation and holiday cards in hopes of helping land an ACC invitation, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Tuesday."

I think we'll make more off all the exit fees...............silver lining.

 

[noeynox]

1.8 million. That is about what P makes. Lets hope somehow we end up with the decent exposure of NBC . Eh who cares anymore.

 

[weyuo]

Winning does solve a lot of problems...just hope there is someone paying attention when we do all this winning. What I fear most is not being able to schedule good non conference games in football and basketball. Winning those will be the only thing that keeps UConn relevant but if we can't even get a game with Pitt or Syracuse in years to come we are truly screwed.

I don't worry as much in basketball because no matter what league we're in we have a good enough product to get a seed in the the big dance, there we can shine regardless of the rest of the league. But football, if we get into a situation where there is zero possibility of a BCS bowl game then there are problems. The 2013 season is without doubt the most important in UConn history. It may be the last chance for the Huskies to show that they can compete. Somebody up in Storrs needs to sound the alarm and notify the fan base that they need to show up this year like never before. If the state of Connecticut wants Div-1 football they need to show it this year.

 

[Dann]

uconn will never see a dime from that contract. no worries, were not part of it.

 

[jbdphi]

uconn will never see a dime from that contract. no worries, were not part of it.

uconn will never see a dime from that contract. no worries, were not part of it.

Please stop saying this crap unless you can name published sources otherwise. Unless there is an apocalyptic event before BB season next year we absolutely will be collecting money from this contract.

Is it possible that all sorts of CR takes place and UConn finds a new home for 2014? Sure but nobody knows jack shit as to what is actually going to happen so please stop saying things that cannot be proven to be true as stated fact when it is absolute conjecture on your part.

 

[uconnsouth]

B1G will raid the ACC & we will be in the ACC in two years.

 

[Jimdish255]

So now when the ACC gets raided ESPN will pay the ACC to NOT expand, ESPN benefits financially from keeping the New Big East together. Why would they want us to upgrade when it means they would have to pay us more money? ESPN will make more of a profit from NBE programming then they will from ACC programming.

Herbst should vote to go with NBC. Competition will benefit us in the long run.

Exactly my #1 concern. The ACC will never be allowed to offer a BE team to replace any raided teams. Why would they. They'd be more likely to oversee the destruction of the ACC offering the remnants peanuts to join the NBE.

 

[uconnsouth]

[e="Jimdish255, post: 511682, member: 137"]Exactly my #1 concern. The ACC will never be allowed to offer a BE team to replace any raided teams. Why would they. They'd be more likely to oversee the destruction of the ACC offering the remnants peanuts to join the NBE.[/quote]

Espn is going to pay to see Duke UConn. End of story. They will make more money for the rights to watch great match ups. It does ESPN no good for UConn to be irrelevant. UConn draws great ratings otherwise they wouldn't be on ESPN every single week.

 

[pepband99]

UConn is part of this contract - as is Cincy.

But Dan is right. Putting games on NBC's cable channel is like being shot into outer space.

...as opposed to ESPN3 exclusives, and even worse, a now-non-existent FOX1? The Big12 almost commited suicide over FOX, and they were on RSNs that actually exist!

 

[SubbaBub]

Survival as a top AD is now dependent on getting out of this conference. The clock has officially started.

Without regular ESPN exposure, even the BB program is in trouble. FB would be doomed.

If I hear Gonzaga one more time I'm going to puke. Gonzaga is a huge step down from where we are in BB.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[UCFBfan]

Exactly my #1 concern. The ACC will never be allowed to offer a BE team to replace any raided teams. Why would they. They'd be more likely to oversee the destruction of the ACC offering the remnants peanuts to join the NBE.

So who would they choose to replace the departed teams? Let's say 4 teams leave the ACC. Hypothetically the teams being mentioned are FSU, UNC, UVA and either Clemson/GT. You think ESPN would leave the ACC at 10 with a weakened FB AND BBall product? So they're just gonna say, "Well we have UConn, Cincy, and USF on the cheap so let's not let the ACC take them. Let's have them look at C-USA or the Sun Belt. Hey ODU and UNC-Charlotte are up and comers. They are totally worth $17 mill a year!".....Sure.....ESPN isn't dumb and they also have no total control over the ACC. In all likelihood if all the departures being speculated actually happen, they'll be looking at UConn, Cincy, and probably USF to come in. They know they're out there and willing to jump at the word "Go". The ACC isn't too concerned on replacing the schools they're eventually going to lose.

 

[huskyjawz]

Agreeing to the matching provision was pure stupidity. It prevents a bidding war.

 

[Husky25]

NBC would have been so much better than ESPN. ESPN is going to destroy the Big East. You thought the bashing was bad before, you haven't seen anything yet. Watch how many times the D team of announcers that is calling UConn/UCF football game on ESPN the Ocho find a way to mention APR or Nate Miles. It will be a litany of how bad the Big East sucks for 3.5 hours of every football game.

UConn is Andy Dufresne and ESPN is both the Warden and the Sisters, all rolled up into one, and we are in for 20+ years of hell.

You have -0- (that's zero) idea of which you speak. You want the football program defunded anway, so what do you care?!?!?

 

[Vuce]

The deal, unfortunately, does include football.

 

[Husky25]

The deal, unfortunately, does include football.

I know I heard Katz say it wasn't, but the article on ESPN says it extends the football deal starting the contracts expiration.

I don't think UConn is in the Big East next year (they will at least announce they are leaving), so it really won't affect them. I am hoping vs hope that they get a Big 10 invite in the near future and use the ACC as a fallback, but I do not have direct knowledge.

 

[Jimdish255]

I know I heard Katz say it wasn't, but the article on ESPN says it extends the football deal starting the contracts expiration.

I don't think UConn is in the Big East next year (they will at least announce they are leaving), so it really won't affect them. I am hoping vs hope that they get a Big 10 invite in the near future and use the ACC as a fallback, but I do not have direct knowledge.

They're just going to walk away from the league with no invite and the exit fees they are owed?

 

[Husky25]

They're just going to walk away from the league with no invite and the exit fees they are owed?

Did I say that? Go back and re-read. This time read every word in sequence instead of every other word.

 

[CL82]

Big winners, ESPN ...and SNY. Big losers...pretty much everyone else involved in the deal.

This deal makes little sense to me. Why did NBC allow EPSN to buy up more content on the cheap? It feels as if NBC might have gotten a collateral (we'll allow you to exist) deal from ESPN, but even Conspiracy Kitty isn't ready to embrace that quite yet.

 

[JayRU09]

ESPN promises to show 65 football games........all on ESPN3. Exposure means wildly different things to the men in suits apparently. NBC was at least giving 26 games on national television, guaranteed. 65 on ESPN does not mean 65 on TV, and that sucks.

 

[ZooCougar]

F ESPN.

 

[businesslawyer]

Enjoy this season in hoops, because there is no way for UConn to compete at a national level in men's hoops or football with a TV contract like this one. UConn is finished.

Well, if you would finish posting that would at least be some consolation.