Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[How Sway?!]

I have gone through the math before, so I will give an abbreviated explanation. The SEC, ACC, and Big 10 put the vast majority of their basketball games on their conference networks. The Pac 12 does as well. When people compare other conference TV contracts and ratings with the Big East TV contract and ratings, they miss a key point. All of the Big East games are shown on a linear channel (vast majority on FOX/FS1) and a minority of the SEC, ACC, and Big 10 basketball games are. So, schools like Michigan St., Michigan, Ohio St., Kentucky, Alabama, Duke, North Carolina (higher ratings) will be shown more on the main networks and the lower visibility schools (lower ratings) will get more of their games on the conference network. So the Big East is offering FOX probably triple the inventory that other conferences would. That is valuable. Will the new BE contract be $7 million per school? I don't know, but if 20% of a P5 media deal is for basketball with much less inventory is worth $6 to $14 million, I don't think $7 million is a crazy number for more inventory.

The Big 12, so far, has the majority of their basketball inventory shown on ESPN+ as ESPN needs paying subscribers for ESPN+ which is their growth engine and ESPN does not have the capacity to show all of the Big 12 games. Going forward, it's unclear how many B12 basketball games will be shown on linear channels as the contract will be split by ESPN and FOX, but ESPN will show the Big 12 conference championship.

Don't bother explaining again, the same people will keep doom posting on the big east regardless of the facts.

 

[CL82]

The new business model has schools like SMU forgoing any revenue to get into conference. Even if UConn is able to get into a conference - there won't be much money available.Mens and Women's Basketball will probably be fine.
Football and Olympic sports will struggle to find funding.

Just getting a share of the college football playoff money is worth about 15 million per school. So we're Connecticut to take zero dollars to join the Big Ten, it would still be making 3 1/2 times the money it makes now in the Big East.

 

[BigTenFan]

Yes- that is absolutely true but Uconn won't be in B1G 10 anytime soon. I think Uconn's best shot at getting out of football purgatory is finding a way into ACC.
There is no money being an independent and highly recruited HS players want to be on National TV on Saturday -

 

[CL82]

Yes- that is absolutely true but Uconn won't be in B1G 10 anytime soon. I think Uconn's best shot at getting out of football purgatory is finding a way into ACC.
There is no money being an independent and highly recruited HS players want to be on National TV on Saturday -

Yep. The only way it would happen was if the Big Ten decided that basketball national championships mattered to them. But they are solely in the pursuit of money, it's hard to make a case for us.

 

[KryHavok]

Yes- that is absolutely true but Uconn won't be in B1G 10 anytime soon. I think Uconn's best shot at getting out of football purgatory is finding a way into ACC.
There is no money being an independent and highly recruited HS players want to be on National TV on Saturday -

UConn has the same chances of getting into the ACC as they do for the Big 10: slim to none. The animus against UConn is less from the Big 12, so a football-less invite is remotely possible though maybe not probable. It's a hell of a hole for the school to climb out of, and those kids on the team deserve better (it would help immensely if they played better too).

 

[JohnFSilver]

Roughly $4M per team.

No shot of $7M per team - best case the money and linear exposure stay the same.

If it is $4m per team for hoops the athletic department is sunk.

 

[JohnFSilver]

People need to realize this is the Big East tv deal not UConn tv deal. It’s as much about what UConn is worth as it’s about what DePaul and Butler are worth.

Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Stanford etc were going to get 20 million for streaming basketball AND football . If you think Butler basketball is going to get 7 million and be on Fox or FS1 every game you are a damn fool.

Then UConn should get more than DePaul. Why should they get equal shares of tevelesion revenue?

 

[Kolumbo]

Here's who SMU plays most over the next 7 years:

Cal 7x
Stanford 7x
BC 4x
Syracuse 4x
GT 4x
Louisville 4x

Sure, they will have some home games with Clemson and FSU, but I don't think the ACC schedule will move the needle that much over the LT. Look at the last 2 years. SMU has had >30k fans for 1 game, against a local school TCU. In 2022, they had 26.5k for Lamar, 35.6k for TCU, 24.8k for Navy, 23.6k for Cincy, 23.8k for Houston, and 15.8k for Memphis. And, those numbers are inflated. You would have thought with that home schedule that they would have sold more season tickets coming off an 8-4 season....nope. If SMU was going to the Big 12 and playing Houston/TCU/Baylor/Texas Tech/Oklahoma St., that would have helped attendance.

