Major Announcement... TV? (Update>CBSSN)

[huskymedic]

>>With the announcement of the new TV deal UConn has signed with CBS Sports to broadcast football games, the Head Coach, Randy Edsall joined the Rob Dibble Show. With Rob away for the week, Ben Darnell and Bob Joyce interviewed the coach and asked him about the TV deal and what it means for the program. They also discussed what his players are doing to workout at their homes and how much time they'll need in order to start the college football season on time. Coach also talks about his latest player to get drafted to the NFL, Matt Peart.<<

 

[TheDrifter75]

I really wish I was as optimistic as you are, but sadly I am a CPA and know exactly what he means by over 7 figures.

So, if someone says they make a 6 figure income that's just 100,000 and not a $1 more cuz that would be over 6 figures?

 

[Coach J]

The original article also had a comment about several other games with P5 teams that are in the works with the details being finalized. He could have been alluding to since mentioned Pitt, Rutgers, and BYU or maybe more. But to me, that made the announcement all the more exciting.

 

[HuskyAlum012]

So, if someone says they make a 6 figure income that's just 100,000 and not a $1 more cuz that would be over 6 figures?

You are over thinking this. If someone says they make over 6 figures, that means $100,000-$999,999. Not that they make $1,000,000+.

 

[HuskyAlum012]

>>With the announcement of the new TV deal UConn has signed with CBS Sports to broadcast football games, the Head Coach, Randy Edsall joined the Rob Dibble Show. With Rob away for the week, Ben Darnell and Bob Joyce interviewed the coach and asked him about the TV deal and what it means for the program. They also discussed what his players are doing to workout at their homes and how much time they'll need in order to start the college football season on time. Coach also talks about his latest player to get drafted to the NFL, Matt Peart.<<

One of the interesting parts here is that Edsall said "Our schedule for the next 5 years is really complete, we are just waiting on contracts to be signed off"

Can't wait to see what else AD David Benedict has mustered up.

 

[TheDrifter75]

You are over thinking this. If someone says they make over 6 figures, that means $100,000-$999,999. Not that they make $1,000,000+.

I'm sure you're probably right. We say, concerning our boss, that he makes 6 figures not over. I see your point but will continue my dream til the numbers come out. I really hope it's not 250k a year, please be at least a mil per.

 

[Waquoit]

We would have had more than the four games this year if the other 3 games weren't against FCS teams.

 

[HobokenHusky]

Let's be honest with ourselves, when we lost in conference realignment musical chairs, was something this good even your range of outcomes? I had thought that as an ABSOLUTE BEST case scenario, given what we were handed, we would just have to become the "Boise State" of the AAC in football and continue to be what we were in basketball, all while playing teams I quite frankly had no interest in playing.

We now have a great basketball conference that we are historically linked to and is nationally televised (would slightly prefer the ACC, but we have also seen what that has done to our former league mates so who knows if that would have been beneficial) AND we are developing a regional football schedule while being nationally televised as an independent. I would argue for the long term health of the football program, this is a better outcome than being shoved into the ACC. This way, we have a fighting shot at building the program back to respectability with some of the lower tier teams that are mixed in with the bigger ticket games.

I am not saying I wouldn't join the ACC in a heartbeat if invited, but honestly, if you take money out of the equation, is what we have set up really THAT much worse?

 

[Exit 4]

Assuming this Mike Anthony quote is accurate and nothing was missed in the conversation; "over seven figures for the four years" - then perhaps we can assume that the contract is at least $10,000,000 which would be $2,500,000 per annum? That frankly much higher than I was hearing. Much higher. And I think pretty close to the MTW football $.

 

[Dooooooomed]

Assuming this Mike Anthony quote is accurate and nothing was missed in the conversation; "over seven figures for the four years" - then perhaps we can assume that the contract is at least $10,000,000 which would be $2,500,000 per annum? That frankly much higher than I was hearing. Much higher. And I think pretty close to the MTW football $.

What number were you hearing?

 

[Waquoit]

Help me understand this guy's take:
"UConn is looking at a situation where they’ll be fifth in the pecking order behind two conferences and two service academies (and you’re naive if you think otherwise).

But hey, it’s linear television! It’s not streaming! That’s what UConn wants, right? It makes sense for UConn to prioritize its basketball programs over its football program because of the comparative success of both of those teams, but it really does seem like football was sold down the river by the athletic department with this deal, unless the rights fee is beyond the low seven figures."

 

[billybud]

The MAC is getting about $833,000 annually per member...,but that is for more than just football..

 

[Exit 4]

What number were you hearing?

A sub $1 million per annum number. The challenge is - when you are buying a home team only slate you get far less meat for the cable companies to sell. There is some power in the scale of conf vs selling 4-6 home dates.

 

[gampelcrazies]

It's gotta be around 250k per year. Maybe 500k.

This is a big deal for CBSSN. Gives cable companies and streaming companies reason to keep CBSSN in the sports package in Connecticut. Same for other markets like NYC and Boston where UConn grads/fans are.

