Fox - Big East exclusive negotiating window

[UConnTrumbull]

If these discussed figures are even close to accurate, Uconn needs to do whatever is within their power to get out as soon as possible.

Tell Yormark that you’ll take a partial conference membership for the remainder of the current Big 12 Deal if there is a road map in place to full membership.

If I could get 4-5 football games a year and 1 dollar more than The Big East Deal that’s a win for both sides. UConn v. Kansas a couple times a year is probably worth half of what the Big East is paying.

Has to be the end goal

 

[billybud]

$80 million split 11 ways...$7.3 million...

but may have to be cut 12 ways..

....to include BE Office...which had $11 million in expenses in 2020 (paying officials, renting MSG, Commish and staff salary, various tournament costs, Rush Media)

 

[Kolumbo]

We have to live with whatever the Big East is getting. What makes the situation unconscionable is the fact that we have the premiere program in the country right now and we have to fund a football program, and fund it well. Meanwhile DePantload had a Net of 320 and gets the same deal. UConn paid the Big East entry fee. UConn won back-to-back titles. Both Big East and UConn benefitted. But UConn better have been holding the line on any exit fees.

 

[HuskyAlum012]

$80 million split 11 ways...$7.3 million...

but may have to be cut 12 ways..

....to include BE Office...which had $11 million in expenses in 2020 (paying officials, renting MSG, Commish and staff salary, various tournament costs, Rush Media)

I think the BE office is usually funded from other sources. Such as sponsorships/BET revenue, etc. All goes to the same pot anyway but more of an optics standpoint.

 

[Ldandy]

We have to live with whatever the Big East is getting. What makes the situation unconscionable is the fact that we have the premiere program in the country right now and we have to fund a football program, and fund it well. Meanwhile DePantload had a Net of 320 and gets the same deal. UConn paid the Big East entry fee. UConn won back-to-back titles. Both Big East and UConn benefitted. But UConn better have been holding the line on any exit fees.

I think you know how Billybud feels sitting there in his cabin in North Carolina. His Noles and to a lesser extent Clemson have to carry the water for turds like Cuse, BC, GT etc.

 

[billybud]

Hey...but you guys have your own holiday...

Independents' Day....I'll raise a glass or two.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

 

[huskymedic]

-> The Big East is a special case, no doubt. The A10 only got around $6 million a year (as a league) for TV rights in 2022, and only was able to increase those rights by 40% when it extended its contract primarily with ESPN in December. Which means each Big East school will basically be worth the entirety of the A10 from a media perspective.

The AAC, with its football component, is only getting $83M a year from ESPN through 2032, and that was with Houston and Cincy in the fold. On a per team basis, the Big East will be making more money just for basketball, than the 5th or 6th best FBS conference.

This shows that there still is significant value for high end basketball. You can be damn sure Brett Yormark and the Big 12 will look at this contract and continue their scheming about splitting their rights between football and basketball the next go around. <-

 

[CashewCrew]

I’m disappointed.

 

[noeynox]

I’m disappointed.

What was a realistic number you had in mind?

 

[CashewCrew]

What was a realistic number you had in mind?

I would have been happy with $600M/6 years. $9M a school. Idk. I think the optics of paying our head coach more than we make from media revenue is tough. And yes, I know it’s all accounting magic and that does not matter.

 

[CJasmer]

So if split 11 ways $7.3 million per school. Was there any change in fees to be paid if you leave the conference prior to the end of the 6 year contract?

 

[CJasmer]

I would have been happy with $600M/6 years. $9M a school. Idk. I think the optics of paying our head coach more than we make from media revenue is tough. And yes, I know it’s all accounting magic and that does not matter.