SMU does not have a large fan base at all and they are an afterthought in Dallas/Texas even during the Pony Express time period. What they do have is wealthy alumni.

This could work out to be the best of both worlds for SMU. First it will be playing in the ACC which is a huge upgrade over the AAC even if in name only. Second that's a pretty soft slate for a what used to be a power conference. SMU can come out of the Chute with winning records and I don't know about the SMU fan base in them parts but winning goes a long way. If it's sitting there in the top half of the conference playing Clemson or FSU, that's a mighty big draw. Being mediocre in the AAC is one thing. But start winning games in the ACC and there is a big upside.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Then UConn should get more than DePaul. Why should they get equal shares of tevelesion revenue?

Fantastic point.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

If it is $4m per team for hoops the athletic department is sunk.

You know, I don't totally disagree with you but by the same token the AD as whole (with the exception of maybe football coaches salaries) has done nothing but double and triple down on investment in programs and facilities.

It seems like there's either been approval to run a massive deficit or just a complete lack of fiscal responsibility in funding a Hockey East program and building a new stadium, building new baseball, soccer, and softball stadiums, finishing the hoops facility and paying Hurley a top 5 or so coaching salary, etc. The list goes on.

I only care about men's hoops and football, so to me, there's a lot of fat they could have potentially cut and have elected not to.

Something has to give right?

 

[NE Football]

Yes- that is absolutely true but Uconn won't be in B1G 10 anytime soon. I think Uconn's best shot at getting out of football purgatory is finding a way into ACC.
There is no money being an independent and highly recruited HS players want to be on National TV on Saturday -

I appreciate your opinion, but you’re not considering the fact that UConn is a national brand, especially in basketball where we would be the top program in the B1G.

 

[Drew]

 

[JohnFSilver]

Interesting that FSU would even think Indy. I am sure they explored what Norte Dame does. They just can’t do it. Why would ACC keep them around? I still wonder when the dam is gonna break and BC/Syracuse etc. are going to get knocked down for taking FSU and Clemson’s money?

The days of pooling money is over. I think teams that don’t bring in anything are going to see their shares drop even more soon.

 

[CL82]

Interesting that FSU would even think Indy. I am sure they explored what Norte Dame does. They just can’t do it. Why would ACC keep them around? I still wonder when the dam is gonna break and BC/Syracuse etc. are going to get knocked down for taking FSU and Clemson’s money?

The days of pooling money is over. I think teams that don’t bring in anything are going to see their shares drop even more soon.

As long as there are easy revenue streams that can be attacked to increase net income, the BCU's of the world are momentarily safe. Eventually, though, they won't be.

I wonder if the next move will be for some of the P * teams to establish their own tournament with higher payouts to participants. But if that's viewed is too cumbersome, then yeah reducing the shares of the deadweight in conferences would seem to be the next logical alternative, moving toward an eventual paring of the flotsam residing among the current P* universities.

 

[pepband99]

Interesting that FSU would even think Indy. I am sure they explored what Norte Dame does. They just can’t do it. Why would ACC keep them around? I still wonder when the dam is gonna break and BC/Syracuse etc. are going to get knocked down for taking FSU and Clemson’s money?

The days of pooling money is over. I think teams that don’t bring in anything are going to see their shares drop even more soon.

Keep in mind they would have to be indy in EVERYTHING too. Imagine our scheduling issues on an AD-wide scale

 

[ScottVib]

Keep in mind they would have to be indy in EVERYTHING too. Imagine our scheduling issues on an AD-wide scale

They’d have no problem finding a non-FBS conference to stash their non-football sports in… the problem for them is revenue replacement, even if they got enough to replace their football spending their other sports would have funding struggles.

