New AAC ESPN Contract Value Poll

[uconnbill]

My guess is around $10 million or a little less. Of course I would like to see $12-15 million per school which would make the heIl UConn was in the past few years a little better.

 

[uconnbill]

Rule number 1 and we are doomed, so I voted for about what we are getting now.

Not happening if Memphis and Aresco are happy.

 

[buddy]

Leagues trending up, I think ESPN realizes that too. I hate the everyone gets the same amount stuff. I’m sure the bottom half loves it but the top half of the league shouldn’t. They bring in all the money. ECU, Tulane and other bottom dwellers should not be getting the same amount of money as Cincinnati, UCF, Houston. Aresco gotta stop this and realize that the “national champions” UCF is getting the same amount to develop facilities and other things for football as ECU. And for basketball why is 0-13 Tulane which I don’t belive has aired on a network other that CBSSN all season get the same amount at UConn, Houston, Cincinnati, UCF who’ve been on ESPN and ESPN2 multiple times this year.

I am sorry to say, but for the vaunted UConn basketball team to be in ninth place in this conference and near or at last place in football, puts UConn in the bottom dweller category.

 

[weyuo]

I am sorry to say, but for the vaunted UConn basketball team to be in ninth place in this conference and near or at last place in football, puts UConn in the bottom dweller category.

They won't be there much longer. have faith

 

[huskymedic]

 

[CL82]

So hard to interpret this, because it is Memphis. If it was UConn or Cinci, I'd be feeling better about it.

Still "extremely excited" are very positive words.

 

[HuskyHawk]

My guess hasn't changed. I expect in the range of $8-9M. That's roughly triple the current payout. It's not P5 money, but goes a long way towards stabilizing most of the programs in the league. I assume Navy and WSU will each have a reduced payout.

 

[Dooley]

My guess hasn't changed. I expect in the range of $8-9M. That's roughly triple the current payout. It's not P5 money, but goes a long way towards stabilizing most of the programs in the league. I assume Navy and WSU will each have a reduced payout.

Completely agree. It's not P5 money but it does help put a sizable dent in AAC school subsidies. Not to mention, the exposure being on the ESPN platform (with streaming) is very good for the league.

The AAC is actually a very good league. If this is our forever home, we could do much worse. The top 3-4 AAC football finishers can always go toe-to-toe with 99% of the P5 (Alabama/Clemson exception...but nobody in the P5 can play with those 2 either). Over time, the bottom dwellers like us will (should!) come up some with an injection of more money and ESPN exposure. And I've said this many times before, the long term hoops projection of the AAC is actually much higher than the long term future of the Big East. Larger markets, bigger footprint and far more exposure playing on ESPN vs FOX. (Some) UConn fans just have to get off their high horses and become part of the solution instead of being part of the problem!

 

[superjohn]

Completely agree. It's not P5 money but it does help put a sizable dent in AAC school subsidies. Not to mention, the exposure being on the ESPN platform (with streaming) is very good for the league.

The AAC is actually a very good league. If this is our forever home, we could do much worse. The top 3-4 AAC football finishers can always go toe-to-toe with 99% of the P5 (Alabama/Clemson exception...but nobody in the P5 can play with those 2 either). Over time, the bottom dwellers like us will (should!) come up some with an injection of more money and ESPN exposure. And I've said this many times before, the long term hoops projection of the AAC is actually much higher than the long term future of the Big East. Larger markets, bigger footprint and far more exposure playing on ESPN vs FOX. (Some) UConn fans just have to get off their high horses and become part of the solution instead of being part of the problem!

The top 3-4 AAC football finishers can always go toe-to-toe with 99% of the P5?

 

[Austin316]

My guess is they turn down the ESPN deal and pick one up with Amazon Prime at $27m per school.

Big12 dissolves and we get WVU, Baylor, and TCU becoming a 15 team league with 3 divisions.

By 2030 UConn men and women have won 5 combined national championships and football is back on the map.

 

[Dooley]

The top 3-4 AAC football finishers can always go toe-to-toe with 99% of the P5?

Well, nobody can go toe-toe-toe with Alabama or Clemson...not even in the P5. The real difference between the P5 and the AAC is not the top 1/4 of it. Far from it. The real separation starts in the middle and bottom tiers of the conference (read: us). When the time comes when we stop getting curb-stomped by mediocre P5 teams (and it will stop - hopefully!), then the bottom floor raises and the AAC really does begin to behave like a "power" conference.

 

[Guapo]

*football comment notification*

Something I’ll be interested to see in the TV deal: better bowl tie-ins. The incentive for that is that a UCF or Memphis (or UConn, maybe perhaps some day) vs some big bad P5 team is a much bigger TV draw than a P5 team vs, say, Western Michigan.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Completely agree. It's not P5 money but it does help put a sizable dent in AAC school subsidies. Not to mention, the exposure being on the ESPN platform (with streaming) is very good for the league.

The AAC is actually a very good league. If this is our forever home, we could do much worse. The top 3-4 AAC football finishers can always go toe-to-toe with 99% of the P5 (Alabama/Clemson exception...but nobody in the P5 can play with those 2 either). Over time, the bottom dwellers like us will (should!) come up some with an injection of more money and ESPN exposure. And I've said this many times before, the long term hoops projection of the AAC is actually much higher than the long term future of the Big East. Larger markets, bigger footprint and far more exposure playing on ESPN vs FOX. (Some) UConn fans just have to get off their high horses and become part of the solution instead of being part of the problem!