Actually you need to cover Hurley and Geno salary - $12.4 million per year.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

If the contract is 80,000,000 that’s not to bad. . I was up last night reviewing all these conflicting numbers and that’s pretty much the number I came up with given the variety of information When you project numbers starting with actual historical numbers is the only way to even be in the ballpark , I’m a numbers nerd with a lot of time on my hands
That puts the total conference revenue at about $110 million which for a basketball only conference is very impressive.
That’s about the same as the all sport AAC who gets a piece of football playoff money and has more teams.
Thats $10,000,000 per team if divided equally
However nobody said there has to be an equal distribution of either media or NCAA money. The AAC has a two tiered structure
and the lower teams may not like it but their making 8 times more than in CUSA and as much as SDSU, which if your UTSA Is crazy . If DePaul made $4 million they would be making double the entire A10 . Im really not . Comfortable with that model but sn incentive based one which i could model in 10 -15 minutes with hard numbers .

AZ crazy plan B
If you really wanted to think out of the box and were uneasy with an unequal media distribution as us the only FSB school in the conference.
create a separate deal with a minimum of $4-5 million to cover UConn Football games even if the games are on Peacock so ehat . Face it we’re all going to buy it anyway and if you win you might even increase the fan base to include a larger area of the NE .
Especially if you use those games as a promotion or informations on Big East Basketball. We all look for off season stuff
I think NBC will easily make that money back .
In conclusion we’re not going to be able to compete with P conference money so our short term goal is create financial separation between yourself and other schools competing for a promotion.
Like in the joke you don’t have run faster than the bear ( P Schools ) to survive you have to run faster then the other guy ( G5)














.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

If the contract is 80,000,000 that’s not to bad. . I was up last night reviewing all these conflicting numbers and that’s pretty much the number I came up with given the variety of information When you project numbers starting with actual historical numbers is the only way to even be in the ballpark , I’m a numbers nerd with a lot of time on my hands
That puts the total conference revenue at about $110 million which for a basketball only conference is very impressive.
That’s about the same as the all sport AAC who gets a piece of football playoff money and has more teams.
Thats $10,000,000 per team if divided equally
However nobody said there has to be an equal distribution of either media or NCAA money. The AAC has a two tiered structure
and the lower teams may not like it but their making 8 times more than in CUSA and as much as SDSU, which if your UTSA Is crazy . If DePaul made $4 million they would be making double the entire A10 . Im really not . Comfortable with that model but sn incentive based one which i could model in 10 -15 minutes with hard numbers .

AZ crazy plan B
If you really wanted to think out of the box and were uneasy with an unequal media distribution as us the only FSB school in the conference.
create a separate deal with a minimum of $4-5 million to cover UConn Football games even if the games are on Peacock so ehat . Face it we’re all going to buy it anyway and if you win you might even increase the fan base to include a larger area of the NE .
Especially if you use those games as a promotion or informations on Big East Basketball. We all look for off season stuff
I think NBC will easily make that money back .
In conclusion we’re not going to be able to compete with P conference money so our short term goal is create financial separation between yourself and other schools competing for a promotion.
Like in the joke you don’t have run faster than the bear ( P Schools ) to survive you have to run faster then the other guy ( G5)














.

Thank you for putting that detailed response together. I actually don’t think your football plan is that crazy. Additionally, if the ACC collapses and there’s ANY hope in getting BC/Cuse et al then that peacock plan is not crazy whatsoever.

 

[CJasmer]

Thank you for putting that detailed response together. I actually don’t think your football plan is that crazy. Additionally, if the ACC collapses and there’s ANY hope in getting BC/Cuse et al then that peacock plan is not crazy whatsoever.

I getting $7.3 million per school to 11 schools. Where is $10 million coming from? Are you including NCAA credits?

 

[ScottVib]

AZ crazy plan B
If you really wanted to think out of the box and were uneasy with an unequal media distribution as us the only FSB school in the conference.
create a separate deal with a minimum of $4-5 million to cover UConn Football games even if the games are on Peacock so ehat . Face it we’re all going to buy it anyway and if you win you might even increase the fan base to include a larger area of the NE .