 

[ZooCougar]

They’d have no problem finding a non-FBS conference to stash their non-football sports in… the problem for them is revenue replacement, even if they got enough to replace their football spending their other sports would have funding struggles.

How so?

If they get $30M or better from an Indy Football contract and then plop their sports in someplace like the Big East haven’t they equaled or bettered their payout?

 

[JohnFSilver]

How so?

If they get $30M or better from an Indy Football contract and then plop their sports in someplace like the Big East haven’t they equaled or bettered their payout?

Late in the season indy is the issue. Once November hits can you get quality games?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

How so?

If they get $30M or better from an Indy Football contract and then plop their sports in someplace like the Big East haven’t they equaled or bettered their payout?

How are they going to get $30mm for football?

 

[ZooCougar]

How are they going to get $30mm for football?

Florida State? Are you serious?

 

[uconndogs]

Interesting that FSU would even think Indy. I am sure they explored what Norte Dame does. They just can’t do it. Why would ACC keep them around? I still wonder when the dam is gonna break and BC/Syracuse etc. are going to get knocked down for taking FSU and Clemson’s money?

The days of pooling money is over. I think teams that don’t bring in anything are going to see their shares drop even more soon.

I think that's exactly where this is going and the smaller programs within the P5 are going to have to think long and hard about where they want to take they're athletic programs.

 

[HuskyHawk]

How so?

If they get $30M or better from an Indy Football contract and then plop their sports in someplace like the Big East haven’t they equaled or bettered their payout?

No. That would be less than they get now. They also share in football playoff money. Even without that they get more than $35M in the ACC ($41.3m last year).

Some people view the ACC through distorted lenses. It's easily the #3 conference, ahead of the Big XII. It's only "unstable" because a few schools think they are worthy of B1G or SEC money (none of the Big XII schools are in that situation). Most of the ACC schools that think that are delusional, just like the Pac schools were.

FSU might attract SEC attention but the B1G wouldn't touch them. Same with Clemson. UNC, playing football as it is now, is probably the main prize. B1G might consider UVA to lock up DC. Maybe.

 

[ZooCougar]

Late in the season indy is the issue. Once November hits can you get quality games?

I think between their football brand and enormous fanbase they can get the money. Particularly that they have alums who are writing big checks to build a war chest for an ACC exit as we speak.

I mean if SMU can raise $200M to float not getting paid in the ACC for the next three Presidential terms then I think FSU can do all right.

It will be hard for them to schedule for Playoff Appearances. That's what I think the FSU official was referring to.

 

[ZooCougar]

No. That would be less than they get now. They also share in football playoff money. Even without that they get more than $35M in the ACC ($41.3m last year).

Some people view the ACC through distorted lenses. It's easily the #3 conference, ahead of the Big XII. It's only "unstable" because a few schools think they are worthy of B1G or SEC money (none of the Big XII schools are in that situation). Most of the ACC schools that think that are delusional, just like the Pac schools were.

FSU might attract SEC attention but the B1G wouldn't touch them. Same with Clemson. UNC, playing football as it is now, is probably the main prize. B1G might consider UVA to lock up DC. Maybe.

They could probably make that up too.

They already said it wasn't an option. So it's not they are seriously considering it. Maybe not even unseriously.

 

[uconnyankee]

No. That would be less than they get now. They also share in football playoff money. Even without that they get more than $35M in the ACC ($41.3m last year).

Some people view the ACC through distorted lenses. It's easily the #3 conference, ahead of the Big XII. It's only "unstable" because a few schools think they are worthy of B1G or SEC money (none of the Big XII schools are in that situation). Most of the ACC schools that think that are delusional, just like the Pac schools were.

FSU might attract SEC attention but the B1G wouldn't touch them. Same with Clemson. UNC, playing football as it is now, is probably the main prize. B1G might consider UVA to lock up DC. Maybe.

There are likely 4 schools that will be poached. If ACC survives losing just 4, it’s poaching from Big 12.
After that, it gets dicey and Big 12 could easily poach some schools.