 

[TheDrifter75]

Assuming this Mike Anthony quote is accurate and nothing was missed in the conversation; "over seven figures for the four years" - then perhaps we can assume that the contract is at least $10,000,000 which would be $2,500,000 per annum? That frankly much higher than I was hearing. Much higher. And I think pretty close to the MTW football $.

That's what I was getting at

 

[Storrs South]

Help me understand this guy's take:
"UConn is looking at a situation where they’ll be fifth in the pecking order behind two conferences and two service academies (and you’re naive if you think otherwise).

But hey, it’s linear television! It’s not streaming! That’s what UConn wants, right? It makes sense for UConn to prioritize its basketball programs over its football program because of the comparative success of both of those teams, but it really does seem like football was sold down the river by the athletic department with this deal, unless the rights fee is beyond the low seven figures."

It cites being behind the Mountain West in the CBS Sports pecking order, but UConn doesn't play games when the Mountain West does unless they want their kickoffs as 10 AM so that's a bit irrelevant. I also don't think UConn v. P5 gets bumped behind Army/Navy/MW v. non-P5 opponents.

At the end of the day, this really comes down to UConn selling this deal to recruits and getting better as program. Sell the schedule, the facilities, the academics, and the TV deal. No paywall, cable TV. This deal offers the flexibility to come to new terms in 4 years, something the AAC cannot do until 2032. Get better, get more money in 2023. Being good in MBB & FB simultaneously like from 08-12 would do wonders for the AD and university. No excuse for this team to be bad anymore.

 

[Dooooooomed]

A sub $1 million per annum number. The challenge is - when you are buying a home team only slate you get far less meat for the cable companies to sell. There is some power in the scale of conf vs selling 4-6 home dates.

But weren't you hearing that number in a deal with SNY?

 

[businesslawyer]

I guess I'm on an island by myself, but I don't get why this contract has folks jumping for joy. For the last few years, it was nothing but whining when we stuck on CBSSN. And assuming the contract value is what we were told -- and not what some want to reinterpret it as -- we got far more for our football the last few years, and would have been getting more -- even net -- going forward.

I want football to succeed as much as anyone. But just like the Ohio State announcement, this just doesn't push the needle at all as to whether we can survivie as an Indy. We moved for hoops, and so be it, but I'm still not convinced we can survive in football this way. And certainly this announcement hasn't moved the needle assuming we're getting not much more than $250k a year for our football TV rights.

 

[husky8273]

And they bring back Emily!

settled in KY......

 

[DoctorWho85]

I would have never in a million years thought FB could pull in a contract outside of SNY partnered with ESPN. This is amazing news

 

[WrenchFan69]

I guess I'm on an island by myself, but I don't get why this contract has folks jumping for joy. For the last few years, it was nothing but whining when we stuck on CBSSN. And assuming the contract value is what we were told -- and not what some want to reinterpret it as -- we got far more for our football the last few years, and would have been getting more -- even net -- going forward.

I want football to succeed as much as anyone. But just like the Ohio State announcement, this just doesn't push the needle at all as to whether we can survivie as an Indy. We moved for hoops, and so be it, but I'm still not convinced we can survive in football this way. And certainly this announcement hasn't moved the needle assuming we're getting not much more than $250k a year for our football TV rights.

CBSSN kind of sucked when we could have been playing on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU. Now that we were looking at ESPN+ or flosports or regional networks, CBSSN is great lol

 

[DoctorWho85]

I was thinking that the deal was a bit low, but then I realized that's for football only and doesn't include revenue from the Big East. I'll have to say DB absolutely nailed it with this deal

 

[HuskyAlum012]

we got far more for our football the last few years, and would have been getting more -- even net -- going forward.

I dont even know where to begin with this so I'm just gonna sit back and let someone else take care of it.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I guess I'm on an island by myself, but I don't get why this contract has folks jumping for joy. For the last few years, it was nothing but whining when we stuck on CBSSN. And assuming the contract value is what we were told -- and not what some want to reinterpret it as -- we got far more for our football the last few years, and would have been getting more -- even net -- going forward.

I want football to succeed as much as anyone. But just like the Ohio State announcement, this just doesn't push the needle at all as to whether we can survivie as an Indy. We moved for hoops, and so be it, but I'm still not convinced we can survive in football this way. And certainly this announcement hasn't moved the needle assuming we're getting not much more than $250k a year for our football TV rights.

CBSSN kind of sucked when we could have been playing on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU. Now that we were looking at ESPN+ or flosports or regional networks, CBSSN is great lol

This. Going forward AAC wasn't going to be on the main ESPN products. It was going towards streamed service pay subscriptions.

Every cable and streaming service has CBSSN available.

This is way better visibility and reach than the AAC conference has for football.

 

[Palatine]

1 million dollars for four years of football? 250 thou a year? Maybe a little more?

Eventually, UConn will get around 4 mil a year for basketball.