They already have a separate football deal. It pays 500k a year to air on CBSSN. There is no chance UConn football is drawing a 10x increase, even with a streaming product.

 

[DFW HOYA]

$500K on CBSSN is still light years ahead of FCS. Georgetown gets a 1/7th share of the Patriot League football contract with ESPN+, which pays that league only $100,000 total.

That's $14,285 a school.

 

[CJasmer]

They already have a separate football deal. It pays 500k a year to air on CBSSN. There is no chance UConn football is drawing a 10x increase, even with a streaming product.

What was the average TV audience size for UConn football home games for 2023 season?

 

[noeynox]

$500K on CBSSN is still light years ahead of FCS. Georgetown gets a 1/7th share of the Patriot League football contract with ESPN+, which pays that league only $100,000 total.

That's $14,285 a school.

You could get some nice decals with that amount.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

They already have a separate football deal. It pays 500k a year to air on CBSSN. There is no chance UConn football is drawing a 10x increase, even with a streaming product.

My proposal had nothing specific to do with the Football prigram as a stand alon3 entity
it’s about leveraging our basketball ball to get an uneven distribution with the other teams thinking their giving up something
Think out of the Box

 

[ScottVib]

My proposal had nothing specific to do with the Football prigram as a stand alon3 entity
it’s about leveraging our basketball ball to get an uneven distribution with the other teams thinking their giving up something
Think out of the Box

Forgive my confusion, but you specifically said get a separate deal worth 4.5 to cover football games. I simply pointed out that deal already exists (albeit at a lower price).

Can you clarify how your idea works?

 

[WestHartHusk]

The best thing we can do for our football TV contract is schedule power schools to play us in EH. If we scheduled 3 ACC teams at home per year, in theory that should get us some percentage of the football side of the ACC TV deal (assuming you get the right schools).

 

[Patman]

The best thing we can do for our football TV contract is schedule power schools to play us in EH. If we scheduled 3 ACC teams at home per year, in theory that should get us some percentage of the football side of the ACC TV deal (assuming you get the right schools).

Just that easy, huh?

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Forgive my confusion, but you specifically said get a separate deal worth 4.5 to cover football games. I simply pointed out that deal already exists (albeit at a lower price).

Can you clarify how your idea works?

I said it was out of the box so fasten your seat belt:
The idea had little or nothing to do with UConn football stand alone market value thank god .
It was about leveraging our basketball success to get additional money from our media partners by them paying us an additional 4-5 million and cover our football games .on a platform we’re all going to buy anyway.
Using those games to promote Big East basketball since we’re the de facto Big East football conference we might get a few additional fans out of it.
When I was trained in negotiating I was taught the best deals are where everyone walks away as a winner .
Our media partners keep us happy without pissing off the other Big East members as unequal distribution generally does at really a small cost.
Plus our conference mates that bought in to Peacock have a place to go weekly to catch up on basketball and hopefully watch a conference mate win a football game .
UConn gets more money and I get to watch UConn football games on a channel I’ve subscribed to . Who knows what happens if we can attract enough eyeballs .

 

[Duncan Idaho]

$80 million split 11 ways...$7.3 million...

but may have to be cut 12 ways..

....to include BE Office...which had $11 million in expenses in 2020 (paying officials, renting MSG, Commish and staff salary, various tournament costs,ur Rush Media)

That wouldn't cover Hurley's new contract.

 

[ScottVib]

I said it was out of the box so fasten your seat belt:
The idea had little or nothing to do with UConn football stand alone market value thank god .
It was about leveraging our basketball success to get additional money from our media partners by them paying us an additional 4-5 million and cover our football games .on a platform we’re all going to buy anyway.
Using those games to promote Big East basketball since we’re the de facto Big East football conference we might get a few additional fans out of it.
When I was trained in negotiating I was taught the best deals are where everyone walks away as a winner .
Our media partners keep us happy without pissing off the other Big East members as unequal distribution generally does at really a small cost.
Plus our conference mates that bought in to Peacock have a place to go weekly to catch up on basketball and hopefully watch a conference mate win a football game .
UConn gets more money and I get to watch UConn football games on a channel I’ve subscribed to . Who knows what happens if we can attract enough eyeballs .

