ESPN matches the deal

[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.

 

[freescooter]

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

Right. good to see someone else gets it.

 

[freescooter]

We really need to see what the "exposure" is in the ESPN proposal. based on what's been released, it doesn't seem like very much. Games on some non-existent cable channel and ESPN3? I have to say given where we are, I'd take a shot with NBC. As an up and coming entity they might well be more willing ot do lots of things. And I don't believe for a second that not being on ESPN kills anything. It all depends on where you are. A midnight braketbuster game on ESPNU isn't worth anything either. From the football standpoint, UConn-Cincinatti being the lead-in for Notre Dame wouldn't be a horrible place to be. Being on NBCSports at 3:30 would be far better than being on ESPN360 at noon, or at 10 AM or some such. And being on the U opposite the NFL on Sunday night or Monday night isn't any great shakes either.

 

[junglehusky]

I'm having a tough time deciding which deal sucks less as far as exposure and promotion. Sad that this is what it comes down to.

 

[noeynox]

We really need to see what the "exposure" is in the ESPN proposal. based on what's been released, it doesn't seem like very much. Games on some non-existent cable channel and ESPN3? I have to say given where we are, I'd take a shot with NBC. As an up and coming entity they might well be more willing ot do lots of things. And I don't believe for a second that not being on ESPN kills anything. It all depends on where you are. A midnight braketbuster game on ESPNU isn't worth anything either. From the football standpoint, UConn-Cincinatti being the lead-in for Notre Dame wouldn't be a horrible place to be. Being on NBCSports at 3:30 would be far better than being on ESPN360 at noon, or at 10 AM or some such. And being on the U opposite the NFL on Sunday night or Monday night isn't any great shakes either.

Totally agree. The big east can't be killed any more than it has. Might as well be bold and try a newjoint venture with the new kid on the block. Your fugged anyways might as well give yourself a chance to carve out your own niche.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Wouldn't the schools be better off just selling their home games individually and not having the conference sign a deal at all?

 

[Hoophound]

Wouldn't the schools be better off just selling their home games individually and not having the conference sign a deal at all?

We would, as would Cincy. I'm not sure about the others. We could get so much more money by only putting our games on SNY and not even being broadcast nationally. This deal is outrageously bad for us. If we could get a decent schedule as an indy, we'd have to explore it. That is very hard to do though. I haven't seen anyone from UConn say a peep about this tv deal yet. I presume they will talk when it is final but I just can't see how you sit in Storrs and swallow this pill. It just seems too low to bother with other than the scheduling convenience.

 

[JohnUnitas]

WTF are you talking about.....UConn is finished because of a crappy espn deal? Are kids going to stop coming to UConn to play BB and FB.....so we have to work a little harder until situation improves. It sucks the BE imploded, so we dominate #*king league and when the smoke clears we'll still be standing. Let's give it some time before we hit the eject button. CR will continue to wreak havoc and we'll get an invite....until then screw it and play ball.

UConn will be making 1.8 million per year. Schools in the B10, SEC, B12, P12 are making more than the entire conference on their own. It's going to be impossible to keep up in paying coaches, facilities, recruiting budgets, and exposure.

 

[noeynox]

Wouldn't the schools be better off just selling their home games individually and not having the conference sign a deal at all?

Probably, can Ward put something like that together?

 

[CL82]

Who gets to vote on this deal? Herbst should be burning up the phone lines today. Cinci, USF and UConn should vote against. Is this actually an improvements for the newbs?

 

[Fishy]

Who gets to vote on this deal? Herbst should be burning up the phone lines today. Cinci, USF and UConn should vote against. Is this actually an improvements for the newbs?

Why should they vote against it? It's the best deal that's out there for them.

 

[UConn Dan]

Some league members, most notably UConn and Cincinnati, continue to lobby to join other leagues.

I asked McMurphy to confirm that we are still lobbying and he told me yes "behind the scenes"

 

[CL82]

Why should they vote against it? It's the best deal that's out there for them.

For us? I think we could do better with a deal with SNY based upon what they paid for woman's basketball. For Cinci, and or USF? I don't know, but the NBC number was so low, I would be surprised if someone else couldn't beat it.

Now I don't know what the new members were making previously, but was it so significantly lower than this number that it justifies the new conference arrangement? If not why do it?

Before someone talks about exposure, keep in mind we are being offerred streaming only apparently. That's what ESPN3 is correct? I am having a hard time seeing how this makes sense for anyone.

Of course if none of the new programs had any meaningful TV revenue before, this might look attractive to them.

So, again who get to vote on this. I am guessing that it is the 2014 - 2015 schools. How many votes are needed to turn this down?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Someone pointed out earlier that NBC had no incentive to bid up because ESPN could just take the bid, because ESPN has right of first refusal for the conference. There is no GOR. If the schools want to sell their games individually, why not? Syndicate the games out. That contract prices the TV rights for a UConn basketball game at roughly $40k and a football game at about $200k. Are you telling me that we can't do better than that? We do better than $40k a game for the women's Tier 3. Are you telling me that UCF can't do better than that?

All the conference would be is a scheduling alliance, it would negotiate for bowls, and it would hold a conference basketball tournament, which it could sell the rights too.. It would have no other business activities.

The Big East should simply walk away from this deal. If it costs us Houston and SMU, so be it. It's not like they brought a whole bunch of value with them from CUSA.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Why should they vote against it? It's the best deal that's out there for them.

I said 4 years ago we should do whatever we had to do to bust the ESPN TV contract, and I have been proven more right than any poster on this board has ever been right about anything. There are 3 teams left from a conference of 17. The old deal is no longer valid. Invoke a state statute regarding change of control of a business entity. Have the old Big East dissolve in return for some modest rebate of part of the exit fees for departing members. Bust the deal, and go back to market in some other form without ESPN hanging over our head.

 

[UConn Dan]

Someone pointed out earlier that NBC had no incentive to bid up because ESPN could just take the bid, because ESPN has right of first refusal for the conference. There is no GOR. If the schools want to sell their games individually, why not? Syndicate the games out. That contract prices the TV rights for a UConn basketball game at roughly $40k and a football game at about $200k. Are you telling me that we can't do better than that? We do better than $40k a game for the women's Tier 3. Are you telling me that UCF can't do better than that?

All the conference would be is a scheduling alliance, it would negotiate for bowls, and it would hold a conference basketball tournament, which it could sell the rights too.. It would have no other business activities.

The Big East should simply walk away from this deal. If it costs us Houston and SMU, so be it. It's not like they brought a whole bunch of value with them from CUSA.

Walk away to what? This is what it is and we move on. In NBE until we are not.