If UH (etal) want to be in Big 12 in 2023, AAC wants another $35 million…

[Storrs South]

 

[How Sway?!]

Wonder how the tv deal is gonna work. Doubt ESPN increases the payout that much

 

[arch]

Wonder how the tv deal is gonna work. Doubt ESPN increases the payout that much

Did ESPN decrease the payout much when UConn left AAC?

 

[huskymedic]

More money please:

 

[ScottVib]

Did ESPN decrease the payout much when UConn left AAC?

I believe they simply lost a pro-rata share for the lost UConn inventory. Allegedly to keep the current teams payouts the same all the new teams they added had to agree to half shares.

 

[CL82]

I believe they simply lost a pro-rata share for the lost UConn inventory. Allegedly to keep the current teams payouts the same all the new teams they added had to agree to half shares.

Is that speculation or did you read something about it? Does the math work? Does half shares to the new teams result in existing teams maintaining the status quo? Feels off.

 

[Kolumbo]

CR greed. It's madness I tell ya.

 

[Ha Who]

CR greed. It's madness I tell ya.

Rome's raging greed

Diana Preston examines what causes empires to collapse In his monumental History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon wrote that the reasons for Rome's debacle were "simple and obvious"

www.afr.com

 

[ScottVib]

Is that speculation or did you read something about it? Does the math work? Does half shares to the new teams result in existing teams maintaining the status quo? Feels off.

It was something I read, but has not yet been proven with a contract to back it up (and I can't find that report, so take it with a large grain of salt). Essentially the AAC, despite adding inventory, wisely declined to try to claim that the contract should be reopened (i.e. we got you more inventory, give us more money), the report was that in exchange for the extra inventory ESPN would not cut the payout to the league.. however they weren't going to increase the payout either. In order to keep the remaining 8 members whole, the 3 full shares remaining would be cut in half for the 6 new members.

Mathematically it works... politically it sounds like a great way to sow dissention when UAB out-performs say ECU or Tulsa and wonders why they don't get the same amount of money when they arguably bring more to the table (bigger market, better performance, etc)

 

[huskymedic]

 

[CL82]

Anyone remember how much we paid to get out?

 

[huskymedic]

Anyone remember how much we paid to get out?

“In 2019, UConn paid only $17 million to leave the AAC early, despite providing only 12 months’ notice.”

 

[How Sway?!]

Really interested how the Big 12 handles the tv monies. I doubt ESPN will increase the payout to keep everyone whole, so does that lower the payout to Oklahoma and Texas, thus lowering the GOR penalty needed to leave early?

 

[Kolumbo]

“In 2019, UConn paid only $17 million to leave the AAC early, despite providing only 12 months’ notice.”

So UCONN left the AAC to join the Big East while its struggling football program went independent. Cincy Houston and UCF have all experienced pretty good football success and are leaving the AAC for a better conference. Not for nothing, but why in the world would the AAC negotiate the fees? These losses basically cut the AAC at the knees. Meanwhile the three programs leaving will take a short-term loss in order to move onto the Big 12 whose status is uncertain anyway. Craziness.

 

[CL82]

So UCONN left the AAC to join the Big East while its struggling football program went independent. Cincy Houston and UCF have all experienced pretty good football success and are leaving the AAC for a better conference. Not for nothing, but why in the world would the AAC negotiate the fees? These losses basically cut the AAC at the knees. Meanwhile the three programs leaving will take a short-term loss in order to move onto the Big 12 whose status is uncertain anyway. Craziness.

There’s no GOR in the AAC so if Aresco plays hardball they could just walk and let the American sue them. It’s better for everyone if they come to some kind of mutual agreement

 

[Slasher]

There’s no GOR in the AAC so if Aresco plays hardball they could just walk and let the American sue them. It’s better for everyone if they come to some kind of mutual agreement

Exactly right. And there's precedent with UConn only paying $17M for 12 months notice. If those three schools left and the conference tried to charge say 30M+ they'd never win that much in court.

 

[Kolumbo]

Exactly right. And there's precedent with UConn only paying $17M for 12 months notice. If those three schools left and the conference tried to charge say 30M+ they'd never win that much in court.

If they want to use UCONN's $17 mill as precedent, I'd think a fair fee would be at least $34 mill easy. And if they don't want to pay it, stick around until 2024. UCONN Football sucked and was held over the barrel for $17 million. These three programs are doing very well and leaving for more money in a better conference. A lot more money, and leaving the AAC much worse off. It would be interesting to see how a court would weigh the effects.

 

[Slasher]

If they want to use UCONN's $17 mill as precedent, I'd think a fair fee would be at least $34 mill easy. And if they don't want to pay it, stick around until 2024. UCONN Football sucked and was held over the barrel for $17 million. These three programs are doing very well and leaving for more money in a better conference. A lot more money, and leaving the AAC much worse off. It would be interesting to see how a court would weigh the effects.