Ok. But the outside of the box idea is predicated on finding a media partner who says man the UConn and Big East basketball brand is so valuable that we need to pay UConn 8-10 times more than the current market rate for their football content ($500k/annually) ostensibly as an infomercial for Big East and UConn basketball… using the lure of UConn fans subscribing to watch the football games (on a platform you note the fans will likely subscribe to anyways for the basketball product).

Where is the marketing value for the media partner? You’re advertising the product to customers you likely already have with the hope of turning a few Duke or Rice into subscribers/fans of Big East basketball.

It’s a scenario where it’s a win for UConn, neutral for the Big East… but objectively it’s hard to find 4-5 million work of value for Big East/UConn advertising through UConn football games for the media partner. They get content that was already available to them (and still is for future years) at a massive mark-up over the expected market price. It makes it hard to find the win for the media partner whose contribution is a substantial overpay for content in exchange for marketing.

 

[metsfan2323]

Thank you for putting that detailed response together. I actually don’t think your football plan is that crazy. Additionally, if the ACC collapses and there’s ANY hope in getting BC/Cuse et al then that peacock plan is not crazy whatsoever.

There is a much better chance of UConn getting added to a new version of the ACC and UConn will accept the ACC's offer. The ACC TV contract could get reduced to 15 million per year and we would still accept the offer for obvious reasons.

 

[freescooter]

There is a much better chance of UConn getting added to a new version of the ACC and UConn will accept the ACC's offer. The ACC TV contract could get reduced to 15 million per year and we would still accept the offer for obvious reasons.

You mean like $15 million>$7 million. Yeah we’d accept! Plus it won’t get reduced if the ACC is modestly competent. They will be the new B12.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Ok. But the outside of the box idea is predicated on finding a media partner who says man the UConn and Big East basketball brand is so valuable that we need to pay UConn 8-10 times more than the current market rate for their football content ($500k/annually) ostensibly as an infomercial for Big East and UConn basketball… using the lure of UConn fans subscribing to watch the football games (on a platform you note the fans will likely subscribe to anyways for the basketball product).

Where is the marketing value for the media partner? You’re advertising the product to customers you likely already have with the hope of turning a few Duke or Rice into subscribers/fans of Big East basketball.

It’s a scenario where it’s a win for UConn, neutral for the Big East… but objectively it’s hard to find 4-5 million work of value for Big East/UConn advertising through UConn football games for the media partner. They get content that was already available to them (and still is for future years) at a massive mark-up over the expected market price. It makes it hard to find the win for the media partner whose contribution is a substantial overpay for content in exchange for marketing.

The ACC pays a good % of its total Media deal for Notre Dame‘s none football content .
They’re pretty much worth a fraction of that on the open market just to keep their football associated with their conference . Plus they get a FB playoff distribution.and still remain independent. That’s how you leverage your success.. We’re not ND but we’re the Big Fish in a smaller pond.
UConn basketball as a % is as valuable to the Big East as ND loose association is to the ACC maybe even more . You should be compensated for that value.
My crazy idea as a way to keep us happy without having unequal shares. It’s that simple .
If you are happy with 1/11th of $80,000, 000 . fine .but your killing the program .
Unless there is an unequal share than I would shop UConn to the open markets as a BB only .Facing reality its What we are. . i suspect some major conferences would be interested in that arrangement
Basketball only in the B1G will get us close to $20,000,000 annually
My plan put us close to that number .
The added benefit of my plan is I get to watch UConn football as a bonus.. Football is an advertising dream so what you with that time is only limited by you .
If we signed a longer than 1 Year agreement with CBSN we deserve to be punished .