Sorry bro, I don’t think I’ll ever adjust to this conference after being in the old big east. It just is what it is.

 

[Guapo]

Sorry bro, I don’t think I’ll ever adjust to this conference after being in the old big east. It just is what it is.

We went from Pepe’s to some Greek pizza place in Enfield.

#stayingonbrand

 

[Dooley]

Sorry bro, I don’t think I’ll ever adjust to this conference after being in the old big east. It just is what it is.

Sure. It's definitely a different conference landscape from when you and I grew up with UConn. Sadly, the old Big East is dead and never coming back. The majority of teams I truly hated in the OBE back in the day: Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, and Notre Dame are all gone too. Only Nova and Georgetown remain and we can always schedule them OOC (and have already done so). Would be great to see UConn in the ACC just to rekindle those old rivalries and also play against other teams we all hate - BC, Duke, UNC, etc. but until then, the AAC is the unquestioned better home for us in terms of money and exposure.

 

[superjohn]

Sure. It's definitely a different conference landscape from when you and I grew up with UConn. Sadly, the old Big East is dead and never coming back. The majority of teams I truly hated in the OBE back in the day: Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, and Notre Dame are all gone too. Only Nova and Georgetown remain and we can always schedule them OOC (and have already done so). Would be great to see UConn in the ACC just to rekindle those old rivalries and also play against other teams we all hate - BC, Duke, UNC, etc. but until then, the AAC is the unquestioned better home for us in terms of money and exposure.

The old Big East, Louisville? What are you 14 years old?

 

[superjohn]

Well, nobody can go toe-toe-toe with Alabama or Clemson...not even in the P5. The real difference between the P5 and the AAC is not the top 1/4 of it. Far from it. The real separation starts in the middle and bottom tiers of the conference (read: us). When the time comes when we stop getting curb-stomped by mediocre P5 teams (and it will stop - hopefully!), then the bottom floor raises and the AAC really does begin to behave like a "power" conference.

I don't follow football closely but I find it hard to believe Temple, Memphis, and Cincinnati can go toe-to-toe with 99% of P5 teams.

 

[Dooley]

I don't follow football closely but I find it hard to believe Temple, Memphis, and Cincinnati can go toe-to-toe with 99% of P5 teams.

Here's an idea: if you don't follow something closely, maybe you should stop arguing about it with folks who do. Better yet, maybe you should follow it closer so that you can come to the same conclusion as the folks who do!

 

[Dooley]

The old Big East, Louisville? What are you 14 years old?

I wish but sadly no. Unless you have invented your very own Delorian that you wouldn't mind letting me borrow. Then I can go back with my Sports Almanac, place a few long shot wagers and strum up enough cash to promote UConn to the ACC.

 

[A10 fan]

I don't follow football closely but I find it hard to believe Temple, Memphis, and Cincinnati can go toe-to-toe with 99% of P5 teams.

Drop that number down to 75% and he's spot on.

 

[Towney007]

This conference is awful. Objectively so.

If it wasn't - every team in it wouldn't be trying so hard to get out of it.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I'm optimistic about the deal but we'll see.

I'm not sure why a lot of people are predicting a lot of our content will end up on ESPN+. Between ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN News there is a lot of airtime to fill and given the other league networks/Fox getting more involved, it seems like the exposure should be relatively similiar?

I'll say we end up with similar exposure and maybe $6M a year per program. Enough to keep us viable in the near term to serve the networks purpose of watchable content, but still far below what we'd need long term.

 

[Slasher]

Here's an idea: if you don't follow something closely, maybe you should stop arguing about it with folks who do. Better yet, maybe you should follow it closer so that you can come to the same conclusion as the folks who do!

It's pretty valid, we know how good UCF has been the past few years. Cincinnati beat UCLA and Virginia Tech last year. Houston beat Arizona... etc. Not going to go back and find all the p5 wins, but outside of the elite, elite programs the top of the AAC is competitive.

 

[billybud]

Drop that number down to 75% and he's spot on.

Interesting question....I checked the data...2010-18.

....Temple
...13 games vs P5....one win over a team with winning record. Total record 2-11.

....Memphis
...16 games vs P5....one win over team with winning record. Total record 4-16...

...Cincinnati
...18 games vs P5...three wins over teams with winning records. Total record 9-9

Cincinnati comes closest of those three teams listed, IMHO, to approximating a P5 team 2010-18.

 

[Dooley]

Drop that number down to 75% and he's spot on.

99% was probably a bit of an exaggeration. To be honest, I didn't break out my computer algorithm to come up with an exact formula. My point was the top of the AAC can play with the majority of the P5. The P5s behemoths - Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, maybe a handful of others - are on their own plane. The P5 can't compete against those giants.

The real separation starts at around the 4-6th teams in the AAC and the mid/lower half of P5 conferences. We haven't looked like we belonged anywhere near the same field with a pair of geographic ACC rivals BC and Cuse in the past 2 years. We'll likely get crushed by Indiana/Illinois in the coming years too. Occasionally, a lower AAC team can put up a fight against the P5 (ex - Tulsa hung with Texas) but not usually. With a new deal that brings more money and improved exposure, the bottom portion of the AAC should elevate to a far more even level.

Hoops is already improving. The AAC desperately needs a team to make a deep run in March. We seem to have a knack of presenting our best paper tigers to the field come tourney time and they get the ol' bounce very early on. Of course, it would help if we could actually carry a little bit of weight in our own conference but that's not reality at the moment. We'll get there and when we do, so will the AAC.