I think you're struggling with how lawyering works. The lame duck three is leaving with 2 years notice, just a few months less than required by by-laws. The nominal exit fee and terms is 10MM and 27 month notice period. These three teams gave their notice in Sept 2021. 27 months would be December 2023. Instead, these teams are leaving in July 2023. How much power do you think this gives the AAC? The answer is they'd be entitled to some amount more than 10MM for leaving 5 months early.

UConn left in 12 months, or 15 months early and agreed to a settlement of 17MM. That's a legal precedent. The AAC would be hard-pressed to get more than 17MM in a settlement (maybe some with inflation, it being three teams, etc.) But they will not let this get to court and will settle for 17-20MM as McMurphy has reported to avoid the legal fees and hassle.

 

[Kolumbo]

I think you're struggling with how lawyering works. The lame duck three is leaving with 2 years notice, just a few months less than required by by-laws. The nominal exit fee and terms is 10MM and 27 month notice period. These three teams gave their notice in Sept 2021. 27 months would be December 2023. Instead, these teams are leaving in July 2023. How much power do you think this gives the AAC? The answer is they'd be entitled to some amount more than 10MM for leaving 5 months early.

UConn left in 12 months, or 15 months early and agreed to a settlement of 17MM. That's a legal precedent. The AAC would be hard-pressed to get more than 17MM in a settlement (maybe some with inflation, it being three teams, etc.) But they will not let this get to court and will settle for 17-20MM as McMurphy has reported to avoid the legal fees and hassle.

It doesn't matter if it's only 5 months, it's a college season. 27 months really equals 36 months. How much will each program receive from the Big 12 each season? You have to take into account what it's worth for each program to leave early, and it's worth a lot more than $17 million. UCONN paid $17 million and left for bupkis. You also take into account how much it's hurting the AAC and that is more difficult to quantify because it is losing it's top 3 football brands and that is a killer for the conference. The financial analysis would indicate a much larger number than $17 million but yeah, I get it, they'll probably settle for much less.

 

[Slasher]

It doesn't matter if it's only 5 months, it's a college season. 27 months really equals 36 months. How much will each program receive from the Big 12 each season? You have to take into account what it's worth for each program to leave early, and it's worth a lot more than $17 million. UCONN paid $17 million and left for bupkis. You also take into account how much it's hurting the AAC and that is more difficult to quantify because it is losing it's top 3 football brands and that is a killer for the conference. The financial analysis would indicate a much larger number than $17 million but yeah, I get it, they'll probably settle for much less.

How much it is worth to the exiting teams is 100% irrelevant. It's about how much harm it is to the conference to leaving 5 months early. Is the AAC going to receive a lesser TV payout that year because of that? You could argue that those three teams leaving may affect NCAA tournament credits or bowl money coming to the conference. But again, that's hard to value and future cast.

 

[Kolumbo]

How much it is worth to the exiting teams is 100% irrelevant. It's about how much harm it is to the conference to leaving 5 months early. Is the AAC going to receive a lesser TV payout that year because of that? You could argue that those three teams leaving may affect NCAA tournament credits or bowl money coming to the conference. But again, that's hard to value and future cast.

How much it is worth to the exiting teams is 100% Relevant, otherwise they wouldn't request to leave early. Heck, they will likely profit by leaving early so yes, it is worth it for them to leave and they should pay for the privilege. Those three teams leaving the AAC has a yuge cost to the AAC, in the hundreds of millions probably. I don't know how the networks value the conference but without Cincy, Houston and UCF, the AAC is just another G5 also-ran. Even a total $100 million exit fee isn't going to cover the cost of the damage.

 

[Slasher]

How much it is worth to the exiting teams is 100% Relevant, otherwise they wouldn't request to leave early. Heck, they will likely profit by leaving early so yes, it is worth it for them to leave and they should pay for the privilege. Those three teams leaving the AAC has a yuge cost to the AAC, in the hundreds of millions probably. I don't know how the networks value the conference but without Cincy, Houston and UCF, the AAC is just another G5 also-ran. Even a total $100 million exit fee isn't going to cover the cost of the damage.

Yes it's a huge loss for the AAC. But those teams are responsible for those damages. The only thing they're responsible for is LEAVING EARLIER than the by-laws state.

 

[ScottVib]

There are significantly higher damages for the AAC with these teams leaving than with just UConn. In UConn's case the TV deal solely decreased by a pro-rata amount, meaning there was no net impact to the members shares. In this case the AAC has been forced to dramatically increase inventory to maintain the same payout level (that's the best case the AAC had cited), so there are real financial considerations (they had to add 6 teams worth of inventory to maintain 3 teams worth of shares). The teams will get to leave early, but it won't be for any less than UConn's fee.

 

[Slasher]

 

[huskymedic]